Poetry
Poems and Antipoems
Poemas y antipoemas
Nicanor Parra · 1954
Synopsis
The collection runs from more narrative poems, in regular rhyme, to the antipoems that give it its title, charged with irony and sarcasm, peopled with characters of no grandeur and written in the common language. According to Marlene Gottlieb, in “Autorretrato”, “Recuerdos de juventud” or “El túnel”, a character close to the poet addresses the public without the author intervening; the one in the “Soliloquio del individuo” recounts a life that merges with the history of civilisation. Satires, memories of youth and criticism of the surrounding world stand side by side with a sacrilegious “San Antonio”.
Context
Published in Santiago by Nascimento in 1954, two years after its author's return to Chile, the book received that year the Writers' Union prize, then in 1955 the Santiago municipal prize, which hailed a renewal of Chilean poetic writing. Against Neruda's solemn voice, Biografías y Vidas hears in it a colloquial speech open to humour, and critics saw in it a turning point in Spanish American poetry. A selection appeared in English under the title Poems and Antipoems with New Directions in 1967; Éditions du Seuil published in 2017 a bilingual edition, Poèmes et antipoèmes, prefaced by Philippe Lançon.
Who it is for
Poems of all lengths, in spoken language, often funny; translated into French and, for a selection, into English.
Prizes and reception
Awarded prizes in 1954 and 1955, regarded by Memoria Chilena as a break in Chilean poetry.
Sources for this page 6
The pages consulted to check this page.