Construcción de una Poética Antisolar en Mahfud Massís

Abstract

Mahfud Massís was born in Chile in a family of arab origin; he belonged to the so-called Generation of '28. This essay examines his theory of the poetical image and his work on the subject of death as an axis which allows us to understand the heart-rending experience of his time; he develops this subject from various aspects: the relation of death and horror, distress, pain, the cosmos, the silent God. The construction of his particular poetical imagery transcends ordinary experience, and the infl uence of both arab and western cultures, with their specific brands of distress and horror, are to be understood as clear keys to his poetry.