Ricardo H. Herrera:
Poetry for export
(full version in the print edition)
Anthology of Twentieth-Century Poetry Argentina
Daniel Samoilovich
Selection English translation Andrew Graham-Yooll
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship
For the simple reason that this bilingual book (English-English) was sponsored by the national government, in order to be exposed in the "Book Fair" Frankfurt, representing our country as a condition of "Guest of Honor 2010" - would be unreasonable to consider that we are facing an anthology more, one of many that have been published recently. There is no such thing at all, the only internationally aimed for in the book proves it. This is, obviously, a thoughtful purpose, which aims to bring the global publishing market the demand for an updated product, comparable to any reader cosmopolitan, as it puts in sync avant-garde and the temporary extension is usually labeled with the letterhead "Siglo XX". Nothing I just joined in the book suggests, lack a prologue that take over the literary operation has been carried out, however the consistency of clear talk about it: nothing is casual. It remains strongly the policy of fait accompli, since the book was put to work in areas where no explanation is needed. On the other hand, intramural, who asked or needed in the poetic explanations of "viva la pepa" we live?
the automatic result of programmatic intent just mentioned (XXth century avant-garde), the beginning of last century coincides for autologous-Daniel Samoilovich (renowned poet) - with the writing of the first texts of Oliverio Girondo, dated in 1920. In order to converge the beginning of the century with the advent of modernism, the twentieth century samoilovichiano starts with a couple of decades late. It is important to compensate for this temporary removal with the addition of the first decade of XXI century, when several poet-Bellessi, Gruss, Rosemberg-collected his works. As it appears that the next ten years may be placed well within the century of yore, the century promised in the title of the anthology will eventually be completed in the near future. I say this because it is clear that the avant-garde has no view of eclipse from the moment it has a very generous official endorsement. If
Although the book lacks a preface in which the autologous justify its strategy is clear to any reader with a minimum of historical sense of chronology is ignored on purpose, to leave room for a poet and literary offspring it generated, a poet who published his first extraordinary book just three years before the start of the twentieth century. I mean Gold Mountains Leopoldo Lugones. No other poet in this anthology that can display an exordium of similar power, much less a substantial renewal and development as the promise of poetry in him. Lugones is not a nineteenth-century author who can be regarded as evidence not only that the all of this work was written between 1897 and 1938, but also the profound influence of his verbal mastery. Even the traumatic legacy of human contradictions-so painfully opposed to its full integrity is prolific artist, talks about the confusion of a man overwhelmed by circumstance, not reaped spoils from their mistakes, but only bitterness and loneliness. Moreover, in the decade of the thirties, did Yeats, Eliot and Pound, among many other poets admired by Samoilovich, did not commit political errors similar to Lugones, without weighing upon them a sentence of eternal ostracism? Martínez Estrada has only been able to go to meet a critical Lugones generous, similar to that shown by Yeats Auden: You were silly like us: your gift Survived it all, / The Parish of Rich Women, physical decay, / Yourself ...
The author's creative parable mountains of gold is so complex and such an abundance that I believe makes it impossible to apply the reductive perspective that has been used to organize this collection. Besides being one of the greatest architects of the English language, Lugones exerted a demonstrable well teaching three generations of poets who followed him: the postmodernists, the martinfierristas and forties. Lugones born of his poetic modernity in our language, of their secular Odes "And its derivatives: Poemas Romances ancestral and Rio Seco-consciousness of the spirit of the place. A number of excellent books by authors after him originated in the latter aspect: Earth sunrise, Cuaderno San Martín, Luz provincial Five Southern Poems, Odes on the shores of an ancient river, the Salado River Ballad, Country of ours, and so on. So leave out Lugones brings with it the logical consequence of the devaluation of all the descendants poetic postmodern disappearance of large caliber Banchs and Fernandez-Moreno, among others, demerit important poets of the generation martinfierrista-Borges, Mastronardi, Molinari , Marechal, and the total elimination of the poets of the forties (as Olga Orozco, the only poet included in the book that could fit within that line, makes a single appearance to honor Girri girrianamente, when in fact their entire work Molinari drift of Odes). Borges, Mastronardi and Molinari are placed below the level of Girondo; discounted as not only does the area of \u200b\u200bdemonstration of his poetry, but also you have to do with the approach that has made the sample. Oliverio Length Girondo appears in the selection of Samoilovich (oozing vitality from every pore), while Borges Mastronardi Molinari and are captured in glimpses that give a complete picture of the relevance of their work. Borges put under Girondo is so unwise as to deny Lugones is to lose the sense of proportion (the impressive bibliography of both poets is more than enough to settle the question objectively.)
Samoilovich strategy is comfortable, yes, it ignores the devilish problem of undertaking a comprehensive anthology of poetry of the twentieth century Argentine split, avoiding the conflict that would entail taking over the difficulty stems from the verb bring Lugones and the battered Borges colloquialism word sixties prevailing after them. Hence, perhaps, the lack of a necessary prologue to account for an absence as conspicuous as that of Lugones, and also try to explain the accelerating gap between quality and quantity generated in Argentina poetry from the second half of the twentieth century. Such disengagement allows Samoilovich together in a concise volume organic-and his way-what a predictable Poetry Journal reader, or an inexperienced English Scholler, considered as the most meritorious of the last century poetry. However, Lugones dispensed in the name of aesthetic implemented since the sixties, is more pernicious than do literary strategy betting on a politically correct canon: it is evading the intelligence of the reader the complex fabric of an era, is pandering to ignorance. In fact, the forty authors selected, only the first nine realize the poetry of the first half of the twentieth century (pp.12-73), thirty-one remaining enrolled in the second half, occupying three-quarters volume (pp.74-285) and willingly or unwillingly sliding down a slope that flows into the pole sixties. Demonizing
Lugones, fumigated by dint of repeated insults ideological or thunderous silence, as in this case, I think a short-range, the denial does not lead anywhere, sooner or later the cultural damage wrought by simplifications are accommodative will apparent. Five pages with the best poetry of Lugones thoroughly destabilized not only would this anthology, but that would have forced the author to reintroduce it as Leopoldo Lugones is the first half of the twentieth century what Juan Gelman to the second, he too, by therefore, deserves to be accompanied by the escort it, given that generated genuine instruments and high aesthetic quality. Borges, as we know, is above the domestic fray: it belongs to the world, not the suffocating closure of the Argentine provinces (the sample data sets aside Samoilovich with absolute peace of mind). Having given place to the voice of Lugones, it would become more complex tension between what is wished to emphasize and what is remarkable. The single "Dedication to the ancestors" of Poems manor with his close archaic resonance, the result of an inordinate love for the homeland and mother tongue, had been reduced to dust the ingenious nonsense of many inept (in the antipodes, by the way, Girondo genuine joy, who in our field-book is not by chance overlooked in the anthology "echoes the spirit and diction of that memorable poem.)
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