Conflicting mimetic regimes in Altazor by Vicente Huidobro

Abstract

This paper focuses on the double pattern of “realism” present in Vicente Huidobro’s Altazor by making use of François Rastier’s work in order to highlight how in his masterpiece the Chilean poet feels forced to overcome his creationist aesthetics based on a ruinous ontological confusion, such as the illusion of poetically emulating primitive magic. Rastier shows that, unlike the two traditions of western literature, i.e. empirical realism, based on the representation of sensitivity and illustrated by the classical novel, and transcendental realism, associated with lyrical expression, surrealism chooses antinomy, which destroys both traditional mimetic forms. In the case of creationism, however, we believe we can talk about the conflicting co-presence of the two types of realism, empirical and transcendental, throughout the poem. The poet’s solution is to imagine a word that neither narrows down to a mere mental image nor goes beyond the limits of representation.