Artikel
Welcome to Colombian poetry - July 2004
18 januari 2006
The second half of the twentieth century brought a belated and noisy but refreshing avant-garde, one of whose few virtues was the fact that it was not an imitative movement, since it arose parallel to groups with similar concerns and proposals on the continent, such as the Beat Generation in the United States or El Techo de la Ballena in Venezuela. Colombia’s Nadaísmo, in spite of its poor aesthetic results, can boast of one outstanding voice: Jaime Jaramillo Escobar.
But the poets parallel to the Nadaísmo, less noisy and more reflexive, were the ones that truly renovated and lifted Colombian poetry to the level of the contemporary poetical production. Mario Rivero, Juan Manuel Roca, José Manuel Arango, Nicolás Suescún, Raúl Henao and María Mercedes Carranza are poets that, without a doubt, have produced solid and organic works.
Chronologically, the latest generations seem to have taken on the responsibility from their predecessors of maintaining a high level of Colombian poetry, and their production is as notable as the sheer number of poets involved, heralding a renewed poetical tradition in Colombia.
In short, the present condition of Colombian poetry is healthy, and its future is secured, not only by the actual production of poetry, but also by the interest in and passion for poetry of the Colombian people, which is truly exceptional in the world. The international poetry festivals of Bogotá and Medellín, the large number of poetry magazines and publications, national and regional poetry awards and workshops, are the very visible signs of this interest and passion.
How can one measure the impact of poetry and the influence of poets – their books, their public readings – on society? If we think of the works of the greatest poets in history as the spiritual heritage of the world, we must ask ourselves: has poetry transformed human beings? Has it strengthened their possibilities of survival and development, as well as their individual and collective ideals? With what parameters can we measure the impact of the International Poetry Festival of Medellín on the violent Colombian society at the beginning of the twenty-first century?
The International Poetry Festival of Medellín is a truly exceptional event. As the German poet and philosopher Hans Magnus Enzensberger said about it:
There is an enigma in all of this; one asks oneself how it is possible that this metropolis of violence burns with the desire to listen to poetry . . . Maybe it is necessary to travel to the other end of the earth to leave behind that atmosphere of insensibility that prevails in our cultural circles, and to convince oneself that a few verses – who could have imagined it? – can still, today, breathe spirit into a whole city, just as in Homeric times . . . The most impressive thing about it is the public. I think that for all, and also for those who come from Europe, this vast, attentive public, informed about the different registers of poetry, is a great surprise . . . A public that does not listen passively, that shows it has discernment and sensibility . . .
The next issue of the Colombian magazine will appear on October 1. Translated by Nicolás Suescún
For more information on the International Poetry Festival of Medellín, see this {id="1249" title="essay"} by Nicolás Suescún.
It is still debated in Colombia whether or not there is a national poetic tradition. But in poetry, traditions are increasingly less national. It is very difficult to talk about poetry as ‘typically’ French, German, Colombian, or any other nationality, because poetry itself, by virtue of moving within the territory of absolute freedom and of exploring the illuminated zones of the human spirit, rejects barbed wire fences and frontiers since its obsession is, in good measure, to make them disappear. However, it is impossible to ignore the existence of certain specific facts.
Colombia is one of the few Latin American countries that did not see an outburst of the avant-garde at the beginning of the twentieth century, with the solitary exception of Luis Vidales. One could even say that Colombian poetry is marked by two characteristics: on the one hand, its formal conservatism, a kind of fear to explore and create havoc in the territory of language; on the other hand, its tradition seems to be punctuated by insular figures, solitary voices that stand out among its plentiful production, such as José Asunción Silva, Porfirio Barba Jacob, León de Greiff, Jorge Gaitán Durán, Aurelio Arturo and Alvaro Mutis. The second half of the twentieth century brought a belated and noisy but refreshing avant-garde, one of whose few virtues was the fact that it was not an imitative movement, since it arose parallel to groups with similar concerns and proposals on the continent, such as the Beat Generation in the United States or El Techo de la Ballena in Venezuela. Colombia’s Nadaísmo, in spite of its poor aesthetic results, can boast of one outstanding voice: Jaime Jaramillo Escobar.
But the poets parallel to the Nadaísmo, less noisy and more reflexive, were the ones that truly renovated and lifted Colombian poetry to the level of the contemporary poetical production. Mario Rivero, Juan Manuel Roca, José Manuel Arango, Nicolás Suescún, Raúl Henao and María Mercedes Carranza are poets that, without a doubt, have produced solid and organic works.
Chronologically, the latest generations seem to have taken on the responsibility from their predecessors of maintaining a high level of Colombian poetry, and their production is as notable as the sheer number of poets involved, heralding a renewed poetical tradition in Colombia.
In short, the present condition of Colombian poetry is healthy, and its future is secured, not only by the actual production of poetry, but also by the interest in and passion for poetry of the Colombian people, which is truly exceptional in the world. The international poetry festivals of Bogotá and Medellín, the large number of poetry magazines and publications, national and regional poetry awards and workshops, are the very visible signs of this interest and passion.
How can one measure the impact of poetry and the influence of poets – their books, their public readings – on society? If we think of the works of the greatest poets in history as the spiritual heritage of the world, we must ask ourselves: has poetry transformed human beings? Has it strengthened their possibilities of survival and development, as well as their individual and collective ideals? With what parameters can we measure the impact of the International Poetry Festival of Medellín on the violent Colombian society at the beginning of the twenty-first century?
The International Poetry Festival of Medellín is a truly exceptional event. As the German poet and philosopher Hans Magnus Enzensberger said about it:
There is an enigma in all of this; one asks oneself how it is possible that this metropolis of violence burns with the desire to listen to poetry . . . Maybe it is necessary to travel to the other end of the earth to leave behind that atmosphere of insensibility that prevails in our cultural circles, and to convince oneself that a few verses – who could have imagined it? – can still, today, breathe spirit into a whole city, just as in Homeric times . . . The most impressive thing about it is the public. I think that for all, and also for those who come from Europe, this vast, attentive public, informed about the different registers of poetry, is a great surprise . . . A public that does not listen passively, that shows it has discernment and sensibility . . .
The next issue of the Colombian magazine will appear on October 1. Translated by Nicolás Suescún
For more information on the International Poetry Festival of Medellín, see this {id="1249" title="essay"} by Nicolás Suescún.
© Gabriel Jaime Franco
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