Article
Welcome to Colombian poetry - November 2002
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January 18, 2006
Under the insular figure of Silva, a new generation of poets grew up. His insularity tended to be repeated, in poets like Porfirio Barba Jacob, the errant flame, in the elusive and delightful León de Greiff, whose complicated work precludes any epigone, and in Luis Carlos Lopez and his complete provincial universe.
The late avant-garde of 1926 produced Luis Vidales, an outstanding author with a very popular and revolutionary book, Suenan Timbres - The Doorbells Ring. A number of renowned figures appeared parallel to this in the local ambiance, such as Eduardo Carranza and German Pardo, who represents the weak and outdated romanticism over which the avant-garde had laid a tombstone.
The middle of the 20th century saw the emergence of the cult generation of the magazine Mito. Poets like Jorge Gaitán Durán, Eduardo Cote Lamus, Alvaro Mutis, and Aurelio Arturo brought Colombian poetry closer to contemporary European culture, rudely awoke it from its secular sleep and freed it from its attachment to a conservative, formal and elitist rhetoric. Gonzalo Arango, the founder of the Nadaista –Naughtist-, movement was intellectually inspired by the philosophy of Fernando Gonzalez. This movement did not rejuvenate just poetry and art. The vital and philosophical attitude of the 1960s generation, in spite of the poor artistic results the critics attribute to it, returned to poetry its lost role: that one of being by everybody, for everybody. At the same time, another group of poets with a less aggressive and public attitude than that of the Nadaístas appeared. They did not present themselves as a generation with an integrated group programme, but as a loose collective of isolated poets with their own proposals, at some time gathered around magazines like Acuarimantima, and known under very contemporary names as the "O Generation". Some still play an important role in Colombian literature, like Jose Manuel Arango, Giovanni Quessep, Juan Gustavo Cobo Borda and Juan Manuel Roca, whose individual works are highly distinct and diverse.
Although there is a tendency to label Juan Manuel Roca, Raúl Henao and Rafael Patiño "the image generation", their paths, development and degrees of success are in fact very different. It is the individuality of their work that is much more evident than any collective attitude.
One of the most relevant efforts of the actual generation was the launch of the literary magazine Prometeo. Not only has Prometeo published the most prominent of universal poets, it has also organized the most important Latino American Poets Encounter, and one of the biggest festivals in the world, the International Poetry Festival of Medellin. Prometeo has gathered a working team of new poets like Gabriel Jaime Franco and Fernando Rendón, who keep this important poetic project alive.
The history of Colombian poetry begins with the polished line of Hernando Dominguez Camargo, the selfish reflection of Don Luis de Góngora.
After passing through a formal labyrinth, where poetry was characterized by the decadent tone of a romanticism accomplished by untruthful translators, Colombian poetry comes to life with José Asunción Silva. A 19th century poet, Silva is considered by many to be the precursor of modernism in America, even more so than Ruben Dario himself. Under the insular figure of Silva, a new generation of poets grew up. His insularity tended to be repeated, in poets like Porfirio Barba Jacob, the errant flame, in the elusive and delightful León de Greiff, whose complicated work precludes any epigone, and in Luis Carlos Lopez and his complete provincial universe.
The late avant-garde of 1926 produced Luis Vidales, an outstanding author with a very popular and revolutionary book, Suenan Timbres - The Doorbells Ring. A number of renowned figures appeared parallel to this in the local ambiance, such as Eduardo Carranza and German Pardo, who represents the weak and outdated romanticism over which the avant-garde had laid a tombstone.
The middle of the 20th century saw the emergence of the cult generation of the magazine Mito. Poets like Jorge Gaitán Durán, Eduardo Cote Lamus, Alvaro Mutis, and Aurelio Arturo brought Colombian poetry closer to contemporary European culture, rudely awoke it from its secular sleep and freed it from its attachment to a conservative, formal and elitist rhetoric. Gonzalo Arango, the founder of the Nadaista –Naughtist-, movement was intellectually inspired by the philosophy of Fernando Gonzalez. This movement did not rejuvenate just poetry and art. The vital and philosophical attitude of the 1960s generation, in spite of the poor artistic results the critics attribute to it, returned to poetry its lost role: that one of being by everybody, for everybody. At the same time, another group of poets with a less aggressive and public attitude than that of the Nadaístas appeared. They did not present themselves as a generation with an integrated group programme, but as a loose collective of isolated poets with their own proposals, at some time gathered around magazines like Acuarimantima, and known under very contemporary names as the "O Generation". Some still play an important role in Colombian literature, like Jose Manuel Arango, Giovanni Quessep, Juan Gustavo Cobo Borda and Juan Manuel Roca, whose individual works are highly distinct and diverse.
Although there is a tendency to label Juan Manuel Roca, Raúl Henao and Rafael Patiño "the image generation", their paths, development and degrees of success are in fact very different. It is the individuality of their work that is much more evident than any collective attitude.
One of the most relevant efforts of the actual generation was the launch of the literary magazine Prometeo. Not only has Prometeo published the most prominent of universal poets, it has also organized the most important Latino American Poets Encounter, and one of the biggest festivals in the world, the International Poetry Festival of Medellin. Prometeo has gathered a working team of new poets like Gabriel Jaime Franco and Fernando Rendón, who keep this important poetic project alive.
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