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Estudios sobre poesía española contemporánea
Luis Cernuda publicó sus Estudios sobre poesía española contemporánea en Madrid en 1957. Desde el día mismo en que el libro comenzó a circular, despertó reacciones muy fuertes en su contra. Y es que, al margen las numerosas observaciones agudas y originales que articulaban el texto, resultó insólita la dureza con que el sevillano trataba allí a varios poetas de prestigio. Cernuda seguramente fue injusto, y contradictorio, en algunas de sus apreciaciones. Pero, mirados ya desde la perspectiva actual, resulta evidente que sus Estudios tuvieron, entre otros grandes méritos, el de poner en entredicho las sofocantes normas y convenciones de la crítica literaria española del momento, reivindicando otra forma de aproximarse a la poesía que algunos lectores, entre ellos José Ángel Valente, Francisco Brines y Jaime Gil de Biedma, iban a encontrar no sólo refrescante, sino incluso liberadora. Como ya lo dijo José Emilio Pacheco, no hay nada más indispensable para una sociedad literaria que una conciencia auténticamente crítica, como la de Cernuda, siempre dispuesta a nadar contra «Leer o escuchar juicios contrarios a los nuestros es un ejercicio espiritual. El valor de una obra se prueba más en la negación que en la alabanza». Luis Cernuda. A diferencia de otros poetas de su generación, de éxito más o menos inmediato, Luis Cernuda (1902-1963) fue elaborando su obra un poco al margen del mundo literario de su día, confiado en que su poesía iría creando su propio público poco a poco. La aparición en 1936 de la primera edición de su obra poética, La realidad y el deseo, contó con una muy buena crítica; sin embargo, el estallido de la guerra civil impidió que se consolidara entonces su reputación. Después de la guerra, en que tomó partido con la República, se exilió, primero en Gran Bretaña (1938-1947) y después en Estados Unidos (1947-1952) y México (1952-1963). La importancia de sus lecturas de poesía inglesa para su obra ha sido resaltada, con razón, por la crítica. En México Cernuda publicó una segunda edición ampliada de La realidad y el deseo (1940) y también una tercera (1958). Fue asimismo en México donde escribió los poemas de Desolación de la Quimera (1962) y dos de sus libros de crítica Estudios sobre poesía española contemporánea (1957) y Pensamiento poético en la lírica inglesa (siglo XIX). Después de su muerte en noviembre de 1963, su influencia en la poesía española contemporánea ha ido creciendo sin parar.
264 pages, Paperback
Published March 20, 2019
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About the author
Luis Cernuda
105 books94 followersLuis Cernuda was a Spanish poet and literary critic.
The son of a military man, Cernuda received a strict education as a child, and then studied law at the University of Seville, where he met the poet and literature professor Pedro Salinas. In 1928, after his mother died, Cernuda left his hometown, with which he had all his life an intense love-hate relationship. He briefly moved to Madrid, where he quickly became part of the literary scene. However, his detached, timid and morose character, his search of perfection frequently made him lose friendships and popularity.
His mentor and former professor Salinas arranged for him to take a lectureship for a year at the University of Toulouse. From June 1929 until 1937 Cernuda lived in Madrid and participated actively in the literary and cultural scene of the Spanish capital. Cernuda collaborated with many organisations working to support a more liberal and tolerant Spain. He participated in the Second Congress of Anti-Fascist Intellectuals in Valencia.
During the Spanish Civil War a friend secured him a position as teacher in Cranleigh School, where he taught Spanish Language and literature. After WWII another friend got him a lectureship in Holyoke, Massachusetts, USA, where he would spend some years. Later on, moved by his sentimental relationships, he would move to Mexico, where he died.
The central concerns of this poet are evident in the title of his life's major opus: La realidad y el deseo ("Reality and Desire"). He published his first collection of verse, Perfil del aire ("Air's profile"), in 1927. Several books followed, and he collected new and already published poetry under this title in 1936. Subsequent editions would include new poetry as new books inside La realidad y el deseo. Expanded on almost until his death in 1963, in this work the poet explores desire, love, subject, object, history and sexuality in poems which draw influences from romanticism, classicism, and the surrealist avant-garde. Besides verse, he also published a collection of reminiscent prose poems, 'Ocnos', about his childhood in Seville.
Cernuda is known as a member of the Generation of '27, a group of Spanish poets and artists including Federico García Lorca. He broke new ground with Los Placeres Prohibidos ("Forbidden Pleasures"), an avant-garde work in which the poet used surrealism to explore his sexuality. During his British period he became deeply familiar with English poetry, which he would admire for its containment and lack of superfluous artifice and paraphernalia. He would also translate several poems and plays into Spanish. He would comment that translating Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida made him intensely happy.
