Keywords
critique of language
non-mimetic Catalan poetics
eyes
blindness
corporality
How to Cite
Abstract
This work examines the critique of language that contemporary Catalan poetry has been carrying out since the seventies and how it has deepened the abyss between word and world. The analyse will be based on the grounds of one aphorism from Søren Kierkegaard’s Diapsalmata and the critique of the deception and illusion inherent in all form of discourse, whether philosophical, scientific, or literary, with examples from Magritte, Hofmannsthal, and, especially, contemporary Catalan poets, from Gimferrer to Gemma Gorga through Víctor Sunyol, Antoni Clapés, Anna Montero, Camps Mundó, or j. l. badal, among others. This work concludes that, while knowing and expressing the world may have become impossible, poetry and art still offer a space in which this impossibility can be experienced. In doing so, both help us to avoid falling into the trap of language’s false promises.
References
Alberti, L. B. (1973). Opere Volgari, t. III. Ed. C. Grayson. Bari: Gius. Laterza & figli.
badal, J. L. (2017). Les coses que realment han vist aquests ulls inexistents. Barcelona: Rata_.
Barthes, R. (2015). Fragments d’un discurs amorós. Barcelona: Àtic dels llibres.
Bataille, G. (1958). L’erotisme. París: Minuit.
Beckett, S. (2009). Disjecta. Escritos Misceláneos y un fragmento dramático. Trad. A. Martínez Yuste. Madrid: Arena libros.
Broch, A. (1980). Literatura dels anys setanta. Barcelona: Ed. 62.
Camps Mundó, C. (2018). La mort i la paraula. Obra poètica (1988-2018). Girona: Llibres del Segle. Chastel, A. (2012). Le Tableau dans le tableau. Suivi de la figure dans l’encadrement de la porte chez Velázquez. París: Flammarion.
Clapés, A. (1997). Tagrera. Barcelona: Cafè Central.
Clapés, A. (2007). Miro de veure-hi. Vic: Emboscall.
Clapés, A., Hac Mor, C., Rossell, B., Sala-Sanahuja, J. & Xargay, E. (1993). A Fum De Sabatots. Barcelona: Cafè Central.
Clapés, A. & Rossell, B. (1994). A frec. Barcelona: Cafè Central.
Garcés, M. (2009). Visión periférica. Ojos para un mundo común. Dins A. Buitrago (ed.), Arquitecturas de la mirada (p. 77-96). Barcelona: Cuerpo de Letra.
Gimferrer, P. (1970). L’obrador del poeta. Joan Brossa avui. Serra d’Or, 129, 59-60.
Gimferrer, P. (1995). Obra Catalana Completa. I Poesia, Barcelona: Ed. 62.
Gorga, G. (2003). El desordre de les mans. Lleida: Pagès Editors.
Gorga, G. (2006). Llibre dels minuts. Barcelona: Columna.
Hofmannsthal, H. V. (2007). Carta de Philipp Lord Chandos a Francis Bacon/L’escriptura com a espai espiritual de la nació. Trads. J. Llobet & J. de Sola. Barcelona: Quaderns Crema.
Isern Ordeig, M. & Pascua Canelo, M. (2022). Editorial: Poètiques i polítiques de la mirada: (re)visions contemporànies. Introducció al dossier. 452oF, 27, 14-25. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1344/452f.2022.27.1
Jay, M. (1993). Downcast Eyes. Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of California Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520915381
Juarroz, R. (2005). Poesía vertical I. Buenos Aires: Emecé.
Kierkegaard, S. (1997). Enten-Eller. Et Livs-Fragment [Diapsalmata]. Dins N. J. Cappelørn, J. Garff, J. Kondrup, A. Mckinnon & F. Hauberg Mortensen (eds.), Søren Kierkegaard Skrifter, vol. 2 (p. 25-52). Copenhaguen: Søren Kierkegaard Forskningcenteret/GAD.
Magris, C. (2007). La indecència dels signes. Trad. J. Vallcorba. Dins H. V. Hofmannsthal, Carta de Philipp Lord Chandos a Francis Bacon (p. 7-15). Barcelona: Quaderns Crema.
Magritte, R. (1979). Écrits complets. París: Flammarion.
Marks, L. (2002). Touch. Sensuous Theory and Multisensory Media. Minneapolis/Londres: University of Minnesota Press.
Marrugat, J. (2013). Aspectes de la poesia catalana de la postmodernitat. Barcelona: Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat.
Mauthner, F. (2001). Contribuciones a una crítica del lenguaje. Trad. J. Moreno Nieto. Barcelona: Herder.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1945). Phénoménologie de la perception. París: Gallimard.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1964). L’Œil et l’Esperit. París: Gallimard. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1522/030824586
Montero, A. (1999). Com si tornés d’enlloc. Barcelona: Cafè central.
Montes, A. & Ares, M. C. (2022). Prólogo. Dins A. Montes & M. C. Ares (comps.), Régimen escópico y experiencia. Figuraciones de la mirada y el cuerpo en la literatura y las artes (p. i-xiii). Buenos Aires: Argus-a.
