Nicaragua Arts and Literature

Nicaragua Arts and Literature

Literature The portal figure in Nicaragua’s literature is the poet Rubén Darío, the founder of Spanish American modernism. Nicaragua has remained the foremost poetry land in Central America during the 20th century. A break with the influence of Darío occurred in the mid-1920’s with José Coronel Urtecho and Joaquín Pasos, characterized by avant-garde language, deep […]

Panama Arts and Literature

Panama Arts and Literature

Literature, drama and theater One of the most prominent representatives of Spanish American modernism, Darío Herrera, poet and prose writer, came from Panama. His short story collection “Horas lejanas” (‘Distant Hours’) was published in 1903, the year Panama became an independent nation. Poetry, however, has long been the foremost literary form of expression in Panama. […]

United States Arts and Literature

USA Arts and Literature

Literature 17th-17th centuries: Colonial times When the first colonizers from Europe came to America, there was already an ancient literature. But the poetry and prose of the Indians was orally practiced, and the new residents had little interest in documenting it. The first written literature consisted largely of letters, travelogues, sermons and autobiographies, most of […]

Canada Arts and Literature

Canada Arts and Literature

Literature Both cultures in Canada – one English speaker with a Presbyterian heritage and one with the roots of pre-revolutionary, strictly Catholic French culture – are the backdrop against which literature must be viewed. The northern location, the wilderness and the great distances have created a certain Canadian mentality, which is common to both cultures, […]

Mexico Arts and Literature

Mexico Arts and Literature

Literature The Spanish conquest of Mexico was described by various chroniclers, notably Bernal Díaz del Castillo, a soldier at Cortés, and the priests Bartolomé de Las Casas, the Native American defender, and Bernardino de Sahagún, translator and writer of Native American literature. Nana Juana Inés de la Cruz, best known for his Baroque poetry, was […]

Haiti Arts and Literature

Haiti Arts and Literature

Literature The Haitian literature was born at the same time that the country became independent in 1804, and the merit of it is mainly attributed to the playwrights Fligneau and Dupré. It was strongly influenced by French role models. Romance, Parnass and symbolism gained in Haiti’s representatives in the poets Oswald Durand, Justin Lhérisson and […]

Jamaica Arts and Literature

Jamaica Arts and Literature

Literature Jamaica’s literature is characterized by linguistic mixes and oral tradition that survive in the performance of poems and in close connection with popular forms of music. Recurring themes are cultural clashes, race problems and poverty, ie. the consequences of a cruel colonial history, of slavery and exploitation. The oldest literature was written by white […]

Guatemala Arts and Literature

Guatemala Arts and Literature

Literature Guatemala’s first great poet, Rafael Landívar, wrote in Latin. He was one of the Jesuits expelled from the Spanish colonies in 1767. In Italy, Landívar wrote on the hexameter “Rusticatio mexicana” (‘Mexican Country Life’, 1st edition with ten songs in 1781, 2nd edition with fifteen songs in 1782), a poem cycle about the industriousness […]

Honduras Arts and Literature

Honduras Arts and Literature

Literature, drama and theater Juan Ramón Molina, one of the great poets of Spanish American modernism came from Honduras and among those he influenced, especially noticeable Froylán Turcios. A renewal of poetry, under the influence of the Chileans Huidobro and Neruda and the Peruvian Vallejo, has happened later, with Oscar Acosta as the prime example. […]

Belize Arts and Literature

Belize Arts and Literature

Architecture In the coastal cities of Belize City and Dangriga, the most common architectural style is called Creole Colonial. The buildings, which are board-lined and have roofs of corrugated sheet metal, are often destroyed by fires and hurricane winds. In Belize City there are the most important buildings: the government palace, a wooden building with […]