| The purpose of this thesis is to study the convergence of Children's Literature--as a literary category--and Modernismo (Hispanic Modernism)--as a literary movement. In order to achieve such a goal, the author analyzes three Hispanic Children's Literature masterpieces: La Edad de Oro (1889) by Jose Marti, Platero y yo (1914) by Juan Ramon Jimenez, and Cuentos de la selva para ninos (1918) by Horacio Quiroga. The study of these works is developed from a mostly (but not uniquely) stylistic point of view, based on the identification, subsequent evaluation, and interpretation of their constitutive elements. In addition, there are references, explanations, and allusions to pre-textual and sub-textual components. By such interwoven addenda, the author intends to complete his study based both on the general and individual historical context of each work.;Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 present a general review of Children's Literature and Modernismo, respectively. These chapters include not only a historical abstract and the most recent critical theory related to such themes, but also the author's points of view about them.;Chapter 3 is dedicated to La Edad de Oro, Chapter 4 to Platero y yo, and Chapter 5 to Cuentos de la selva para ninos. The modernist characteristics of the aforementioned works, and their adaptation to the requirements of Children's Literature, constitute the central point of each of these chapters. References to Romanticism, Parnassianism, Symbolism, Impressionism, Expressionism, Pre-Raphaelism, and other turn-of-the-century aesthetic or literary movements, abound in these chapters.;Chapter 6 presents the conclusions of this thesis. The author assesses that the original and lasting success of the studied works is due, beyond the authors' well attested abilities, to the convergence of the aesthetic and ideologic characteristics of Hispanic modernism with the categoric requirements of children's literature. According to this thesis, such convergence created a unique aesthetic-ideological pattern in Hispanic children's literature, the characteristics of which, beyond any historical boundary, appeal to children and adults alike. Hence the apparent everlasting success of the analyzed works and their influences, not only upon later authors, but also upon other works aimed to adult readers by Marti, Jimenez, and Quiroga.;Text in Spanish, with multiple quotations in English and French. |
