Blanca Andreu, Galicia, and the New Iberian Mysticism: From Post-Mortem to Post-Mystic

(Hardback)

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This book contributes to the ongoing discussion of the place of contemporary Galician writer Blanca Andreus work within the 1980s post-novsimo movement, as part of a larger resurgence of the Surrealist in Spanish poetry and its possible placement in the more recent mystical poetry of Spain. It provides a detailed textual analysis of her poetry, and in doing so reveals not only that her work encompasses notions of the surreal and the mystical but also, although Andreu has so far written entirely in Castilian (Spanish), that her poetry utilizes a variety of traditional Galician and Portuguese symbols and images. In this way her work challenges the boundaries between what we as readers may accept as a solely Castilian, Galician, or Spanish poetic. It bases its transtheoretical framework on findings from such fields as Galician studies, Iberian studies, mysticism studies, paradigm shift studies, and regional studies over the past two decades. Ultimately, this comprehensive and unique study shows how Andreus multifaceted transnational work may pertain to, and expand, our knowledge of each of these areas of focus.

Reviews

A clearly written and comprehensive analysis of Andreus work contextualized within trans-regional poetic spaces that both questions the place of mysticism in modern Iberian poetry and studies what elements define an artist and their work as truly Galician. Undoubtedly a worthwhile addition to the fields of peninsular gender studies as well as Galician cultural studies. -- Mara Elena Solio, The University of Houston
A thoughtful engagement with the unique and understudied poetic voice of Blanca Andreu, placing her production at the intersection between Iberian and Galician Studies. Situated in both the postmodern and the post-mystic, yet escaping both of them, Andreus poetic work crosses epistemic and linguistic barriers and transcends essentialist conceptions of identity. Robert Simon shows that the semantic density of her poetry is pivotal for rethinking contemporary Spanish cultures. -- Benita Sampedro Vizcaya, Hofstra University

Author Bio

Robert Simon is professor of Spanish and Portuguese and coordinator of Portuguese at Kennesaw State University.