{{short description, Argentine intellectual movement
The 1837 generation ( es, Generación del '37) was an Argentine intellectual movement named after the date a literary hall with most of its members was established. Influenced by the new romantic ideas, they rejected the cultural Spanish heritage of the country. They did not acknowledge any national roots in the
indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
or the period of European colonization, focusing instead on the Revolution as the birth of the country, as it gave them freedom, the possibility to behave as free people. They considered themselves "sons of the
May Revolution
The May Revolution ( es, Revolución de Mayo) was a week-long series of events that took place from May 18 to 25, 1810, in Buenos Aires, capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. This Spanish colony included roughly the terri ...
", they were born shortly after it, and wrote some of the earliest Argentine literary works.
The group established a literary hall in 1837 in Buenos Aires, hence the name. This ''Salón Literario'' closed six months after it was created because of the reiterated warnings from the government. Initially, they claimed to be neutral in the Argentine Civil Wars, they wrote works biased against the federal governor Juan Manuel de Rosas (such as '' El Matadero'' by
Esteban Echeverría
José Esteban Antonio Echeverría (2 September 1805 – 19 January 1851) was an Argentine poet, fiction writer, cultural promoter, and liberal activist who played a significant role in the development of Argentine literature, not only throu ...
or ''
Facundo
''Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism'' (original Spanish title: ''Facundo: Civilización y Barbarie'') is a book written in 1845 by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, a writer and journalist who became the second president of Argentina. It is a corne ...
'' by
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (; born Domingo Faustino Fidel Valentín Sarmiento y Albarracín; 15 February 1811 – 11 September 1888) was an Argentine activist, intellectual, writer, statesman and the second President of Argentina. His writing s ...
) because Rosas was the Buenos Aires government of that time, but they were also against the former Unitarian governments, with whom they didn't agree in their absolutist manners that were considered by them as a mere restoration of the manners of the Spanish colony. Their efforts to install a full democratic Republic and guarantee civil rights by means of a peaceful ''propaganda'' were vain and shortly after that they ended up exiled or assassinated. After Rosas was overthrown in 1852, their writings inspired the first
Argentine Constitution
The Constitution of the Argentine Nation ( es, Constitución de la Nación Argentina) is the Constitution, basic governing document of Argentina, and the primary source of existing Law of Argentina, law in Argentina. Its Argentine Constitution of ...
in 1853, and their persons promoters of the ''Organización Nacional'', the articulation and organization of the political divisions, infrastructure and institutions of the country, that in its final form didn't was federal nor unitarian but a balance of both.
They were called "unitarians" in a loose sense and by Rosas ''propaganda''.
Some notable members of this generation were
Esteban Echeverría
José Esteban Antonio Echeverría (2 September 1805 – 19 January 1851) was an Argentine poet, fiction writer, cultural promoter, and liberal activist who played a significant role in the development of Argentine literature, not only throu ...
,
Juan Bautista Alberdi
Juan Bautista Alberdi (August 29, 1810 – June 19, 1884) was an Argentine political theorist and diplomat. Although he lived most of his life in exile in Montevideo, Uruguay and in Chile, he influenced the content of the Constitution of Arg ...
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (; born Domingo Faustino Fidel Valentín Sarmiento y Albarracín; 15 February 1811 – 11 September 1888) was an Argentine activist, intellectual, writer, statesman and the second President of Argentina. His writing s ...
Juan Cruz Varela
''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...
,
José Mármol
José Mármol (1818 – 1871) was an Argentine journalist, politician, librarian, and writer of the Romantic school.
Biography
Born in Buenos Aires, he initially studied law, but abandoned his studies in favor of politics. In 1839, no soon ...
,
José Rivera Indarte
José Rivera Indarte (1814 in Córdoba – 1845 in Santa Catarina) was an Argentine poet and journalist. He was at times both a supporter and critic of Juan Manuel de Rosas, writing first the "'' Anthem of the restorers''" and later the "'' Blood ...
(Buenos Aires),
Quiroga Rosas Quiroga may refer to:
Places
* Quiroga, Bogotá, a neighborhood of Bogotá, Colombia
** Quiroga (TransMilenio), a bus station
* Quiroga, Michoacán, Mexico
* Quiroga (comarca), Lugo province, Galicia, Spain
* Quiroga, Galicia, a municipality in ...
,
Antonino Aberastain Antonino may refer to:
* Antonino (name), a given name and a surname (including a list of people with the name)
* Antonino, Kansas, an unincorporated community in Ellis County, Kansas, United States
See also
* Antoniano (disambiguation)
* Antoñ ...
,
Santiago Cortínez
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...
(San Juan),
Benjamín Villafañe Benjamín Villafañe (March 31, 1814 – June 6, 1893) was an Argentine military leader. Born in Tucuman, he fought against Juan Manuel de Rosas during the Argentine Civil War, and escaped to Bolivia after the death of Juan Lavalle. He returned to B ...
Esteban Echeverría
José Esteban Antonio Echeverría (2 September 1805 – 19 January 1851) was an Argentine poet, fiction writer, cultural promoter, and liberal activist who played a significant role in the development of Argentine literature, not only throu ...