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t h r e e s p a n i s h p o e t s:
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M A R K O S T R O W S K I
Selection, notes and translations by Mark Ostrowski
Roger Wolfe
Karmelo C. Iribarren
Pablo García Casado
PICK UP THE WEEKEND EDITION of any national daily in Spain nowadays and
it's hard not to find heated commentary on the Banesto banking crisis, the
fluctuating price of butane gas or poetry. Poetry? Yes, poetry. The
proponents of traditional verse are up in arms against the so-called
experiential school of poetry, and 1997 marked the year of their most
intense fusillade in the print media. Whether claiming the popularity of
the experiential school is the callous result of a successful marketing
strategy (El País 2-16-97) or accusing them of having a lock on the
top three publishing houses in the country (El Mundo 2-15-97),
nothing has helped to diminish the interest in these poetas de la
experiencia. Detractors have even resorted to calling them
delinquents (El Correo de Andalucía 3-14-97), but the use of such
ad hominem tactics only seems to suggest the lack of serious critical
inquiry on their part.
With recent publications that garnered both critical and popular acclaim,
the poets included here-Wolfe, Iribarren and García Casado-represent three
of the more extreme voices of this recent shift in Spanish poetry. But
why all the fuss? Their lyricism derives not from metaphors, but from the
rhythms of everyday speech. Their approach is fiercely anti-academic;
their subject matter, quotidian. In short: their way of using the
language of Cervantes has many traditionalists calling for a full-fledged
war that, for the moment, amounts to one side writing poetry while the
other takes journalistic potshots.
Although Roger Wolfe (Kent, 1962) was born in England, he has
lived in Spain since the age of four. Among the most influential poets of
his generation, Wolfe is regarded as one of the premier stylists in the
Spanish language. In addition to two volumes of short stories, two books
of "essay-fiction" and one novel, he has published the following books of
poems: Diecisiete poemas (1986), Días perdidos en los
transportes públicos (1992), Hablando de pintura con un ciego
(1993), Arde Babilonia (1994) and Mensajes en botellas rotas
(1996; Messages in Broken Bottles). His next book of poetry, Cinco
años de cama, together with a volume of selected poems tentatively
called Noches de blanco papel, will be published later this year.
Until now, the only work of his to appear in English translation has been
the poem "Llámame" (translated as "Call Me") from Días perdidos en los
transportes públicos, which was published in a special issue of The
Literary Review ([1993] 36:3) dedicated to "The Literature of
Democratic Spain (1975-1992)". Wolfe appeared along with 37 other
prominent Spanish authors from the covered period, including such writers
as Camilo José Cela, Juan Marsé, Vázquez Montalbán, Rafael Alberti and
Ángel González.
ROGER WOLFE From Messages in Broken Bottles
Karmelo C. Iribarren (San Sebastián, 1959) made his literary
debut in 1993 with the chapbook Bares y Noches. The fact that
Iribarren was already in his thirties when he began publishing poems
constitutes just one of the ways in which he resembles his hard-living
American predecessor, Charles Bukowski. In his first full-length book of
poetry, La condición urbana (1995), Iribarren continued crafting
the ironic, deceptively light musings that characterised his earlier work.
These poems, which at times resemble aphorisms in length and content, deal
with all things urban and domestic: gender politics, the solitude often
found in the best of company, frustrated desire, the squandering of time
and money. In some of his most illuminating work, we find the speaker
questioning the direction-or lack thereof-of the Spanish literary
establishment and the nature of poetic creation itself. His latest book,
Serie B, has just been published by Renacimiento.
KARMELO C. IRIBARREN From Serie B.
Pablo García Casado (Córdoba, 1972) has participated in the
creation of various literary magazines, including Reverso and
Recuento, and his poems have appeared in such journals as Pliegos
de la Posada, Navalá and Lúnula. His first book of poetry,
Las Afueras (The Outskirts), was published in 1997. In the 48
poems that make up this volume, García Casado uses an experimental
narrative style to explore the ways in which human beings come to terms
with the urban landscape while chronicling their volitional or accidental
entanglement in a web of interdependencies. With alarming lucidity, the
poet reveals how these urban dwellers manipulate relationships-the
majority of which are struck up in bad-faith and untenable-in order to
keep the solitude of city streets from invading their hearts.
PABLO GARCÍA CASADO From The Outskirts
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