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Donde Habite El Olvido: Version Original del Texto y Manuscritos
- GenresPoetry
71 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2003
128 people want to read
About the author
Luis Cernuda
107 books96 followersLuis Cernuda was a Spanish poet and literary critic.
The son of a military man, Cernuda received a strict education as a child, and then studied law at the University of Seville, where he met the poet and literature professor Pedro Salinas. In 1928, after his mother died, Cernuda left his hometown, with which he had all his life an intense love-hate relationship. He briefly moved to Madrid, where he quickly became part of the literary scene. However, his detached, timid and morose character, his search of perfection frequently made him lose friendships and popularity.
His mentor and former professor Salinas arranged for him to take a lectureship for a year at the University of Toulouse. From June 1929 until 1937 Cernuda lived in Madrid and participated actively in the literary and cultural scene of the Spanish capital. Cernuda collaborated with many organisations working to support a more liberal and tolerant Spain. He participated in the Second Congress of Anti-Fascist Intellectuals in Valencia.
During the Spanish Civil War a friend secured him a position as teacher in Cranleigh School, where he taught Spanish Language and literature. After WWII another friend got him a lectureship in Holyoke, Massachusetts, USA, where he would spend some years. Later on, moved by his sentimental relationships, he would move to Mexico, where he died.
The central concerns of this poet are evident in the title of his life's major opus: La realidad y el deseo ("Reality and Desire"). He published his first collection of verse, Perfil del aire ("Air's profile"), in 1927. Several books followed, and he collected new and already published poetry under this title in 1936. Subsequent editions would include new poetry as new books inside La realidad y el deseo. Expanded on almost until his death in 1963, in this work the poet explores desire, love, subject, object, history and sexuality in poems which draw influences from romanticism, classicism, and the surrealist avant-garde. Besides verse, he also published a collection of reminiscent prose poems, 'Ocnos', about his childhood in Seville.
Cernuda is known as a member of the Generation of '27, a group of Spanish poets and artists including Federico García Lorca. He broke new ground with Los Placeres Prohibidos ("Forbidden Pleasures"), an avant-garde work in which the poet used surrealism to explore his sexuality. During his British period he became deeply familiar with English poetry, which he would admire for its containment and lack of superfluous artifice and paraphernalia. He would also translate several poems and plays into Spanish. He would comment that translating Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida made him intensely happy.
Deeply influenced by André Gide, Cernuda embraced his homosexuality at an early age and made homosexual desire and love the core of his poetry. Or, at least, unlike other gay poets at the time, in his poetry he was never ambiguous about the fact that the objects of his desire and love were men. One of the most influential poets in contemporary Spanish poetry, he is definitely a crucial ground-breaking figure for homosexual writing in Spanish.
During the Spanish Civil War, deeply moved by the assassination of Federico Garcia Lorca, Cernuda fled to England, where he began an exile that later took him to France, Scotland, Massachusetts (Mount Holyoke College), California and finally settling in Mexico; he never returned to Spain. He never married and had no children.
His major English language critics include Derek Harris and Phillip Silver.
The son of a military man, Cernuda received a strict education as a child, and then studied law at the University of Seville, where he met the poet and literature professor Pedro Salinas. In 1928, after his mother died, Cernuda left his hometown, with which he had all his life an intense love-hate relationship. He briefly moved to Madrid, where he quickly became part of the literary scene. However, his detached, timid and morose character, his search of perfection frequently made him lose friendships and popularity.
His mentor and former professor Salinas arranged for him to take a lectureship for a year at the University of Toulouse. From June 1929 until 1937 Cernuda lived in Madrid and participated actively in the literary and cultural scene of the Spanish capital. Cernuda collaborated with many organisations working to support a more liberal and tolerant Spain. He participated in the Second Congress of Anti-Fascist Intellectuals in Valencia.
During the Spanish Civil War a friend secured him a position as teacher in Cranleigh School, where he taught Spanish Language and literature. After WWII another friend got him a lectureship in Holyoke, Massachusetts, USA, where he would spend some years. Later on, moved by his sentimental relationships, he would move to Mexico, where he died.
