José Enrique Rodó : las distintas modulaciones de la voz del maestro

Abstract

One hundred years after the death of José Enrique Rodó (1871-1917), this article analyzes his role as a teacher of the youth and as a defender of a humanist educative project that would make it possible for future generations to consolidate a “parliament of the spirit” with moral authority in Latin American societies. It studies the way a distinctive representation of his person as a professor was forged, as well as how his voice as an essayist was combined with the different modulations of the voice of the teacher in an imaginary that was linked to the book and to reading. This article is intended to offer a relational interpretation of Rodó, one that might offer an understanding of the far-reach of his lay preaching in defence of the moral values of the citizen, as well as the rich dialogue with his peers and disciples. The hypothesis in this text, is that his message was aimed at urban and learned strata that saw in the Arielist project, and the promotion of the book and reading, a new means of insertion in the cultural atmosphere of the time.