Article
Welcome to Colombian poetry - January 2005
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January 18, 2006
In Colombia we had none of the avant-garde excitement that swept Peru, Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico and Central America, just one solitary poet, Luis Vidales, who was snubbed and reviled by Colombian conservatives. His was a revolutionary voice in our midst, from the literary as well as the political point of view: Vidales was also one of the founders of the Communist Party of Colombia.
Considering that Colombia has suffered many civil wars since the beginning of its republican existence (including one in the last 40 years) it is surprising that the panorama of its poetry (narrative poetry has been more extensive) has not been saturated by the violence in the midst of which it has been written; indeed, sometimes one has the impression that poets have turned their back on their immediate environment.
Exceptions, like the poetry of Gabriel Jaime Franco, only seem to prove the rule. Poetry has no set themes, or everything is its theme, but it is at least strange that a reality as tough and sometimes overwhelming as Colombia’s has not in the long term touched all the activities of its inhabitants – including the spiritual and aesthetic. Translated by Nicolás Suescún
In terms of literary history (supposing provisionally that poetry is a literary genre), Colombia’s has been perhaps the most conservative poetry in the Spanish language. However, this characteristic has not always been a burden, since many of our poets were able to incorporate tradition free of formal tricks and crazes.
The Latin American avant-garde at the beginning of the 20th century was not, aesthetically or politically, an organic and uniform movement. Although some poets were shrill, others Messianic or naïve, and many obstinate, they were all united in their rejection of the rigid styles of Spanish American modernism, and above all of its imitative verbiage; and they all contributed to renewing and expanding the scope of the poetry of our continent. It was from the avant-garde that poets such as Huidobro, Borges and Vallejo sprang, to mention only three of our greatest poets of the 20th century.In Colombia we had none of the avant-garde excitement that swept Peru, Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico and Central America, just one solitary poet, Luis Vidales, who was snubbed and reviled by Colombian conservatives. His was a revolutionary voice in our midst, from the literary as well as the political point of view: Vidales was also one of the founders of the Communist Party of Colombia.
Considering that Colombia has suffered many civil wars since the beginning of its republican existence (including one in the last 40 years) it is surprising that the panorama of its poetry (narrative poetry has been more extensive) has not been saturated by the violence in the midst of which it has been written; indeed, sometimes one has the impression that poets have turned their back on their immediate environment.
Exceptions, like the poetry of Gabriel Jaime Franco, only seem to prove the rule. Poetry has no set themes, or everything is its theme, but it is at least strange that a reality as tough and sometimes overwhelming as Colombia’s has not in the long term touched all the activities of its inhabitants – including the spiritual and aesthetic. Translated by Nicolás Suescún
© Gabriel Jaime Franco
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