"Plumas de rayo y viento": César Vallejo en Blas de Otero

• Main Author: Blazquez Gandara, Carolina
• Other Authors: Smith, Alan E.
• Language: es; en_US
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: Hispanic American studies; Blas de Otero; César Vallejo; Intertextuality; Social poetry; Spain
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/2144/41979

Intertextuality is a key aspect in the poetry of Blas de Otero (1916-1979), an engagement with other poets as well as with his readers. It is a powerful tool that he uses to create a polyphonic voice that challenges the discourse of power. One of the fundamental figures in this polyphony is the Peruvian poet César Vallejo (1892-1938), whose poetry deeply affected the work of Blas de Otero. Both Vallejo and Otero shared similar temperaments and ideologies, and believed that intellectuals had a responsibility towards society. By examining the way that Vallejo’s España aparta de mí este cáliz (1938) informs Otero’s Pido la paz y la palabra (1955), this dissertation reopens the question of the social role of art, focusing specifically on the so-called “poesía social” of Spain during the 1950’s. It also explores the role of the reader and the circulation, often clandestine, of Vallejo’s poetry during Francisco Franco’s dictatorship. Lastly, by focusing on Blas de Otero as a reader of Vallejo’s work, this dissertation shows that the specific characteristics found in Vallejo were fundamental in making him one of the most influential poets in Franco’s Spain. Aware of the uniqueness of Vallejo’s poetry, Otero transformed the Peruvian’s word and made it his own, shaping a compelling language that suggests new realities and defies oppression.