Zig-Zag of Santiago, and Sucesos, of Valparaiso, are two illustrated weeklies, which are really admirable and enterprising publications. Each edition is practically a pictorial record of the week both at home and abroad. There will be photographs of those prominent in the social and political life, pictured scenes of the leading events of the week, cartoons and news of the world depicted from the illustrated publications of other countries. There is one English newspaper published in Valparaiso. One feature, which is always displayed in the Chilean newspaper, is an editorial on the foremost topic of the day. It is given the leading position, every one reads it, and it is generally the topic of conversation for the following day. These editorials are generally well worth the reading, for they not only display knowledge but a catholicity of treatment that speaks well for the Chilean.
La Union also publishes editions in Santiago and Valparaiso, and it is a well edited and well conducted paper. Other newspapers of more or less importance are El Dia, La Lei, La Patria, El Chileno, La Reforma, El Diario Popular and Las Ultimas Noticias, and others. In all there are more than two hundred publications of all kinds. Every one who can read at all generally reads about all the newspapers, so that even though the reading class is not as large as with us, yet the circulation of these newspapers is very creditable. Nevertheless one wonders how they are all supported and manage to survive.
Like all Spanish people the writers, though not numerous, are usually voluminous. The number is not great because of the lack of readers and library privileges. One Spanish writer says that the circle of readers in each Spanish-American nation is in smaller numbers than in a single street in London, a square in Paris, or a district in Italy. Such a statement is not true of Chile, for Santiago, Valparaiso and Concepción have large numbers of educated Chileans. But it is true that the writer has a small circle as compared with the clientele of an American, English or German author. Chilean writers have been the most prolific of any of the countries on the Pacific coast of South America. The comparatively stable rule for four decades was conducive to literary development. The French influence in literature is more noted than any other, and especially so in literature of the lighter vein.
Before independence the chief subjects were history, religion and poetry, and many of the writers were ecclesiastics. Since the establishment of the republic fiction, philosophy and political economy have been prominent, and lay writers have taken precedence over ecclesiastics. Ramon Briceño and Venturo Marin are two well known writers of modern philosophy and ethics. Other Chilean writers along similar lines were Errázuriz, Casanova, Aracena Lopez, Arrasco, Albano and José Lara. Andres Bello is a name that towers above all. Says Professor Currier: “I regard him as one of the most extraordinary men that the Western Hemisphere has produced. Entirely a self-made man, he explored almost every field of human knowledge, and his numerous works testify to his labours. Poet, philosopher, linguist, philologist, litterateur, historian, educator and jurist, such was Bello. His civil code of Chile places him among the world’s legislators. It is, perhaps, to be regretted that in his earlier years his attention was so much divided among various subjects that many of his labours remain unfinished. Few countries can boast of a man so versatile and of such intellectual activity as Bello.”
Journalism in Chile, like the other Spanish-American republics, is an important profession. One of the greatest journalists Chile has produced was Zorobabel Rodriguez, who exercised immense influence on public thought for many years. His editorials were the ordinary topics at the breakfast table, and were looked for by all parties from day to day. Rodriguez was also a poet, novelist and all-round literary man.
Chile has produced a number of historical writers. Among these might be mentioned the brothers Miguel Luis and Gregorio Victor Amunategui, Manuel Bilbao, Vicuña Mackenna and Diego Barrios Araña. Many have dropped into poetry, for such a form of writing is popular and natural with the Spanish race. The drama is also an important branch of Spanish literature and Chile has produced her fair share of dramatists. The best known is probably Carlos Walker Martinez, who succeeded in touching a sympathetic and patriotic chord. A number of novels have also been written by Chilean writers, but they are unknown among English readers.
The artistic is a strong element in the Latin character. Foremost with the Italians, perhaps, it also bears a vital relation to the Spaniard. Any one who has visited any of the Latin-American countries has not failed to observe this trait, for art has been well preserved in the New World, wherever either Spaniards or Portuguese have held sway. In Chile this art has not been tinged so much with Indian influences as in Mexico. Here is found the transplanted art of the Spaniard with very little modification. There are many fine churches, of which the cathedral of Santiago is the most noted example. It is a fine specimen of ecclesiastical architecture. Hospitals and other public buildings are built with an eye to the artistic. Plazas are arranged with skill, and fine statues abound all over the cities. Municipal theatres have been built in several cities. The Municipal Theatre of Santiago is a commodious building and of artistic design. Although it will not compare with the Colon Theatre of Buenos Aires, or those in Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo, Brazil, it is an artistic building. Through the aid of a subsidy from the national treasury operatic talent is brought from Europe for at least a few weeks each season.