The Dispute between Classics vs. Modernists in Umbral by Juan Emar

Abstract

In his narrative, Emar fictionalizes some of the artistic debates of the Chilean cultural life of his times, already discussed in his Writing on Art. Here, we will concentrate in the analysis of the fragment Night 3 of Umbral, which through the construction of a novella-drama (generic hybridism) shows simultaneously both the development of dramatic display as well as its critical reception by the public. This last, conformed by two antagonistic groups which represent the clash between official criticism and the emergence of the Chilean literary Avant-Garde: the conflict between traditionalism or the "metaphysics of tradition" (Jauss) which embodies official criticism and what Emar would call "live art". This article seeks to demonstrate that through the utilization of a parody, the Emarian conception of artistic tradition can overcome the classic controversy between the classics and the modernists.