I’ve been reading the poems of Borges, and it strikes me that he is a marvelously kindred spirit to that Cubano-French jewel of the Parnassians, Jose Maria de Heredia. Both are not only enthralled by historical figures and foreign cultures, but poignantly extend the same bookish, humanist, cosmopolitan empathy to denizens of the distant past from around the world, viewing ancient figures as intimate friends in a shared narrative of human striving and achievement, fellow participants in a trans-historical conversation on universal desires and the universal condition of tragic evanescence.

This connection is no mere quirk or fancy, but a prominent example of the general Latin-American embrace of Parnassianism, beginning with the likes of Rubén Darío, which laid the foundation of Modernismo and hence Latin-Americans’ understanding of their own literary identity and sensibility. To get a stronger grasp of the rich literary tradition of the Americas is just one more reason that the study of Parnassian poetry must be revived.