Through a political and cultural reading of RubAAA1/2n DarAAA1/2o's canonical works, Francisco Solares-Larrave articulates an innovative view of Spanish American modernismo as a cultural reply to Europe. Unlike other studies of the politics of Spanish American "modernismo," which explore DarAAA1/2o's overt political works, this study looks for the covert, less evident political statements in his artistic literary and journalistic prose. Solares-Larrave demonstrates the cultural transformations of the time while presenting DarAAA1/2o's contributions to Spanish American literature as his reply to Europe, the cultural center of the time. The rebelliousness, political awareness, and cultural criticism that appear in DarAAA1/2o's prose make a sharp contrast to his traditional image as a writer blind to the political and social circumstances of the time, whose work was derided as escapist and shallow.