SOURCE: “Phenomenological Hermeneutics and Vicente Aleixandre's Self-Reading,” in Revista de Estudios Hispanicos, Vol. 26, No. 3, October, 1992, pp. 32-43.

In the following essay, Poust contends that Aleixandre's belief that his works represented a unified poetic whole aligns with the conception of “phenomenological hermeneutics.”

While the celebration of multiple beings and perspectives within a united world is one of the best-known aspects of Vicente Aleixandre's poetry, the Spanish poet's insistence that his diverse poetic works constitute a unified corpus has received little critical attention in its own right. For the most part, Aleixandre's attitude toward his own writing has been taken into account by critics only as it illustrates his world view. I propose, however, that Aleixandre's belief in the unity of his poetic works is as significant for his understanding of literature as his belief in the unity of all creation is for his understanding of the world. Indeed, Aleixandre's...