Writers Working Under Wretched Conditions: Luis Cernuda and the Spanish Canon

Although Luis Cernuda's views on Spanish literature have already been the object of study, the aim of this article is to throw new light on them or, to be precise, on the canonizing operations that Cernuda performs in, and through, some of his poems and critical studies. The article will focus on the friction identified by Cernuda between the Spanish poets whose canonicity he advocates, on the one hand, and, on the other, the society in which these poets lived and worked. It will be argued that such friction can be interpreted through the lens provided by the concept of genius' as defined by Arthur Schopenhauer in The World as Will and Representation. RESUMENAunque las opiniones de Luis Cernuda sobre la literatura espanola ya han sido estudiadas, este articulo se propone examinarlas de nuevo o, de una forma mas precisa, examinar los ejercicios de canonizacion que Cernuda lleva a cabo en algunos de sus poemas y ensayos criticos. El articulo se centrara en la friccion que Cernuda identifica entre, por un lado, los poetas espanoles cuya canonicidad defiende y, por otro, la sociedad en la que estos poetas vivieron y trabajaron. Se aducira que esta friccion puede interpretarse a traves del prisma que ofrece el concepto de genio' tal como lo define Arthur Schopenhauer en El mundo como voluntad y representacion.