Rosario’s literary critics built a world of their own
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Judith Podlubne’s book, La juventud de la crítica, examines the history of academic literary criticism in Rosario, Argentina, beginning with changes to the University of Rosario’s letters program between 1958 and 1966. Adolfo Prieto reorganized the program and opposed the work of Jorge Luis Borges, later championing Juan José Saer as a central author, choices Podlubne suggests were mistakes. In the 1960s, Rosario became a hub for intellectual formation, initially influenced by French modernism and the philosophies of Jean-Paul Sartre.
The critics later shifted their focus to Roland Barthes, moving away from Sartre and sociological denunciations, a transition aided by the magazine setecientosmonos and its editor, Nicolás Rosa. Podlubne identifies Oscar Masotta as a central figure in this intellectual movement, praising his early engagement with Marxism, literary criticism, visual arts, structuralism, and Lacanian psychoanalysis. However, Podlubne strongly disagrees with Carlos Correas’s critical portrayal of Masotta, accusing him of resentment and outdated judgments.
Despite this disagreement, she acknowledges Correas’s observation that belonging to contemporary intellectual circles requires ongoing inclusion and can be exclusive. Podlubne’s work reveals how the Rosario critics formed a close-knit, self-perpetuating group focused on staying current with international trends.
