Poetry
Adiós a Escuque
Not translated into English
Ramón Palomares · 1974
Synopsis
The collection appeared in Mérida in 1974. Its poems speak the language of the poet's native village, with the voseo of the Andes and the familiarity of common speech, and the Andean press sees in them the founding of a language on the science of the concrete. In one of them, “Pajarito que venís tan cansado”, the speaker addresses a tired little bird perched on a stone, would like to hold it to his heart and feed it, and recognises in it Polyhymnia, the muse of sacred poetry. No source describes the book as a whole in any more detail.
Context
The book, published by the University of Mérida in 1974, earned its author the country's highest literary award, in 1974, 1975 or 1977 depending on the source. Diario de Los Andes regards it as his most profound book, and the critic Patricia Guzmán observes that the whole body of work feeds on the speech of his village. Escuque returns even in the late anthology Vuelta a casa, devoted to the return to the native place, and the Ministry of Culture sums up this poetry as peasant feeling and longing for Andean landscapes.
Who it is for
A collection in Spanish, with no translation; it helps to know the speech of the Venezuelan Andes, which uses the old-fashioned informal form of address.
Prizes and reception
Crowned by the State, and for a Mérida daily one of the most significant books of the country's poetry.
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