‘Estas rotas raíces’: landscape, memory and identity in Rafael Alberti's Baladas y canciones del Paraná
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Logan, Aileen [1]
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[1] University of St Andrews
University of St Andrews
Reino Unido
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- Localización: Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies, ISSN-e 1469-9524, ISSN 1470-1847, Vol. 17, Nº. 2-3, 2011 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Tres poetas de la Generación de la República: Alberti, Cernuda y Lorca), págs. 151-167
- Idioma: inglés
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
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Resumen
Rafael Alberti's collection of short poems, Baladas y canciones del Paraná (1953–1954), was written in exile in Argentina and inspired by his discovery of the Paraná River and its vast marshlands. This article examines how his relationship with the South American flatlands evolves throughout the three chapters of Baladas. The first section studies his initial attempts to relate to the Paraná fen country. It considers how he uses key features of the landscape in order to explore and symbolise his feelings of displacement in Argentina. The second section concentrates on the book's later chapters in which the exiled poet superimposes memories of Spain onto his immediate surroundings and questions the purpose of his poetry in a foreign land. The paper contends that, as Alberti gradually develops a deep spiritual bond with the American countryside, he discovers new sources of poetic inspiration and gains considerable insight into his exilic condition and his identity as a nomad.
