Diario de Argónida (review)

Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies 273 Diario de Argonida Tusquets Editores, 1997 By José Manuel Caballero Bonald After a more than ten year hiatus from writing verse, José Manuel Caballero Bonald's new book is a collection of poetry written between 1995-1997. In addition to the seventy short poems that appear in the text, there is also an explanatory "Nota del autor" which appears at the end of the work. In the note, the writer explains that "Argónida" is a fictitious name that he uses to refer to Coto de Doñana, an ecological preserve and national park in Southwestern Spain, a site close by to where he resides for part of the year. Furthermore, as for the use of the word "diario," Caballero Bonald states that he has chosen this term for its "deliberada imprecisión," and he goes on to say that poetry cannot and should not be interpreted as a reflection of autobiographical truth. Although this short note appears at the end of the text, its insightful prefatory -like commentary could just as easily have appeared at the beginning of the collection. As the work begins, the poetic selections are preceded by a quote from Horace's Odes. While the content of the quotation, "Dum loquimur, fugerit invida aetas," quite accurately reflects the tone that many of the poems that follow will demonstrate, the citation of its origin, (1,2), is an error. The citation should correctly refer to Horace's eleventh ode, not his second, as it is this quotation which precedes the well known phrase of, "carpe diem." Regardless of the citation oversight, most likely editorial in nature, the notion advanced in Horace's ode that, while we speak in the present, time will have already fled, captures the spirit of what many of Caballero Bonald's poems express. The first selection of the work is titled "Presente histórico" (15) and illustrates how time, both past and present, is a central concern of the poetic speaker. Throughout the entire collection, time is described as incorrigible. It takes its toll on buildings, on statues, on nature and on humankind. Some of the many poems which reveal the effects of the passage of time are: "Justicia del tiempo" (27), "Acerca del derribo" (52), and "Doble filo"(85). As a kind of continuation of the aforementioned epigraph, one of the techniques that the poet uses to emphasize the idea of time gone by is the allusion to a variety of figures and images from the Classical world and mythology. Among these are the blind seer Tiresias, Ulysses, sirens, Argonauts, the civilization of Pompeii, and the poets Virgil and Anacreon. Some of the titles of the poems, "Caja de Pandora" (41) 274 Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies and "Cálculo platónico" (89) also keep present this notion of ancient culture. In spite of all of these references, what Caballero Bonald's poetic voice describes is far from former grandeur or even joy. Rather, as the poems of this wotk establish a link between the past and present, it becomes evident that as the poetic speaker evokes the past, these memories are often times morose. The act of remembering could well be considered a constant in Caballero Bonald's poetry since his earliest works. While in this collection there is a distinct presence of nostalgia for days gone by, there is also a certain tone of resignation on the part of the poetic speaker who seems to feel that his temporal end is not so far away. Among the images that are used to refer to the past and reflect this resignation are: "osamenta," "escoria," "moho carcomiendo / las rejas" and "mutilada estatua abatida de bruces." A certain degeneration caused by the passage of time is present and often portrayed by mists within the fog-shrouded confines of Argónida. Clearly, the poetic speaker is feeling his own mortality Indeed, death, as the consequence of humankind's time on earth, underlies much of this poetry. Some selections which reveal this are "No estoy" (35), "Soliloquio" (49), "Suicidio"(91), and "Ileso"(l 11). Furthermore , the use of words like "rescoldo" to describe the current temporal situation...