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Una sonda hacia el vacío: “Lo ondo i lo desatado”. Meditaciones sobre la metamorfosis oxigráfica y el pensamiento poético de Joserramón Melendes

Durán Berríos, Kelvin (2022) Una sonda hacia el vacío: “Lo ondo i lo desatado”. Meditaciones sobre la metamorfosis oxigráfica y el pensamiento poético de Joserramón Melendes. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

In this dissertation, I explore the poetic and theoretical works of Joserramón Melendes (Puerto Rico 1952). I study the phonological transformation of Spanish orthography in his writing, known as oxygraphy. I consider the visual elements in the written expression of the language itself. I also explore the underlying elements of this transformative character. Among these, I am interested in the void, the metamorphosis, and the spiral as concepts that structure Melendes’ work. I call the combination of both groups of elements the oxygraphic metamorphosis. In chapter 1, I discuss the loss (void) of the Taino language. I argue that this loss, in association with the Yoruba language, and the experience of the Nuyorican exile in the United States, explains the metamorphic work on the Spanish orthography as an inherent phenomenon of Melendes’ poetic experience. Here, there is a process of translation from the lost language into the language inherited from the colonial experience. Hence, the oxygraphy is the writing of the dead and the living. In chapter 2, I emphasize the dialogue with the textual tradition of writing regarding the construction of Spanish from a linguistic, literary, and political point of view. I work with a group of selected texts from the colonial era, the republican era in Latin America, and with the first publications of the Royal Spanish Academy. Through a comparative reading, I observe how Melendes constructs his oxygraphy in a temporal and conceptual spiral. This chapter ends with a discussion of the limits of his writing system in a series of illegible poems. Finally, in chapter 3, I address the political and aesthetic dimensions of the ecological discussions Melendes develops through the concept of entropy and the image of the house. This generates a cosmic thread in which poetry is the core potency of action. I finish this chapter by studying this thought through the esoteric character of some of his poems linked to Orphism, alchemy, and kabbalah.


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Item Type: University of Pittsburgh ETD
Status: Unpublished
Creators/Authors:
CreatorsEmailPitt UsernameORCID
Durán Berríos, Kelvinkrd60@pitt.edukrd60
ETD Committee:
TitleMemberEmail AddressPitt UsernameORCID
Committee ChairSotomayor, Áurea Maríaams389@pitt.edu
Committee MemberDuchesne Winter, Juanduchesne@pitt.edu
Committee MemberMonasterios, Elizabethelm15@pitt.edu
Committee MemberRamos, Francisco Joséfjramg@gmail.com
Date: 30 September 2022
Date Type: Publication
Defense Date: 2 August 2022
Approval Date: 30 September 2022
Submission Date: 4 August 2022
Access Restriction: No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately.
Number of Pages: 352
Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Schools and Programs: Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Hispanic Languages and Literatures
Degree: PhD - Doctor of Philosophy
Thesis Type: Doctoral Dissertation
Refereed: Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords: Joserramón Melendes, poetry, language, philosophy, void, spiral, metamorphosis, cosmic thread and fabric, dreamcatcher, Ojibwe, ecology, occultism, entropy, Taino, Yoruba, Nuyorican, Royal Spanish Academy, Andrés Bello, Simón Rodríguez, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Juan de Valdés, Pedro Pietri.
Date Deposited: 30 Sep 2022 18:19
Last Modified: 30 Sep 2022 18:19
URI: http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/43497

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