The certainty of existence according to the deconstruction of past time in Tierra de nadie by Ángel García López

Abstract

The Spanish poet Ángel García López began writing in the 1960’s and continues to write today. Although his poetical corpus is extensive, this article focuses on a specifi c book of poetry, Tierra de nadie, which is his second one. Tierra de nadie turns on the paradox of writing both from and into past experience. García López attempts to describe that experience using the feeling of terrible bereavement. However, the past time turns into a creative space where memory becomes the focal point of the poetry, which in García López is always a form of displacement and recognition. The poetic is subsumed in the domain of memory. Thus the poet is able to travel through the rooms of childhood, the landscapes of southern Andalusia and reproduce the sounds of the speech of Western Andalusia. Aft er capturing in this a memory of the past, the poet lays it bare to reveal the origin of its being. The memories of the past go beyond their traditional sense and acquire a transcendental meaning. Only when the lost past is integrated into present time, can the lyric voice take a step towards full maturity and act out new scenes in the stage of life.