Old Spleen for a Neomodernist: Diego Medrano’s The Man Among the Rocks
Subject Area
Spanish Peninsular Studies
Abstract
The work of Spanish poète maudit Diego Medrano (Oviedo, 1978) has been greeted with null academic attention, despite the fact that contemporary luminaries like A. Gamoneda, L. A. de Villena, P. Gimferrer or L. M. Panero have lauded his multifaceted output. Medrano’s literary mastery and dexterity—appearing in novels, essays, newspaper articles, pseudo-historical accounts, poetry, as well as in his vibrant presentations and lectures—is permeated by quotes and references, and among his influences, French symbolism reigns supreme. In my presentation, I will analyze his first book of verse, The Man Among the Rocks (El hombre entre las rocas), published a decade ago (2005), to provide the field of contemporary Spanish poetry with the first scholarly approach to this great, yet barely acknowledged, author. I will do so by tracing the presence of Baudelaire and his Le Spleen de Paris (1869), to demonstrate that Medrano’s prose poems redefine 19th Century spleen, and locate his writing among modernist masters undoubtedly indebted to French symbolism, like Nicaraguan Rubén Darío (1867-1916), T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) and Spanish Pere Gimferrer (1945).
Brief Bio Note
Pablo Martínez Diente (Valladolid, 1978) holds a B.A. in English from Universidad de Valladolid, a M.A. from West Virginia University and a Ph. D. from Vanderbilt University. He has taught at WVU, Vanderbilt, The University of Notre Dame and, currently, at Kansas State University, in addition to spending a year teaching in the trójmiasto area of Baltic Poland. His areas of interest include poetry, modernism and its reincarnations, translation, and film.
Keywords
Diego Medrano, Spleen, Baudelaire, Neomodernism, "El hombre entre las rocas"
Location
Coastal Georgia Center
Presentation Year
2016
Start Date
4-7-2016 10:50 AM
End Date
4-7-2016 11:10 AM
Embargo
11-12-2015
Recommended Citation
Martínez Diente, Pablo, "Old Spleen for a Neomodernist: Diego Medrano’s The Man Among the Rocks" (2016). South East Coastal Conference on Languages & Literatures (SECCLL). 43.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/seccll/2016/2016/43
Old Spleen for a Neomodernist: Diego Medrano’s The Man Among the Rocks
Coastal Georgia Center
The work of Spanish poète maudit Diego Medrano (Oviedo, 1978) has been greeted with null academic attention, despite the fact that contemporary luminaries like A. Gamoneda, L. A. de Villena, P. Gimferrer or L. M. Panero have lauded his multifaceted output. Medrano’s literary mastery and dexterity—appearing in novels, essays, newspaper articles, pseudo-historical accounts, poetry, as well as in his vibrant presentations and lectures—is permeated by quotes and references, and among his influences, French symbolism reigns supreme. In my presentation, I will analyze his first book of verse, The Man Among the Rocks (El hombre entre las rocas), published a decade ago (2005), to provide the field of contemporary Spanish poetry with the first scholarly approach to this great, yet barely acknowledged, author. I will do so by tracing the presence of Baudelaire and his Le Spleen de Paris (1869), to demonstrate that Medrano’s prose poems redefine 19th Century spleen, and locate his writing among modernist masters undoubtedly indebted to French symbolism, like Nicaraguan Rubén Darío (1867-1916), T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) and Spanish Pere Gimferrer (1945).
