Unquestionably, Spaniards suffer much from the uncertainty of
information and narrowness of view inevitable to those who live apart
from the main currents of life.
In comparison with the English, the Germans, or the French, whether we
like it or not, we appear provincial. We are provincials who possess
more or less talent, but nevertheless we are provincials.
So it is that an Italian, a Russian, or a Swede prefers to read a book
by a mediocre Parisian, such as Marcel Prévost, to one by a writer of
genuine talent, such as Galdós; it also explains why the canvases of
second rate painters such as David, Gericault, or Ingres are more highly
esteemed in the market than those of a painter of genius like Goya.
To be provincial has its virtues as well as its defects. At times the
provincial are accompanied by universal elements, which blend and form a
masterpiece. This was the case with _Don Quixote_, with the
etchings of Goya and the dramas of Ibsen. Similarly, among new peoples,
provincial stupidity will often form a blend with an obtuseness which is
world-wide. The aridness and infertility characteristic of the soil
combine with the detritus of fashion and the follies of the four
quarters of the globe. The result is a child-like type, petulant, devoid
of virtue, and utterly destitute of a single manly quality. This is the
American type. America is _par excellence_ the continent of
stupidity.
The American has not yet outgrown the monkey in him and remains in the
imitative stage.
I have no particular reason to dislike Americans. My hostility towards
them arises merely from the fact that I have never known one who had the
air of being anybody, who impressed me as a man.
You frequently meet a man in the interior of Spain, in some small
village, perhaps, whose conversation conveys the impression that he is a
real man, wrought out of the ore that is most human and most noble. At
such times one becomes reconciled to one's country, for all its
charlatans and hordes of sharpers.
An American never appears to be calm, serene and collected. There are
plenty who seem to be wild, impulsive creatures, driven on by sanguinary
fury, while others disclose the vanity of the chorus girl, or a
self-conceit which is wholly ridiculous.
My lack of sympathy for Spanish-Americans extends to their literary
productions. Everything that I have read by South Americans, and I bear
in mind the not disinterested encomiums of Unamuno, I have found to be
both poor and deficient in substance.
Beginning with Sarmiento's _Facundo_, which is heavy, cheap, and
uninteresting, and coming down to the latest productions of Ingenieros,
Manuel Ugarte, Ricardo Rojas and Contreras, this is true without
exception.
What a deluge of shoddy snobbery and vulgar display pours out of
America!
It is often argued that Spaniards should eulogize South Americans for
political reasons. This is one of many recommendations which proceed
from the craniums of gentlemen who top themselves off with silk hats and
who carry a lecture inside which is in demand by Ibero-American
societies.
I have no faith that this brand of politics will be productive of
results.
Citizens of old, civilized countries are still sensible to flattery and
compliment, but what are you to tell an Argentine who is fully convinced
that Argentina is a more important country than England or Germany,
because she raises a large quantity of wheat, to say nothing of a great
number of cows?
Whenever Unamuno writes he decries Kant, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, and
then promptly eulogizes the mighty General Aníbal Pérez and the great
poet Diocleciano Sánchez, who hail from the pampas. To these fellows,
such praise seems grudging enough. Salvador Rueda himself must appear
tame to these hide-stretchers.