The central concerns of this poet are evident in the title of his life's major opus: La realidad y el deseo ("Reality and Desire"). He published his first collection of verse, Perfil del aire ("Air's profile"), in 1927. Several books followed, and he collected new and already published poetry under this title in 1936. Subsequent editions would include new poetry as new books inside La realidad y el deseo. Expanded on almost until his death in 1963, in this work the poet explores desire, love, subject, object, history and sexuality in poems which draw influences from romanticism, classicism, and the surrealist avant-garde. Besides verse, he also published a collection of reminiscent prose poems, 'Ocnos', about his childhood in Seville.
Cernuda is known as a member of the Generation of '27, a group of Spanish poets and artists including Federico García Lorca. He broke new ground with Los Placeres Prohibidos ("Forbidden Pleasures"), an avant-garde work in which the poet used surrealism to explore his sexuality. During his British period he became deeply familiar with English poetry, which he would admire for its containment and lack of superfluous artifice and paraphernalia. He would also translate several poems and plays into Spanish. He would comment that translating Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida made him intensely happy.
Deeply influenced by André Gide, Cernuda embraced his homosexuality at an early age and made homosexual desire and love the core of his poetry. Or, at least, unlike other gay poets at the time, in his poetry he was never ambiguous about the fact that the objects of his desire and love were men. One of the most influential poets in contemporary Spanish poetry, he is definitely a crucial ground-breaking figure for homosexual writing in Spanish.
During the Spanish Civil War, deeply moved by the assassination of Federico Garcia Lorca, Cernuda fled to England, where he began an exile that later took him to France, Scotland, Massachusetts (Mount Holyoke College), California and finally settling in Mexico; he never returned to Spain. He never married and had no children.
His major English language critics include Derek Harris and Phillip Silver.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 1, 2023
“Mas el amor, como un agua, / arrastra afanes al paso. / Me he olvidado a mí mismo en sus ondas (…) / Vivo y no vivo, muerto y no muerto; / ni tierra ni cielo, / ni cuerpo ni espíritu”. “Prisionero entre muros cambiantes; / historias como cuerpos, cristales como cielos, / sueño luego, un sueño más alto que la vida”
Hay libros, muy pocos, que parece que uno no lee, sino que ellos le leen a uno; se asoman por nuestros recovecos interiores y nos hablan de quienes fuimos o de quienes pudimos ser. Eso pasa con “donde habite el olvido”: es la crónica de alguien a quien el deseo empujó a una “vasta estela de luto sin retorno”. No sé muy bien cómo explicar lo que me ha hecho sentir este libro; Antonio Porchia decía que sentir es profundo y pensar superficial y así me lo han demostrado los versos de Cernuda. Desde el primer poema (que por cierto, para mí es uno de los mejores poemas de desamor del siglo XX en lengua castellana, si no el mejor) hasta el “fantasmas del deseo” que cierra el libro (el final literalmente destroza) no sobra una palabra. Es como si Cernuda se hubiera desnudado en las páginas y hubiera esparcido su cuerpo, que después de lo que vivió no era si no voluntad de transformarse en ceniza. Sinceramente, Bécquer bien hecho, alcanzando una altura, una magnitud, un lenguaje y unas imágenes tan perfectas que creo que aún estoy alucinando. Un libro para releer, porque lo devoré entero ayer y me pareció demasiado bueno para ser verdad; un libro que nos habla de “el recuerdo de un olvido” que queda cuando el deseo es sólo algo frustrado. En definitiva, una pedazo de obra maestra, Cernuda, firmemente mis dieces compañero.
Hay libros, muy pocos, que parece que uno no lee, sino que ellos le leen a uno; se asoman por nuestros recovecos interiores y nos hablan de quienes fuimos o de quienes pudimos ser. Eso pasa con “donde habite el olvido”: es la crónica de alguien a quien el deseo empujó a una “vasta estela de luto sin retorno”. No sé muy bien cómo explicar lo que me ha hecho sentir este libro; Antonio Porchia decía que sentir es profundo y pensar superficial y así me lo han demostrado los versos de Cernuda. Desde el primer poema (que por cierto, para mí es uno de los mejores poemas de desamor del siglo XX en lengua castellana, si no el mejor) hasta el “fantasmas del deseo” que cierra el libro (el final literalmente destroza) no sobra una palabra. Es como si Cernuda se hubiera desnudado en las páginas y hubiera esparcido su cuerpo, que después de lo que vivió no era si no voluntad de transformarse en ceniza. Sinceramente, Bécquer bien hecho, alcanzando una altura, una magnitud, un lenguaje y unas imágenes tan perfectas que creo que aún estoy alucinando. Un libro para releer, porque lo devoré entero ayer y me pareció demasiado bueno para ser verdad; un libro que nos habla de “el recuerdo de un olvido” que queda cuando el deseo es sólo algo frustrado. En definitiva, una pedazo de obra maestra, Cernuda, firmemente mis dieces compañero.