Deeply influenced by André Gide, Cernuda embraced his homosexuality at an early age and made homosexual desire and love the core of his poetry. Or, at least, unlike other gay poets at the time, in his poetry he was never ambiguous about the fact that the objects of his desire and love were men. One of the most influential poets in contemporary Spanish poetry, he is definitely a crucial ground-breaking figure for homosexual writing in Spanish.
During the Spanish Civil War, deeply moved by the assassination of Federico Garcia Lorca, Cernuda fled to England, where he began an exile that later took him to France, Scotland, Massachusetts (Mount Holyoke College), California and finally settling in Mexico; he never returned to Spain. He never married and had no children.
His major English language critics include Derek Harris and Phillip Silver.
The son of a military man, Cernuda received a strict education as a child, and then studied law at the University of Seville, where he met the poet and literature professor Pedro Salinas. In 1928, after his mother died, Cernuda left his hometown, with which he had all his life an intense love-hate relationship. He briefly moved to Madrid, where he quickly became part of the literary scene. However, his detached, timid and morose character, his search of perfection frequently made him lose friendships and popularity.
His mentor and former professor Salinas arranged for him to take a lectureship for a year at the University of Toulouse. From June 1929 until 1937 Cernuda lived in Madrid and participated actively in the literary and cultural scene of the Spanish capital. Cernuda collaborated with many organisations working to support a more liberal and tolerant Spain. He participated in the Second Congress of Anti-Fascist Intellectuals in Valencia.
During the Spanish Civil War a friend secured him a position as teacher in Cranleigh School, where he taught Spanish Language and literature. After WWII another friend got him a lectureship in Holyoke, Massachusetts, USA, where he would spend some years. Later on, moved by his sentimental relationships, he would move to Mexico, where he died.
The central concerns of this poet are evident in the title of his life's major opus: La realidad y el deseo ("Reality and Desire"). He published his first collection of verse, Perfil del aire ("Air's profile"), in 1927. Several books followed, and he collected new and already published poetry under this title in 1936. Subsequent editions would include new poetry as new books inside La realidad y el deseo. Expanded on almost until his death in 1963, in this work the poet explores desire, love, subject, object, history and sexuality in poems which draw influences from romanticism, classicism, and the surrealist avant-garde. Besides verse, he also published a collection of reminiscent prose poems, 'Ocnos', about his childhood in Seville.
Cernuda is known as a member of the Generation of '27, a group of Spanish poets and artists including Federico García Lorca. He broke new ground with Los Placeres Prohibidos ("Forbidden Pleasures"), an avant-garde work in which the poet used surrealism to explore his sexuality. During his British period he became deeply familiar with English poetry, which he would admire for its containment and lack of superfluous artifice and paraphernalia. He would also translate several poems and plays into Spanish. He would comment that translating Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida made him intensely happy.
Deeply influenced by André Gide, Cernuda embraced his homosexuality at an early age and made homosexual desire and love the core of his poetry. Or, at least, unlike other gay poets at the time, in his poetry he was never ambiguous about the fact that the objects of his desire and love were men. One of the most influential poets in contemporary Spanish poetry, he is definitely a crucial ground-breaking figure for homosexual writing in Spanish.
During the Spanish Civil War, deeply moved by the assassination of Federico Garcia Lorca, Cernuda fled to England, where he began an exile that later took him to France, Scotland, Massachusetts (Mount Holyoke College), California and finally settling in Mexico; he never returned to Spain. He never married and had no children.
His major English language critics include Derek Harris and Phillip Silver.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 10, 2022
Cernuda es a menudo mordaz y áspero. Se notan ciertas inquinas. Personalmente, creo que esto hace el libro más divertido. Por otro lado, creo que hace algunas anotaciones muy interesantes y que, salvo alguna cosilla, su trabajo crítico es más que loable, por mucho que la introducción de Valender trate de rebajar el valor del texto, tomando notas muy puntuales que desvirtúan lo que dice realmente, forzando al extremo, curiosamente algo que trata de criticarle al poeta. La crítica ni es objetiva ni debe serlo, otra cosa es el valor y el papel que cumpla. Claro está, esto no siempre es cómodo para los egos y los gustos personales cuando se ven amenazados.
October 17, 2023
Cernuda hablando de Bécquer... Yo digo Sí.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews