Reality and Literature

In his essay Realidad y literatura (1972) – reprinted last year by Editorial Equinoccio – Rafael Cadenas writes:


“Immortality is the enemy of eternity. The eternal in Keats is made up of moments “without identity,” and as the words themselves point out, they have no owner.” (48)


“Literature is in decline, but not because of an approach to reality by man. (...) The phenomenon obeys other reasons. The educational disaster afflicting most countries, the rise of superficiality occasioned by modern means of communication, the technological mood ruling the world today.” (76)


Ascending the Ávila by El Marqués, an immediate steep climb to several plateaus with natural springs, views down across the city, clouds moving along the corridor below. Travel by subway & car, a bus to El Hatillo via Baruta, hours across the southeast valleys, cold at dusk along farms. A list of books read, Martha Kornblith, Sesión de endodoncia (Eclepsidra, 1997), Graciela Bonnet, En caso de que todo falle (Eclepsidra, 1997), Israel Centeno, Iniciaciones (Periférica, 2006), Hilo de cometa (Periférica, 2007), Francisco Massiani, Piedra de mar (Monte Ávila, 2004), Héctor Torres, El amor en tres platos (Equinoccio, 2007), Rodrigo Blanco Calderón, Los invencibles (Mondadori, 2007).