Crafting Prose Poetry. A Comparative Study of Alfonsina Storni’s and José Ángel Valente’s Creative Journeys
This thesis undertakes a comparative examination of the creative journeys through prose poetry made by two twentieth-century, Spanish-language poets: Alfonsina Storni from Argentina and José Ángel Valente from Spain. While extensive research has been carried out on their versified poetry, only a couple of studies specifically focus on their prose poetry. However, they fail to consider the role of this genre in their writing and the consolidation of their poetic voices. This thesis tackles the presence of prose poetry in their poetic itinerary as a journey of exploration that allowed both poets to refine their poetics, embark on new creative paths and advance in their poetic experimentation. To this end, the methodological approach taken comprises the examination of their historical and cultural contexts, an in-depth analysis of their creative journeys through prose poetry, and a close reading of their poetic output informed by the poetics of this literary genre. It particularly emphasises hybridity and the conception of prose poetry as a genre against genres, and the translations of their prose poems into English and French. This thesis demonstrates that prose poetry was an ongoing pursuit and a substantial part of Storni’s and Valente’s oeuvres, rather than an experimental stage in their literary careers. It provides insights into the development of their poetic gaze, the gradual transformation of their prose poems, especially in terms of the use of stylistic devices, techniques employed and their contributions to this literary genre. The study also underscores their role as artisans of the poetic word and the new perspectives that both added to the notion of the poet, based on the flâneur figure, associated with the emergence of prose poetry. Storni became an underclass flâneuse poet, while Valente grew as a digger/diver poet, turning himself into a learner, attentive listener, scribe and witness of the poetic word. This thesis lays the foundation for future studies on Storni’s and Valente’s prose poetry, demonstrating that there is ample room for further comprehensive and systematic research on their work, especially from the perspective of translation and reception studies, and the significance of their work in other cultural contexts.
Alfonsina Storni, José Ángel Valente, Prose poetry, Creative journey, Poetics, Poetry translation
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