SOURCE: Fraser, Howard M. “Change is the Unchanging: Washington Irving and Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera.” Journal of Spanish Studies: Twentieth Century 1, no. 3 (winter 1973): 151-9.

In the following essay, Fraser examines “Rip-Rip,” Nájera's adaptation of Washington Irving's famous story “Rip Van Winkle.”

Slightly more than half a century ago, the American critic John De Lancey Ferguson observed:

The writers and scholars of the republics to the south have shown an interest in our literature which is certainly far greater than the reciprocal interest which we have shown in theirs, since the latter interest may fairly be represented by zero. The full extent of the circulation and influence of our literature in Mexico and South America is a question that has never been investigated, but the indications are that both circulation and influence have been large,—in all probability larger than in Spain itself.¹

One case in point...