Cuerpo plural: Antologia de la poesia hispanoamericana contemporanea. Gustavo Guerrero, ed. Valencia / Madrid. Pre-Textos / Instituto Cervantes. 2010. 616 pages + DVD. 25 [euro]. ISBN 978-84-92913-17-6
Gustavo Guerrero's anthology of Latin American poetry includes fifty-seven poets from nineteen Latin American countries and, curiously, one from the United States. This selection aims to present the works of a new generation of poets born between 1959 and 1979. While a number of these poets began publishing as early as the 1980s and today range between thirty and fifty years of age, all now have many collections of poetry to their credit and have achieved recognition, not only in their respective countries but also internationally.
In his lengthy yet lucid introduction, Guerrero indicates that the point of departure for this anthology is the generational kinship that this group of poets enjoys. He points out that these poets share the legacy of Latin American modernism, led by Ruben Dario in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the experimental works of the Latin American avant-garde period of the 1920s and '30s, as well as the diverse social and political impulses of the poetry published in the 1960s and '70s. While this newer generation of poets rarely pays direct tribute to any of these traditions, their own lives have witnessed other more recent historical turning points, such as the fall of the Berlin Wall, the attacks of September 11, and the impact of the Internet and the digital age--which is to say that they are the product of globalization and postmodern values. Their attitudes express "una vocacion desmitificadora radical, desacralizadora y antianacronica," which gives little credence to "la concepcion profetica del poeta ni en su trascendencia en si"; instead, their poetry expresses a larger awareness of a linguistic consensus in Latin America, while also acknowledging the regional particularities of the Spanish language throughout Latin America. While marked by a keen sense of individualism, this new poetry does not adhere to any given school of poetry, dogma, or ideology, and is best characterized by its heterogeneity and diversity. Within this realm, Guerrero acknowledges that new cultural and social realities since the 1980s have also required the creation of a new poetic discourse.
This anthology contains a large number of poets, which is a plus; however, this multiplicity of voices also indicates that the rise of a particular poet, whose writings can establish a milestone for Latin American poetry, has yet to surface. Key figures could very well turn out to be Eduardo Chirinos, Lorenzo Helguero, and Julio Trujillo, not to mention the excellent works of Juan Carlos Ramiro Quiroga, Liliana Wittner, Mayra Santos-Febres, Fabian Casas, Otoniel Guevara, or Tedi Lopez Mills, among others. All in all, their poetry leaves us with a certain nostalgia for the verses of Cesar Vallejo, Pablo Neruda, Nicanor Parra, Ernesto Cardenal, and Jose Emilio Pacheco, whose ground-breaking legacies in Latin American poetry still remain at the forefront. One could also bemoan the absence of other poets in a volume of this nature (after all, an anthology will never please everyone). However, a more important concern worth noting about this ambitious work is that while some countries are represented by several authors (Peru, Venezuela, Mexico, Argentina, Chile), others are barely represented at all (Paraguay, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Uruguay). Such disparity is troubling, especially with the inclusion of New Mexican writer Levi Romero, who would have been better served if Guerrero would have included other U.S.-Latino poets.
These issues not withstanding, Cuerpo plural is a handy reference when considering the many paths undertaken by Latin American poets since the late twentieth century.
Cesar Ferreira
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
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