The greater body of Spanish American letters stands in somewhat of an ancillary relationship to the traditions that arose in Europe. Only at the end of the 19th century, with the emergence of modernismo, which was linked to European aesthetic movements such as French Parnassianism and Symbolism, there emerged a wave of literary innovations and experimentation that ushered in the modern era. This volume covers writers whose positions and reputations were established and consolidated prior to the crucial decade of the l960s.