SOURCE: Dever, Aileen. “The Experience of Radical Insufficiency.” In The Radical Insufficiency of Human Life: The Poetry of R. de Castro and J. A. Silva, pp. 7-38. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2000.

In the following essay, Dever compares the work of two nineteenth-century Spanish American poets, noting that the work of both was characterized by disillusionment and an awareness of human limitations.

Rosalía de Castro and José Asunción Silva express eternal concerns about the meaning of life and death, anticipating many themes of the existentialists. Both are writers in transition who lived in a century characterized by political chaos and ideological strife. In Spain conflict resulted as conservatives defended traditional values against the secular, progressive, and democratic trends arising in France, England, and elsewhere in the West (Kulp-Hill 15). Likewise, in Colombia the second half of the nineteenth century displayed social and religious upheaval. Tradition underwent challenge in...