The precursors
Here, as elsewhere, literature begins in its most visceral form, orality, which makes it possible to transmit and preserve the founding myths of indigenous peoples, sometimes their genealogy, often their rituals, and this is where El Güegüense fits in. Created after the arrival of the conquistadores, this work has left its mark on history and survived the centuries: it combines all the arts - dance, music and theater - and is still performed today, and remains well known to Nicaraguans. A satirical drama whose author is unknown, El Güegüense is a monument of folklore that was declared an intangible heritage of humanity by UNESCO in 2005. It is named after a character who feigns servility in order to mock his masters behind the scenes, to whom he constantly sets traps and plays pranks. This text - comprising more than 300 sketches - in its definitive form dates back to the 17th century, and is the symbol of resistance - to colonialism and, more broadly, to power - as well as the signature of a mixed national identity, since it draws on two languages, Spanish and Nahuatl (of Uto-Aztecan origin).
Rubén Darío
However, it was not until two centuries later, with the birth of Rubén Darío in Metapa in 1867, that Nicaraguan letters could lay claim to the influence that would distinguish them in the Spanish-speaking world. From an early age, this aspiring poet found refuge among the books that served as his adoptive family and led him to publish his first verses at the age of 13. By the age of 19, his reputation throughout Central America was assured, and he moved to Chile to hone his knowledge of French letters, writing the texts that would be collected in 1888 under the title Azul, a collection that this time earned him a worldwide reputation. From the following year onwards, as press correspondent for several titles and then diplomat, he travelled extensively: Spain, Cuba, Buenos Aires and, of course, Paris. His declining health forced him to return to his native country, where he lost his life at the tender age of 49 on February 6, 1916. He will be remembered as the father of the modernist movement for his work, which is considered revolutionary for its synthesis and variation of European trends (Symbolism and Romanticism), as well as for its innovative metric and musical form. Only a handful of French publishers keep his memory alive, but today we can still read La Vie de Rubén Darío, written by Rubén Darío himself, published by Rue d'Ulm, and his Chants de vie et d'espérance by the magnificent Sillage publishing house. His worthy successor, Santiago Argüello (1871-1940), who was also his private secretary and above all his friend, is virtually unknown in our country - although in 1919 he published Canto la misión divina de la Francia - and almost forgotten in his own. The fact that he was resolutely committed to women's rights is perhaps not entirely unconnected with this oblivion, which already cost him many enmities in his time.
Modern times
Postmodernism was brilliantly embodied by the three national poets Azarías H. Pallais (1884-1954), Alfonso Cortés (1893-1969) and Salomón de la Selva (1893-1959), but the Movimiento de Vanguardia, initiated in 1931 by students at the Jesuit-run Colegio Centroamérica in Granada, was already heralding the avant-garde. Among them was José Coronel Urtecho (1906-1994), whose career may seem paradoxical as a pioneer of the literary avant-garde, but was nonetheless initially retrograde from a political point of view. He eventually withdrew from public life to devote himself to his writing, including numerous translations, and his influence in Nicaragua is now assured. Alongside him, we should mention Manolo Cuadra (1907-1957), Pablo Antonio Cuadra (1912-2002) and Joaquín Pasos Argüello (1914-1947), all three poets who were willingly political, trying to apply the maxim they had set themselves in writing, "the only rule is that there are no rules", to the world around them, which was not necessarily obvious in those times of dictatorship. However, revolt and humanism were not incompatible, as demonstrated by the 1940 Generation represented by Ernesto Mejia Sánchez (1923-1985), Carlos Martínez Rivas (1924-1998) and Ernesto Cardenal Martínez (1925-2020). The former was awarded the Alfonso Reyes Prize in 1980, and remains famous for having invented the genre known as prosema, which refers to short lyrical texts written in prose. The latter's artistic career was as brief as it was intense: in 1953, La insurrección solitaria was his masterpiece... and the last work published during his lifetime. Priest and writer, revolutionary and theologian, the third was finally shortlisted for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005.
Literature had thus clearly embarked on the path of realism - Fernando Silva Espinoza (1927-2016) was praised for his ability to speak of the "true Nicaraguan" - but political events also forced him to take a stand. The date of July 23, 1959, a sad symbol of the repression of student protests, gave rise to the Frente Ventana, a movement born at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua (UNAN) in León. Clearly committed to social struggles, this group distinguished itself from the members of the Generación traicionada (Betrayed Generation), who were more influenced by the American Beat Generation. Although these two movements claimed their differences, the confrontation between them led to a real revival of Nicaraguan literature, a fertile breeding ground that saw the emergence of Sergio Ramírez, whose work is now being published in French by Métailié. Last but not least, Gioconda Belli - born in Managua in 1948 - was forced into exile and adopted Chilean nationality in 2023. She is also an internationally acclaimed writer, ever since her first semi-autobiographical novel, La mujer habitada, published in 1988.
