Writer and literary critic Jorge Luis Arcos provides an overview of the origins of the seminal Cuban literary journal Orígenes (1944-1956), which Octavio Paz regarded as the “most important in our language.” The name of the journal also alludes to the group of extraordinary Cuban poets (José Lezama Lima, Gastón Baquero, Virgilio Piñera, Ángel Gaztelu, Justo Rodríguez Santos, Eliseo Diego, Cintio Vitier, Fina García-Marruz, Octavio Smith, and Lorenzo García Vega) who left an indeleble mark in Hispanic American literature. “Everything touched by Orígenes would transform into poetry,” a critic said. The journal tried to resolve the dualism between the national and universal realms. It involved a search for a genetic creative origin, an attempt to view universal history and culture through a poetic conceptualization of reality.
The talk will be followed by a Q&A with the Jorge Luis Arcos moderated by Manuel Rodríguez Ramos, director of our Literature Program.
[Image above: A collage of the covers of Revista Orígenes.]
This special literary event is part of our CreateNYC Language Access Series on Cuban History, Art, and Literature. It will be held in Spanish.
DUE TO THE COVID PANDEMIC, THIS PROGRAM WILL BE STREAMED THROUGH OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL.
Please click on this link on the scheduled date and time:
https://youtu.be/dIH1XdLo1DM
Poet, writer, and literary critic Jorge Luis Arcos (Havana, Cuba, 1956) is the author of numerous books of essays: En torno a la obra poética de Fina García Marruz; La solución unitiva. Sobre el pensamiento poético de José Lezama Lima; Orígenes. La pobreza irradiante; José Lezama Lima a través de Paradiso; La palabra perdida. Ensayos sobre poesía y pensamiento poético; Desde el légamo. Ensayos sobre pensamiento poético; Kaleidoscopio. La poética de Lorenzo García Vega (Madrid). He has also published annotated anthologies of the work of groundbreaking authors: María Zambrano, La Cuba secreta y otros ensayos; Jorge Mañach, Ensayos; Las palabras son islas. Panorama de la poesía cubana del Siglo XX (1900-1998); José Kozer, No buscan reflejarse; Los poetas de Orígenes; Nicolás Guillén, Donde nacen las aguas. Antología poética; Fina García-Marruz, Antología poética; Raúl Hernández Novás; among others. He is the author of several books of poetry, among them: Conversación con un rostro nevado, Premio Editorial Extramuros; De los ínferos, Premio Internacional Rafael Pocaterra, Venezuela; La avidez del halcón, Premio Internacional Rafael Alberti; Del animal desconocido, Premio Internacional Casa de Teatro; El libro de las conversiones imaginarias and Sincronismos, Premio Internacional Gastón Baquero. In Cuba he was Editor-in-Chief for ten years of the art and literary journal Unión. He was part of the editorial board of Encuentro de la Cultura Cubana in Spain, where he lived from 2004 to 2010. He teaches literature at Universidad Nacional de Río Negro, Argentina, where he presently resides.
This event is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York State Legislature.
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