Poetry, Physics, and Painting in Twentieth-Century Spain

Poetry, Physics, and Painting in Twentieth-Century Spain

Selected Publications Lorca: Libro de poemas o las aventuras de una búsqueda. Lorca: Una escritura en trance. Libro de poemas y Diván del Tamarit. The Poetry of Ana María Fagundo. A Bilingual Anthology.

Poetry, Physics, and Painting in Tw en t iet h-cen t ury Spa in Candelas Gala

POETRY, PHYSICS, AND PAINTING IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY SPAIN Copyright Candelas Gala, 2011. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2011 978-0-230-33835-7 All rights reserved. Versions of the following essays are reprinted with permission by Bulletin of Hispanic Studies: Creative Entropy in Rafael Alberti s Sobre los ángeles, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies 88.1 (2011): 59 77. Lorca s Suites: Reflections on Cubism and the Sciences. Bulletin of Hispanic Studies 80.4 (October 2003): 509 524. Reproductions of the following drawings by Rafael Alberti are made possible by El Alba del Alhelí: Paisaje sideral [Sidereal Landscape] Seven Illustrations from Rafael Alberti s Marinero en tierra, Madrid: Biblioteca Nueva, 1968, found on pages 15, 51, 161, 57, 111, 41, and 169. Copyright de los dibujos: El Alba del Alhelí, S.L. The reproduction of Halley s Comet comes from The Library of Congress. Reproduction of photograph for the cover is made possible with permission by Jennifer Burg. First published in 2011 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN in the United States a division of St. Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-34137-5 ISBN 978-1-137-00218-1 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9781137002181 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress. A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: December 2011 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Para Paul, por siempre

C o n t e n t s Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1 The Poetry of the Imponderable Pedro Salinas s Vocation: Unreliable Perception, Certainty of Chance, and the Reality of Fabling 25 2 Jorge Guillén s Radiant Matter: A Sensational Knowledge 49 3 Confluence, Field Theory, and Juan Larrea s Versión Celeste 73 4 Creating Worlds: Self-Reflexivity and the Cosmos in Gerardo Diego s Poetry of Creation 99 5 Rafael Alberti s Comet or the Poetics of Energy and Light: From Electromagnetism to Thermodynamics 123 6 Concha Méndez: Poetry of Energy, Poetry as Energy 155 7 Lorca s Suites and Canciones: Cubism, Light, and the Uncertainty of Reflections 179 Closing Remarks 205 Notes 211 Bibliography 221 Index 241

A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s A Reynolds Research leave from Wake Forest University provided the initial support for this project, a grant from the Archie Fund for the Arts and Humanities, also from Wake Forest University, made it possible to conduct research at the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid, and a grant from the Research and Publication Fund of the Graduate School of Wake Forest University supported the reproduction of images. A number of universities and organizations extended invitations to present papers on topics connected with this book: Ca Foscari University (Venice, Italy); Università Degli Studi di Bergamo (Italy); Indiana University of Pennsylvania; University of Virginia; University of North Carolina-Greensboro; Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Tarragona, Spain); Fundación Gerardo Diego (Santander, Spain); Association of Integrative Studies; and the Society for Literature, Science and the Arts. Special thanks go to Pureza Canelo, director of the Fundación Gerardo Diego, and to Andrea Puente, for making available all the Foundation s resources related to Gerardo Diego and twentieth-century Spanish culture; to several Wake Forest University colleagues, including Dilip K. Kondepudi for his reading of the scientific sections of the book; to Paul D. Escott for applying his keen editorial eye to the whole project; to Bakhit Kourman, Javier G. Garrido, and Jennifer Burg for their technical expertise; and, to the circulation and interlibrary loan staff of the Z. Smith Reynolds Library. Muchas gracias to all for their invaluable support.