Abstract

Alienation and the loss of meaning and connectedness are themes addressed by many modern writers and theorists. While most found disenchantment in the Enlightenment, I argue that it is more properly founded in the Reformation; Enlightenment rationalism is insufficient cause. An understanding of the enchanted society--the society characterized by widespread belief in connectedness, meaning, and order--must precede any analyses of the disenchanted society. European and Latin American analyses on the origins of disenchantment differ on each continent, indirectly as well as directly reflecting worldviews; the latter analyses affirm the existence and/or possibility of authenticity. A revisionist history of Europe clarifies the importance of the Reformation in founding disenchantment and fostering its proliferation. Analysis of the writings and era of Luther and Calvin clarifies the centrality of the Protestant Reformation, both historically and theologically, to both secularism and disenchantment. Modern science, which displaced the geocentric view of the universe with the heliocentric view, had less effect. A revisionist Latin American history offers further proof. The Reformation has had little effect in Latin America, and the Industrial Revolution is felt only in certain areas, such that both an Enlightenment untouched by Reformation and Industrial Revolution, and an Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution isolated from the Reformation, are seen. Little disenchantment is found in Latin America, even a century after its Enlightenment; rationalism, or Enlightenment, is insufficient to undermine enchantment. Literature is seen as a unique reflection of worldview. Each of the basic literary elements reflects a facet of Weltanschauung. The evolution and general characteristics of European and Latin American literature reflect the evolving worldviews. Analyses of Steppenwolf and Los pasos perdidos, and considerations of their author's lives, show the dividing points and the possibility of coexistance of enchantment and disenchantment. The accepted models of disenchantment's development and proliferation offer insufficient explanation. Enchantment lingers, even in modernity, and at least some degree of reenchantment remains possible