The Spanish Professor has wanted to give the introduction to literary studies as a course in narrative theory, but if I cut down the number of genres covered I would do poetry and the essay. My colleagues say this would never work since these are the least interesting genres to students, the ones that will … More Introducción a los estudios literarios
Graniza tanto, como para que yo recuerde y acreciente las perlas que he recogido del hocico mismo de cada tempestad. No se vaya a secar esta lluvia. A menos que me fuese dado caer ahora para ella, o que me enterrasen mojado en el agua que surtiera de todos los fuegos. ¿Hasta dónde me alcanzará … More LXXVII
I do not know how I came upon this piece as I was doing something else but it appears that orphanhood is what generates the novel. Vallejo, as we know, kept saying he was an orphan and I do not have a lot of patience with complaints from persons orphaned as adults, or with persons … More On Vallejo, Heidegger, and my other project
I woke up this morning thinking of a friend I made in college. We were friendly in classes but became friends one day when we coincided at the pool and fell into conversation about other things. That was so long ago. It was when university gyms still issued their faded swimsuits. Really skilful women could … More Hoy es domingo, y por eso
Now I need to come up with something about Marthe Robert and Doris Sommer and María and more. I was allowing myself to read a little more about Vallejo before going on, and I discovered a very, very important fact. Namely, the kind of surprise I get for not doing things and not keeping up … More Michelle Clayton
I wish everybody who teaches a very productive, enjoyable, and intellectually enriching semester. Remember, we went into this career to read books, generate ideas, and share knowledge. Everything else is just noise. …or, as my old colleague said, we got into this to have fun, and we must remember this and act in that sense. … More Nouvel an
My student observes that the more you know about Vallejo’s biography, the more it seems to lend itself to mythologizing since there are so many eccentric anecdotes. That is of course why a deeply contextualized intellectual and cultural biography would be interesting. It would not solve the problem, though, if it repeated the gesture of … More Postscript on César Vallejo
W. H. Auden makes the case for art and against social science, sport, and hygiene I was raised with. I must actually study Thomas’ post, which I have not yet done and which is another matter. I am not a Bohemian but a great bourgeoise. To be a Bohemian like César Vallejo, for instance, you … More On Bohemians
Read all about it. Read more from Copenhagen, remembering of course that Denmark is our theme this Christmas (which is not over yet, we are on the tenth day)! Under Which Lyre A REACTIONARY TRACT FOR THE TIMES (Phi Beta Kappa Poem, Harvard, 1946) Ares at last has quit the field, The bloodstains on the … More W. H. Auden
Clinically speaking, I think Vallejo may have suffered from an anxiety disorder. The conditions of his life exacerbated this. He put a great deal of effort into riding it out and calming down, and strove toward breakthrough moments of feeling happy and well. In the era of living with Henriette the menu was boiled potatoes … More More girlfriends of César Vallejo
