Ariel

Ariel is an influential essay by the Uruguayan writer José Enrique Rodó that appeared in 1900. The title alludes to a character in Shakespeare's The Tempest who in this short book becomes a symbol of the enlightening spirit with which the author aspires to enhance Latin American culture. Written in the aftermath of Spain's imperial collapse in the war of 1898 against the United States and addressed primarily to young Latin Americans, Ariel is both an idealistic call to cultural independence and a warning against the tendency toward utilitarian overconfidence that Rodó discerned in North American progressive materialism. The essay is presented as a scholarly final lecture by old Próspero (alluding to the protagonist of The Tempest), who exhorts his students as builders of the future to strive individually for standards of excellence. Ariel is less a social philosophy than a cultural manifesto, the elitist spirit and erudite style of which have variously been defended or attacked by Latin American readers and writers as Arielismo.

See alsoArielismo; Krausismo; Positivism; Rodó, José Enrique.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alas, Leopold. "Clarín." Prologue to Ariel by José Enrique Rodó, 5th edition. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1975.

González Echevarría, Roberto. "The Case of the Speaking Statue: Ariel and the Magisterial Rhetoric of the Latin American Essay." In his The Voice of the Masters: Writing and Authority in Modern Latin American Literature. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1985.

Fuentes, Carlos. Prologue to Ariel by José Enrique Rodó. Translated by Margaret Sayers Peden. Austin: University of Texas, 1988.

Miller, Nicola. "The 1890s–1900s." In her In the Shadow of the State: Intellectuals and the Quest for National Identity in Twentieth-Century Latin America, pp. 96-114. London and New York: Verso, 1999.

San Román, Gustavo This America We Dream Of: Rodó and 'Ariel' One-Hundred Years On. London: Institute for Latin American Studies, 2001.

Ward, Thomas. "Rodó y las 'jerarquías imperativas,'" In his Resistencia cultural: La nación en el ensayo de las Américas, pp. 72-85. Lima: Editorial Universitaria, Universidad Ricardo Palma, 2004.

                                 Peter G. Earle

ARIEL

ARIEL (Heb. אֲרִיאֵל). (1) The name given to Jerusalem in Isaiah 29:1–2, 7, where God will bring distress upon Ariel, and will make her like an ariel (for meaning, see below). Ariel in this sense is probably connected with the form erellam in Isaiah 33:7, understood as the plural form arielim ("Jerusalemites"), parallel to "messengers of Shalom" (i.e., of Jerusalem; cf. Gen. 14:18; Ps. 76:3). (2) A cultic object in Ezekiel 43:15–16, where it occurs in the forms ariel and harel. This is apparently an altar hearth superimposed upon the base of the altar, having horns at its four corners. Alternatively, it may be viewed as the top two sections of a three-tiered altar, again with the function of a hearth. This usage has been connected by some with the ʾrʾl dwdh which *Mesha of Moab dragged before *Chemosh from a captured town (Mesha Stele, 1:12). It may also be connected with ii Samuel 23:20 = i Chronicles 11:22 "The two Ariels of Moab." (3) One of the chief men summoned by Ezra in Ezra 8:16 (cf. also Gen. 46:16; Num. 26:17). The etymology of this word is the subject of some dispute. Three principal modes of interpretation have been proposed: (a) from ari-el, "lion of God" or "Great Lion." This is the most probable derivation for the personal name in Ezra; (b) from a posited root ari, "to burn," with lamed afformative, thus meaning "hearth," similar to the Arabic ʿiratun, "hearth"; and (c) as a loanword from the Akkadian arallû-, the name for the netherworld and allegedly the world mountain. (In this view the altar is understood as a miniature ziggurat, which is taken to be the symbol of the world mountain.) However, arallû does not mean "mountain." In addition, the Akkadian, a loanword from Sumerian, would have not shown up in Hebrew in the form attested. Regardless of the ultimate derivation of the word, the meaning of Isaiah 29:1–2 seems to be that Jerusalem, here (prophetically?) called Ariel, is to become like the altar, i.e., a scene of holocaust.

bibliography:

de Vaux, Anc Isr, 412–3; E. Kissane, The Book of Isaiah, 1 (1960), 362–3; em, 1 (1955), 558–60. add. bibliography: J. Blenkinsopp, Isaiah 1–39 (ab; 2000), 399–402; S. Muenger, in: ddd, 88–89.

[Tikva S. Frymer]

ARIEL

ARIEL (Heb. אֲרִיאֵל), town in Samaria, in the administered territories, 40 km. east of Tel Aviv and 65 km. from Jerusalem. Founded in 1978 by 40 families of defense and aviation industry workers, it received municipal status in 1998. In 1996 Ariel's population was approximately 14,200, increasing to 16,300 at the end of 2002, of whom 54% were recent immigrants, most from the Former Soviet Union. Its municipal area was 1.2 sq. mi. (3 sq. km.). The proximity to central Israel enabled the city to attract young families. Most residents are non-religious.

Mikhlelet Yehudah ve-Shomron (Judea and Samaria College) was founded in 1983 as a regional college-level academic institution under the auspices of Bar-Ilan University and had approximately 8,000 students. Ariel's industrial zone housed over 100 factories in the fields of electronics, food, metallurgy, computers, and aviation, employing 3,000 people. A technological park was established in 1992 and the 100-room Eshel Hashomron Hotel at the entrance to the city opened its doors in 1991. Ron Nachman served as mayor of Ariel for five consecutive terms from 1985, having served as chairman of the municipal council until that time. The peace talks which began in the 1990s cast a pall on the future of the city, and its inclusion inside the security fence built to protect Israel from Palestinian terrorist attacks became a heated issue in Israeli politics.

website:

www.ariel.muni.il.

[Shaked Gilboa (2^nd ed.)]

Ariel the name of a fairy in Shakespeare's The Tempest, who has been rescued from the enchantment of the witch Sycorax by Prospero and who must serve his new master until he is released; Ariel is the airy spirit who contrasts with the gross and animal Caliban.

The name was given to a satellite of Uranus discovered in 1851, the twelfth closest to the planet and the fourth largest (diameter 1,160 km), and subsequently to a series of six American and British satellites devoted to studies of the ionosphere and X-ray astronomy (1962–79).

Ariel ★★★ 1989

Refreshing, offbeat Finnish comedy by highly praised newcomer Kaurismaki. Hoping to find work in Southern Finland, an out-of-work miner from Northern Finland (Pajala) jets off in his white Cadillac convertible given to him in a cafe by a friend, who promptly shoots himself. There's no linear progression toward a happy ending, although antiheroic subject does find employment and romances a meter maid. Mostly, though, he's one of those it's hell being me guys who wouldn't have any luck if it weren't for bad luck. Strange slice-of-life sporting film noir tendencies, although essentially antistylistic. 74m/C VHS . FI Susanna Haavisto, Turo Pajala, Matti Pellonpaa; D: Aki Kaurismaki; W: Aki Kaurismaki; C: Timo Salminen. Natl. Soc. Film Critics '90: Foreign Film.