Nancy, J.-L. (2015). Demande. Littérature et philosophie. París: Galilée.
Navarro, J. (2018). Magrana – Granada. Trad. L. Andrés. Madrid: Amargord [ed. bilingüe].
Nietzsche, F. (2011). Sobre veritat i mentida en sentit extramoral. Trad. J. M. Terricabras. Girona: Ela geminada.
Pallasmaa, J. (2005). The eyes of the skin. Architecture and the senses. Londres: Wiley-Academy. Parcerisas, F. (2003). Pròleg. Dins G. Gorga, El desordre de les mans (p. 7-11). Lleida: Pagès Editors. Perejaume (2018). Obreda. Barcelona: Ed. 62.
Pérez Parejo, R. (2002). Metapoesia y crítica del lenguaje (De la generación de los 50 a los novísimos). Càceres: Universidad de Extremadura.
Schopenhauer, A. (1981). Sobre la cuádruple raíz del principio de razón suficiente. Madrid: Gredos. Sunyol, V. (1990). Descripció de cec. Barcelona: Cafè Central.
Sunyol, V. (1992). A propòsit de S’ha rebentat l’hospici de Carles Hac Mor. Reduccions, 54, 69-74. Sunyol, V. (1994). Com si fos dit per Benet Clapés. Dins A. Clapés & B. Rossell, A frec. Barcelona: Cafè Central.
Sunyol, V. (2003). Stabat. Barcelona: Proa.
Sunyol, V. (2007). Mirar de morir. Dins A. Clapés, Miro de veure-hi. Vic: Emboscall.
Torras, M. (2008). Els llavis del paper: el cos-text i el retraçament dels confins a la poesia catalana recent (Gemma Gorga i Mireia Calafell). Literatures, 6, 117-130.
Valente, J. Á. (2014). Obras completas I. Poesía completa. Ed. A. Sánchez Robayna. Barcelona: Galaxia Gutenberg/Círculo de lectores.
Wittgenstein, L. (1997). Tractatus Logicus Philosophicus. Trad. J. M. Terricabras. Barcelona: Ed. 62.
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Dolors Perarnau Vidal
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
- The Author hereby warrants that he/she is the owner of all the copyright and other intellectual property rights in the Work and that, within the scope of the present Agreement, the paper does not infringe the legal rights of another person.The owner of the copyright work also warrants that he/she is the sole and original creator thereof and that is not bound by any legal constraints in regard to the use or sale of the work.
- The Author grants the Purchaser non-exclusive and free of charge license to unlimited use worldwide over an unspecified period of time in the following areas of exploitation:
2.1. production of multiple copies of the Work produced according to the specific application of a given technology, including printing, reproduction of graphics through mechanical or electrical means (reprography) and digital technology;
2.2. marketing authorisation, loan or lease of the original or copies thereof;
2.3. public performance, public performance in the broadcast, video screening, media enhancements as well as broadcasting and rebroadcasting, made available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them;
2.4. inclusion of the Work into a collective work (i.e. with a number of contributions);
2.5. inclusion of the Work in the electronic version to be offered on an electronic platform, or any other conceivable introduction of the Work in its electronic version to the Internet;
2.6. dissemination of electronic versions of the Work in its electronic version online, in a collective work or independently;
2.7. making the Work in the electronic version available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them, in particular by making it accessible via the Internet, Intranet, Extranet;
2.8. making the Work available according to appropriate license pattern Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) as well as another language version of this license or any later version published by Creative Commons. - The Author grants the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan permission to:
3.1. reproduce a single copy (print or download) and royalty-free use and disposal of rights to compilations of the Work and these compilations.
3.2. send metadata files related to the Work, including to commercial and non-commercial journal-indexing databases. - The Author declares that, on the basis of the license granted in the present Agreement, the Purchaser is entitled and obliged to allow third parties to obtain further licenses (sublicenses) to the Work and to other materials, including derivatives thereof or compilations made based on or including the Work, whereas the provisions of such sub-licenses will be the same as with the attributed license pattern Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)or another language version of this license, or any later version of this license published by Creative Commons. Thereby, the Author entitles all interested parties to use the work, for non-commercial purposes only, under the following conditions:
4.1. acknowledgment of authorship, i.e. observing the obligation to provide, along with the distributed work, information about the author, title, source (link to the original Work, DOI) and of the license itself.
4.2. the derivatives of the Work are subject to the same conditions, i.e. they may be published only based on a licence which would be identical to the one granting access to the original Work. - The University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznań is obliged to
5.1. make the Work available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them, without any technological constraints;
5.2. appropriately inform members of the public to whom the Work is to be made available about sublicenses in such a way as to ensure that all parties are properly informed (appropriate informing messages).
Other provisions
- The University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznań hereby preserves the copyright to the journal as a whole (layout/stylesheet, graphics, cover design, logo etc.)