Graduation Year

January 2010

Graduation Month

May

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

School or Department

Modern and Classical Languages

Major

Spanish

Faculty Mentor Department

Modern and Classical Languages

Faculty Mentor

Eduardo Chirinos

Faculty Reader(s)

Jannine Montauban

Keywords

Ultraísmo, Lucía Sánchez Saornil, cinematography, Avant-Garde

Subject Categories

Spanish Literature

Abstract

Lucía Sánchez Saornil was the only woman poet who participated in Ultraism, a Spanish Avant-Garde movement of the 1920s that implemented constant thematic and formal experimentation in search of a new language capable of representing modernity and technology. This Spanish-language paper focuses on the impact of cinematography on the Ultraist poetry of Sánchez Saornil. By analyzing two of her poems, "Cines" (1921) and "Domingo" (date unknown), I explain how she utilizes cinematography to 1) to express her experience of modernity and 2) to articulate her relationship with her poetry and the reader. The analysis of these texts and the role of their cinematographic elements reveals Sánchez Saornil's complex attitude towards modernity and the Ultraíst movement: her initial moderate fascination, exemplified by the tone of "Cines," evolved into a deep anxiety over the dehumanizing tendencies of modernity and Ultraism, a preoccupation that pervades the poem "Domingo." She eventually abandoned the techniques of Ultraism and became involved in Spanish left-wing anarchist and feminist movements. Even though she did not fully turn to political activism until the 1930s, Sánchez Saornil always defended sentimental authenticity and vindicated the value of the human being in her poetry. Her unique critical perspective on modernity distinguishes her from her contemporaries and justifies the consideration of her work as an important contribution to Spanish literature.

Honors College Research Project

1

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© Copyright 2010 Vera Ruth Jones