Ariel is a long essay by the Uruguayan critic José Enrique Rodó (1871-1917). It is an attempt to formulate a characteristic Latin American spirit; it emphasizes spiritual values as against exclusively materialist progress. When it was first published in 1900 it provoked a wide response from the youth of Latin America to whom it was addressed, and brought immediate fame to its author. It remains his best and most important work. This edition contains the Spanish text of Ariel, with a long introduction, based on extensive research in the Rodó Archives, which gives us the background essential to a proper understanding of Rodó. It also incorporates some of the most reliable earlier criticism previously scattered in books and journals. The text used is that of the rare second edition which Rodó personally supervised and corrected; the introduction and notes are in English.
