Poetry
Los gemidos
Not translated into English
Pablo de Rokha · 1922
Synopsis
A series of songs in which a lyric subject seeks to order a world in pieces through a personal reading of life. Will and knowledge confront human suffering; God and Satan, Good and Evil, the fall from which knowledge is born are set against each other, and fragmentation spreads to the themes, the writing and even the typography. According to Naín Nómez, the subject attains knowledge of things through pain. One section, the Epitalamio, is a love song to Winétt, the poet's wife, in the manner of the Song of Songs.
Context
The book appeared in 1922 at the author's own expense and was met with rejection or indifference: Alone saw in it a pathological post-war literature, and Raúl Silva Castro the exaggeration of bad taste, according to Memoria Chilena. Neruda was one of the few to speak of it at first. Naín Nómez makes its author, from this book onwards, one of the most innovative poets in Latin America. Memoria Chilena notes the influence of Rabelais, Voltaire, Nietzsche and Schopenhauer; a second edition appeared in 1994.
Who it is for
A long book of poems without respite, in a language in rupture; no French or English translation.
Prizes and reception
Poorly received in 1922, it has since been regarded as a foundational work of the Spanish-American avant-garde, according to Memoria Chilena.