After postmodernism and the avant-garde , reaching the middle of the 20th century, a movement that became known as post-avant-garde began to develop in Latin America . This current was opposed to many postulates of so-called classical poetry .
Before moving forward with the definition, it is important to remember that postmodernism was born in opposition to the refinement of modernism . Avant-garde , meanwhile, emerged at the end of the 19th century with the purpose of renewing literature and art.
The post-avant-garde, in this framework, were writers close to existentialism and surrealism who rejected rigid structures in poetic language. Due to its characteristics, post-avant-garde art is usually defined as anti-poetry .
This group of authors, which includes the Mexican Octavio Paz and the Chilean Nicanor Parra , sought to remove solemnity from the figure of the writer and poetry in general. Post-avant-garde works relied on the assembly of various heterogeneous fragments as a collage .
The name post-avant-garde is associated with the attitude of these poets towards the avant-garde. Experts affirm that they were in charge of assimilating his disruptive language and projecting it towards the Latin American reality .
Without respecting a thematic order and altering the syntax, the post-avant-garde committed themselves to a free language. Readers, thus, must resort to their imagination and various meanings emerge.
The use of irony and humor to transform social, historical and political information is another characteristic of post-avant-garde art. These writers created a poetry of denunciation or testimonial in a new way, with concern for the future of humanity among its axes.
In the same way, we cannot ignore that other essential characteristics of post-avant-garde are the following:
-Significant importance is given to what eroticism is.
-In the same way, its authors seek innovation at all times.
-It was established that poetry, among many other things, had to be "critical."
-Post-avant-garde, despite everything, comes to maintain what is the irrationalist subjectivism of what was the avant-garde movement.
-A clear concern is expressed not only for the human being but also for the country, for the family and even for the so-called social problems.
In addition to the two authors mentioned, we cannot overlook two others who also became key figures of post-avant-garde art. We are referring to the following:
-Gonzalo Rojas (1916 – 2011). He is a Chilean poet who was considered one of the most revolutionary writers of his time. The prestigious Cervantes, Reina Sofía prizes for Ibero-American Poetry or the National Prize for Literature of Chile fell into the hands of this author, who bequeathed us works such as “La miseria del hombre” (1948), “Del relámpago” (1981) or “The word pleasure and other poems” (2002).
-José Lezama Lima (1910 – 1976), who is a Cuban writer characterized by his mystical and complex poetry. He wrote poetry, essays and narrative, highlighting among his works some such as “Paradiso” (1966), “Muerte de Narciso” (1937), “Oppiano Licario” (1977) or “Enemigo rumor” (1941).