The critical poem
Subtitle: Borges, Paz, and other language-centered poets in Latin America
By: Thorpe Running.
Publisher: Bucknell University Press; Associated University Press
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Lewisburg; London; Cranbury, NJ
Language: eng
Number of pages: 194
Subjects: Spanish American poetry -- 20th century -- History and criticism.; Poetics -- History -- 20th century.
Description: In this book, scholar Thorpe Running shows that a skeptical approach to both language and poetry places eight poets from three countries in Latin America within a strain of poetry prefigured by Stephane Mallarme.

Octavio Paz, Jorge Luis Borges, Roberto Juarroz, Alejandra Pizarnik, Alberto Girri, Juan Luis Martinez, Gonzalo Millan, and David Huerta span three different generations. In addition to their age and geographical differences, their poetry bears no obvious similarities. All eight, however, are poetas pensantes, or thinking poets, and underlying the work of these probing writers is the disturbing question: Does language do what it is supposed to do?

The answer is negative for all these poets who see their poems as being made up of words that don't work.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 188-192) and index.