February 4, 2024
XII
“No es el amor quien muere,
somos nosotros mismos.
[…]
solo vive quien besa”.
“No es el amor quien muere,
somos nosotros mismos.
[…]
solo vive quien besa”.
August 6, 2022
Cómo escribir un cementerio.
January 26, 2025
Si tuviera que describir este poemario con unas palabras, estas serían: tristeza de un amor
Luis Cernuda manifiesta en cada poema el dolor del amor roto, de la desilusión. Conjuga este sentimiento con el deseo de huir, huir al olvido, adonde no exista amor alguno y las garras de la congoja no puedan atraparlo.
Dejo aquí fragmentos de poemas que me han conmovido en lo más profundo.
Absorto el cuerpo aún desnudo,
todo frío ante la brusca tristeza,
lo que en la luz fue impulso, las alas,
antes candor erguido,
a la espalda pesaban sordamente.
Sintiendo todavía los pulsos de ese afán,
yo, el más enamorado,
en las orillas del amor,
sin que una luz me vea
definitivamente muerto o vivo,
contemplo sus olas y quisiera anegarme,
Ya no es vida ni muerte
el tormento sin nombre,
es un mundo caído
donde silba la ira.
No, no quisiera volver,
sino morir aún más,
arrancar una sombra,
olvidar un olvido.
Luis Cernuda manifiesta en cada poema el dolor del amor roto, de la desilusión. Conjuga este sentimiento con el deseo de huir, huir al olvido, adonde no exista amor alguno y las garras de la congoja no puedan atraparlo.
Dejo aquí fragmentos de poemas que me han conmovido en lo más profundo.
Absorto el cuerpo aún desnudo,
todo frío ante la brusca tristeza,
lo que en la luz fue impulso, las alas,
antes candor erguido,
a la espalda pesaban sordamente.
Sintiendo todavía los pulsos de ese afán,
yo, el más enamorado,
en las orillas del amor,
sin que una luz me vea
definitivamente muerto o vivo,
contemplo sus olas y quisiera anegarme,
Ya no es vida ni muerte
el tormento sin nombre,
es un mundo caído
donde silba la ira.
No, no quisiera volver,
sino morir aún más,
arrancar una sombra,
olvidar un olvido.
July 31, 2025
Quizás por morir con la Guerra Civil muy lejos en el tiempo, y en el exilio; o por vivir a la sombra de otros poetas con muertes más literarias, Cernuda siempre ha sido el desconocido de la Generación del 27. Sin embargo, eso no guarda relación con su calidad literaria, y este libro lo demuestra.
"Cuando la muerte quiera
Una verdad quitar de entre mis manos,
Las hallará vacías, como en la adolescencia
Ardientes de deseo, tendidas hacia el aire".
— .Adolescente fui en idénticos días a nubes
"Libertad no conozco sino la libertad de estar preso en alguien".
— Si el hombre pudiera decir.
"Esperé un dios en mis días
Para crear mi vida a su imagen,
Mas el amor, como un agua,
Arrastra afanes al paso (...).
He amado, ya no amo más;
He reído, tampoco río".
— Esperé un dios en mis días
"Cuando la muerte quiera
Una verdad quitar de entre mis manos,
Las hallará vacías, como en la adolescencia
Ardientes de deseo, tendidas hacia el aire".
— .Adolescente fui en idénticos días a nubes
"Libertad no conozco sino la libertad de estar preso en alguien".
— Si el hombre pudiera decir.
"Esperé un dios en mis días
Para crear mi vida a su imagen,
Mas el amor, como un agua,
Arrastra afanes al paso (...).
He amado, ya no amo más;
He reído, tampoco río".
— Esperé un dios en mis días
March 29, 2026
es demasiado triste una puñalada en el hígado me gh
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews