Criticisms Innumerable articles and a few books have been written about Ruben Dario. The anti-Dario litera- ture was none too scarce, ten years ago, either in Spain or in America; but, as a rule, it has no value whatever. Already, although he was living until this year, the Histories of Spanish Literature speak of his influence: see, for instance, the last editions, in French and Spanish, of Mr. James Fitzmaurice-Kelly's well- known book, and M. Ernest Merimee's Precis. Among the most important English writers who speak of his work, I remember Mr. Havelock Ellis {vide the ar- ticles entitled The Spanish People and Don Quixote, in the book The Soul of Spain). Among the Spanish critics: the most eminent of all, Don Marcelino Menendez y Pelayo, Historia de la poesia hispano-americana, chapter on Central America (Madrid, 191 1) ; Juan Valera, article on Azul ... in Cartas americanas, primera serie, 1889; Andres Gon- zalez Blanco, Estudio preliminary already mentioned above; Francisco Navarro Ledesma, Jose Martinez Ruiz (Azorin), Juan R. Jimenez, Antonio y Manuel Machado, and several others, in special edition of the review Renacimiento, Madrid, 1907; Gregorio Mar- 47]
