ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the surprisingly sturdy fruits of Jose Enrique Rodo's seemingly fragile transplants in new terrain, by analysing the peril threatened by Washington's growing empire. Rodo transformed his readings of Old World philosophers into concepts suitable for social and political activity in a New World with Ariel, an extended essay that explained how young people could learn to undo negative aftereffects of British culture in America. Rodo wants all Americans to embrace cosmopolitanism, which, in his eyes, does not exclude feelings for the past or links to ethnicity or tradition, but instead endures as part of a cultural inheritance "of elements that will constitute the definitive American of the future". The chapter focuses on contemporary Uruguay to demonstrate how, in spite of historically misinformed criticism, Rodo's words continue to impact lives throughout America and around the world.
