Conceiving, Sharing and Editing: The Creation of Motivos de Proteo in José Enrique Rodó’s Correspondences

Abstract

This article analyzes the epistolary work of the Uruguayan writer José Enrique Rodó (1871-1917), preserved in the Archivo José Enrique Rodó, at the Biblioteca Nacional de Uruguay (BNU). We situated our analysis at the time of gestation of the work Motivos de Proteo (1909), between the years 1901 to 1908. Through the experiences revealed in the correspondences, the author left marks and impressions on his interlocutors, giving great emphasis to the epistolary genre in his creative process. We emphasize how the content of the letters can be read as an exposition of a dynamic genre, which is concretized from the interaction and liaison between writer and reader recipient, therefore, Rodó contributed to the consolidation of an unprecedented way for the Hispanic-American literature, which transits between the essay, the advice literature, and the psychological literature.