Modern subjectivity and the crisis of art:
A reading of José Asunción Silva's “De Sobremesa”
Keywords:
Modernism, Subjectivity, Aestheticization, Intellectual, RationalityAbstract
This essay offers an interpretation of José Asunción Silva's novel De Sobremesa as a foundational work of literary modernity in Latin America. Moving away from traditional political readings, the author engages in cultural criticism focused on the crisis of the subject and modern rationality. The text explores how the protagonist, José Fernández, embodies the self-conscious modern artist. By rejecting the label of "poet" in the classical sense, Fernández chooses an aestheticization of life, merging art with experience, science, and politics. This stance reflects the Hegelian thesis on the "end of art," where reflection replaces mythical creation. A key element is Fernández's political project: a cold, rational plan to establish a tyranny aimed at modernizing society through industrialization and public education. The essay concludes that Silva’s work transcends the purely literary, serving as a critical space to explore the tensions between subjectivity, the rejection of the bourgeois world, and the pursuit of an incomplete modernity on the continent.
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