An Inquiry into Juan Ramon's Interest in Walter Pater

The evidence for Juan Ramon's interest in Pater, which began around 1920 and was still active twenty years later, is discussed in this paper. Pater's view of death and dying and his attitude toward the decadent persona are described in so far as they indicate the spiritual affinity that exists between him and Juan Ramon. Pater's aesthetic idealism, and the presence of similar ideals in Juan Ramon's own work are then examined. The second part of the paper concentrates on the great interest Juan Ramon took in Pater's evocation of the Mona Lisa. The potential impact of the aesthetic idealism inherent in this passage, its Platonism in particular, receives special analysis in the light of Espacio, and in consideration of Juan Ramon's 1943 remark: "I am, have been, and always will be a Platonist." This article is available in Studies in 20th Century Literature: http://newprairiepress.org/sttcl/vol7/iss2/7 AN INQUIRY INTO JUAN RAMON JIMENEZ' INTEREST IN WALTER PATER John C. Wilcox University of Illinois, Urbana Walter Pater's influence as a critic, teacher, and spokesman for aesthetic idealism in England at the turn of the century requires no comment. His presence, however, in the Hispanic world has been largely a matter of surmise until a recent study by Howard T. Young documented Juan Ramon Jimenez' considerable awareness of Pater's work.' A brief summary of some of the pertinent facts Young has brought to light is essential for our present purposes. Around 1907 Luisa Grimm de Muriedas recommended three of Pater's works to Juan Ram6n: the historical novel Marius The Epicurean, the historical cameos in Imaginary Portraits, and the essay "Leonardo da Vinci," which appears in The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry. Then in 1916, on their honeymoon in the United States, Juan Ramon and Zenobia purchased Pater's complete works which include, in addition to the three volumes recommended by Luisa, Gaston de Latour, Appreciations, Plato and Platonism, Essays from The Guardian,' Greek Studies, and Miscellaneous Studies.2In addition, we learn that in his copy of The Renaissance: "Juan Ramon checked with his small x', as was his wont, the chapters he had read which included those on Botticelli, Michelangelo's poetry, and Leonardo da Vinci." Moreover, Professor Young has established that Juan Ram6n devoted considerable attention, in the late 1930s, to Pater's evocation of the Mona Lisa, which is found in the essay on Leonardo. Yeats had cast Pater's prose into verse without changing a word, and he had chosen it to open his 1936 Oxford Book of Modern Verse. Juan Ramon, who was soon to be engaged on his long prosepoem "Espacio," was fascinated by the fact that prose had been brought to such a pitch that it was already poetic.' 185 1 Wilcox: An Inquiry into Juan Ramon's Interest in Walter Pater Published by New Prairie Press 186 STCL, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Spring, 1983) These are Howard Young's pertinent insights, and this paper hopes to extend them by discussing Pater's potential interest to Juan Ramon. First we shall point to some of the more intriguing parallels encountered in the works of these writers; second, we propose to explicate Pater's analysis of the Mona Lisa, by presenting its assumptions as a part of the aesthetic idealism prevalent throughout his work, and by linking this briefly to "Espacio." In addition to citing from the works Luisa recommended, we shall quote from some of the other works, especially a few of the essays collected in Appreciations and from Plato and Platonism. Though there are no markings in these texts, the fact that they remained in Jimenez' library throughout his life (they must have been shipped from Spain) is sufficient to arouse this reader's curiosity. There is much in Juan Ramon's early work that is reminiscent of the fin-de-siecle English don, and enough echoes in Juan Ram6n's mature work to require comment and consideration. We shall be presenting thanatopsistic and aesthetic concerns, that is, showing parallel responses to death and decline, and to aesthetic ideals. Pater gradually emerges as an ancestor in Juan Ramon Jimenez' spiritual and literary quest. Pater alludes to death and dying at times in terms that recall Juan Ramon's. In his 1890 essay on Edmund Gosse, "Mr. Gosse's Poems," Pater cited (EG, p. 117) the fourth stanza of Gosse's "Lying in the Grass": For I should pass, but all the world would be Full of desire and young delight and glee, And why should men be sad through loss of me? This of course parallels "El poeta ha muerto," from Pastorales, whose second and fourth stanzas are: Their lips full of roses, the children will go to the garden, golden dreams of maidens and lillies broken. . . . Good day! Good day! You, happy and flowering village, you'll keep on filling up with sun, white smoke, idylls, and the sound of bells. . . . 2 Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature, Vol. 7, Iss. 2 [1983], Art. 7 http://newprairiepress.org/sttcl/vol7/iss2/7 DOI: 10.4148/2334-4415.1124