Abstract:I begin with this quote from Ferrari because it captures in one succinct sentence what Vallejo was and continues to be for his readers—a revolution in the Spanish language; a revolutionary writer in l...I begin with this quote from Ferrari because it captures in one succinct sentence what Vallejo was and continues to be for his readers—a revolution in the Spanish language; a revolutionary writer in literary and poetic terms, a revolutionary writer with respect to his Marxian politics; a poet that inter-married his art with his own liberationist sense of political and social justice, and above all, an individual who was equally loyal to both his poetic and political projects. A voice, unique and singular like no other in Hispanic letters, Vallejo left us with two books of poetry published in his life time, Los heraldos negros (1917) and Trilce (1922), and the posthumously published Poemas en prosa (1923-1924/29, Poemas humanos, and Espana, aparta de mi este caliz (1938). He was also the author of numerous essays on art, culture, and politics, the political novella, El tungsteno (1931), six plays, and such short stories as ―Paco Yunque‖ (1930). The prima facie difference between one work and another, as for example between Trilce and Poemas humanos, only points to the Neo-Baroque quality of his thought and of his work. For the exclusive, disjunctive binary oppositions of surface (the linguistic, non-sense experiments of Trilce) and depth (the political engagement of the Marxian project in Poemas humanos, Espana, and El tungsteno) are kept unresolved viz. a dialectical poetics. This is achieved, as we will see in the pages that follow, through an understanding of the soul/body of literature/politics that simultaneously embraces the immanent and the transcendental dimension of man; which is why for Vallejo the revolution was as much a struggle for language (langue/parole) as it was a struggle for economic justice (Communist Society/Kingdom of God): a practical as much as it was a theoretical endeavor. ―Suelo teorico y practico,‖ he wrote in ―Telurica y magnetica‖ (1987 90). 1Read More
Publication Year: 2008
Publication Date: 2008-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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