El lenguaje del deseo

by Hadewijch, María Tabuyo (Editor)

Es conocida la estrecha relación existente entre el movimiento comunal, el desarrollo de las ciudades y la renovación de la espiritualidad que tiene lugar a finales de la Baja Edad Media. Mucho menos conocido, sin embargo, es el importante papel que en este proceso jugaron algunas mujeres. Los poemas que aquí se traducen por primera vez al castellano, se escribieron hace ya siete siglos y, sin embargo, su autora y el movimiento de beguinas en que se encuadra son nombres que nada dicen. Las beguinas, mujeres de diversas clases sociales, al mismo tiempo contemplativas y activas, que poseían una elevada cultura religiosa y literaria integrada en su vida y en su experiencia espiritual y que, fuera de los claustros, sin reglas ni votos, mostraban gran familiaridad con la Biblia, con la liturgia y con los clásicos, se inspiran para sus composiciones en la poesía del amor cortés, de la que toman sus expresiones, con un vocabulario en parte nuevo. Estos «Poemas» —45 poemas estróficos y 16 de rimas masculinas y femeninas alternas— se asemejan a un único y extenso poema con variaciones sin fin, a la manera de la poesía de la «fin'amor» trovadoresca, en los que canta a su Dama, transfiriendo con entera libertad el servicio del amor cortés a la Divinidad.

Genres: Poetry

153 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1999

About the author

Hadewijch was a 13th-century poet and mystic, probably living in the Duchy of Brabant. Most of her extant writings are in a Brabantian form of Middle Dutch. Her writings include visions, prose letters and poetry. Hadewijch was one of the most important direct influences on John of Ruysbroeck.

Reviews

[Grand Logothete · Rating 5 out of 5]

"El Lenguaje Del Deseo" (The Language of Desire) is an anthology of poems by the renowned Flemish mystic Hadewijch. Unlike other English editions, her correspondence and visions are unfortunately not to be found here, but the poems are so elegant and evocative that one forgives the lack of prose writings to help interpret them, permitting one to joyfully plunge and lose oneself within their lush, emotional and mystical conceptions, in a fashion not dissimilar to the self annihilation the sensible Beguine woman so often describes.

Her poems in stanzas (Strophische Gedichten) mostly consist on variations on a recurring theme of renewal or survival from Love's prickly, oftentimes unjust and surprising whims, introducing as a comparison the animal or plant life that endures and recovers from the harsh, almost deadly Winter, to witness the blooming and blindingly bright Spring. From this typical introduction, she usually carries on developing her thoughts on Love, taken most probably as a metaphor of God, Love as a divine, capricious, unfathomable entity, capable of imposing the direst ordeals of unbearable emotional and psychological suffering, but also of rewarding the firm and resolute spirits that find strength among adversity, bestowing the ultimate gift of supreme elation.

She describes her struggle and hardship during the periods when Love seems to view her as a target for its almost sadistic torment, but always bearing in mind and nurturing the possibility of her outcome as a winner. The perplexity of this inconstant and incessant instability clearly weighs on her, wearing her into the verge of despair frequently, while managing to retain the thought of kindling a light with the hope that it will turn into a ravishing flaming conflagration. Her uncluttered poetic vocabulary perambulates naturally with melodious flow, aided by a disarming simplicity, shaping liaisons and interactions that feel surprisingly carnal, bordering the erotic, with suggestions of total submission to Love's violent impulses, and its unwavering appeal notwithstanding its persisting deception, arousing images of addiction. Certainly, there's a kind of modernist, barrier-breaking, all-out exposure vibe, even if subdued under its religious frame, that feels somewhat avant-garde but most importantly, undeniably authentic.

One the other hand, the poems in couplets (Mengeldichten) are mostly comprised of equally radiant, albeit more intellectually inclined, exhortations to surrender and release from reason, so as to reach the zenith of mystic realization, an omega point of sorts, to borrow a concept from a theologian. In these poems, there's a familiar apophatic sense that beams back to other Christian Neo-Platonic sources of spirituality, such as the "Mystical Theology" of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite or "The Cloud of Unknowing". While aiming back in time, one should also add that readers fond of the writings that were penned afterwards bySt. John of the Cross or St. Teresa de Ávila will probably draw much enjoyment from these verses too. Additionally, many passages from these "letters on rhyme" actually resemble as well the sayings of Sufi masters such as Ibn Arabi, Ibn Ata Allah or the famous "Treatise on Unity", ascribed by some to Ibn Arabi as well. These "singed epistles" are outstanding on their own and deserve no less attention than her other poems in stanzas.

Hadewijch take on spiritual Love is exhilarating for all the reasons described above and many more. Her characterization of the vivifying, equalizing, authoritarian, irresponsible, frenzied and conclusively paradoxical nature of Love is unforeseen and doubtlessly with poetical and literary merit enough to justify her perception as the first great Flemish (Brabantian?) author. While the interest to explore the Beguine literature had already sown a seed a long time ago, these poems acted as rainwater that will likely direct one faster towards other distinct medieval mystics like Marguerite Porete, Mechtild von Magdeburg, Meister Eckhart, Henry Suso, Johannes Tauler and Jan van Ruusbroec.

[Sergi]

Me resulta un poco extraño leer acerca de autoras de hace tanto y con un tema que no domino mucho como es la espiritualidad cristiana europea y me voy con más preguntas que respuestas, pero esto me incita a seguir leyendo y entendiendo todo este mundo. Sin embargo, he disfrutado mucho leyendo sobre Hadewijch de Amberes y su poesía. Supongo que aquí sigue mi viaje por la espiritualidad cristiana y su relación con el deseo.

[Carla Lucia · Rating 5 out of 5]

En lo más profundo de su Sabiduría aprenderás lo que es él y qué maravillosa suavidad es para los amantes habitar en el otro: cada uno habita en el otro de tal manera que ninguno de ellos sabría distinguirse. Pero gozan recíprocamente uno del otro, boca con boca, corazón con corazón, cuerpo con cuerpo, alma con alma, y una misma naturaleza divina fluye y traspasa a ambos.
Cada uno está en el otro y los dos pasan a ser la misma cosa, y así han de quedar (Carta 9).
[...] porque los amantes no acostumbran a esconderse uno del otro, sino a compartir mucho en la experiencia íntima que hacen juntos: uno disfruta del otro y se lo come y se lo bebe y lo engulle enteramente... (Carta 11).


Hadewijch, querida, todos los poemas de mi Tfg son tuyos. Adoro como escribes, como desgarra tu deseo, tu espiritualidad, la carnalidad en la unión. Dios, la belleza y el Bien. Tú, Porete.. más alejada en el tiempo: Weil.
Ojalá fuéramos todas contemporáneas y nos tomáramos un café con bebida de avena juntas.