Chile in the Latin American experience of "solidarity" and the birth of "poetic reason" in María Zambrano

Abstract

This work contributes to the genealogy of the term "razónpoética" [poetic reason], a key concept for understanding the thought of Spanish philosopher María Zambrano. In the process, it provides an essential contribution: a detailed analysis of the text published in Chile "A los poetas chilenos de Madre España", signed by Zambrano on January 1937 as an epilogue to the anthology Madre España: Homenaje de los poetas chilenos and whose importance had not been previously recognized.

The analysis challenges the accepted idea found in the Zambranian bibliography as to the textual emergence of the concept "razón poética" [poetic reason] first taking place in the article "La guerra de Antonio Machado", published in Hora de España XII, December 1937 (Zambrano, 1937d). We actually find it before, written and published, in the text of "Madre España". The purpose of this work is not simply to prove the concept appeared before, but rather to indicate the birth of a textual expression and demonstrate its function as a matrix.

The debate does not constitute a mere exercise in academic rigor but rather seeks to enrich our view of what we currently understand to be the influence of the Latin American contexts in the work of this Spanish thinker. The study of "Madre España" allows us to return the text to its historical context and personal circumstances the author found herself in when writing. This will make it easier to continue to analyze the spiral development of María Zambrano's thought and complex integration of different discursive genres in her writing. Lastly, we point to the need to consider, as one of the "categorías de la vida" [life categories], the human and collective experience of the solidarity present in Chile at the time as one marking the beginning of María Zambrano's journey towards "razón poética" [poetic reason].