Leire Barrera-Medrano explores the Basque-English Modernist network surrounding the journal 'Hermes' which represents a prominent example of the connection between cosmopolitan localism, nationalist politics and modernist aesthetics.
'Intellectual cosmopolitanism affirms itself in the land': Hermes and the Basque-English Network of the 1920s
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In 1917 the Basque nationalist intelligentsia founded the cultural journal 'Hermes' with the intention to integrate nationalism and universal modern ideas. With the intention to construct a modern image of the industrial Basque Country, 'Hermes' endorsed a pro-European ideal and looked to England for contributors, based on a perceived kindred culture: a combination of popular tradition and industrialisation. As a result, the journal published translated and original works of what they viewed as the most progressive writers in English, including Arthur Symons and Ezra Pound, alongside all the major figures of Basque and Spanish Modernism.
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Cosmopolitanism, derived from the ancient Greek for ‘world citizenship’, offers a radical alternative to nationalism, asking individuals to imagine themselves as part of a community that goes beyond national and linguistic boundaries. Recent years have seen an explosion of interest in cosmopolitanism in the humanities and social sciences, especially within philosophy, sociology and politics. Cosmopolitanism, however, has also exercised a shaping influence on modern literary culture. It is...
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