In this letter, probably addressed to Homero M. Guglielmini (one of the editors of the magazine Inicial. Revista de la nueva generación) [Initial. Journal of the new generation], Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset expresses his mistrust toward the new generation of young Argentinean intellectuals. His reason is that he observes at the same time a great “vital force,” as well as little “precision” and “discipline” in their thinking.

José Ortega y Gasset’s ideas had been widely disseminated in Argentina since the Spanish philosopher’s first visit to our country in 1916. During the 1920s, his concept of a “new generation” acquired great relevance, since it was in this way that the young writers—who were linked to the aesthetic renewal of those years—came to be understood. As time went by, his concept evolved through diverse writings, such as El tema de nuestro tiempo [The topic of our time], “Generación contra generación” [Generation against generation], and “El deber de la nueva generación argentina” [The duty of the new Argentinean generation]. The first one appeared in book form in 1923, but it had been published in advance by installments in the Nosotros [Us] journal (Buenos Aires), divided into two parts (numbers165 and 166), shortly after being published in El Sol [The Sun] in Madrid. The other two texts appeared in the papers at La Nación [The Nation] newspaper on July 28 and April 6, 1924, respectively (see records 743402 and 743390).  

The aforementioned essays should be linked to the survey that the Nosotros journal (Buenos Aires) carried out, titled “Nuestra encuesta sobre la nueva generación literaria” [Our survey about the new literary generation], which appeared in the no.168 issue (May 1923, see record 761283). 

Nosotros was founded by Alfredo Bianchi and Roberto Giusti; it was published between 1907 and 1943. It was one of the most important cultural journals of this period.