Raimundo Lida, filólogo y humanista peregrino

Abstract

In the decade of 1920 Argentina received the influence of modern philological studies developed in Spain by Ramón Menéndez Pidal (1860-1968). The creation of the Institute of Philological Studies at the Facultad de Filosofía y Letras at the University of Buenos Aires was a product of that influence. From its beginning, the young university student Raimundo Lida (1908-1979) distinguished himself as one of the promising figure of the field. In addition to his academic activity, Lida maintained close ties with the cultural and literary life of Argentina, its magazines and institutions. Later, with his international journeys, especially in Mexico and United States, he gained prestige and recognition in every field of Hispanic letters. This article summarizes the intellectual biography of a privileged actor, not just a member of Argentine culture but also Spanish, Hispano-American, Anglo-Saxon and European. To locate the humanistic itinerary of Raimundo Lida, we will examine also the complex context of his time since the first decade of the xx century to the Second World War. We will only briefly discuss his years at the University of Harvard, since 1953 until his death in 1979, in order to illuminate his relationship with the culture he always felt as his own.