Espronceda: Poetry and the Essay as "literatura comprometida"

Abstract

For most Hispanists the name of José de Espronceda evokes an image of the "representative man" of Spanish Romanticism: mysterious, rebellious, donjuanesque. We Hkewise associate his name with such well-known compositions as "Canto a Teresa," "A Jarifa en una orgía," "Canción del pirata," and El estudiante de Salamanca. That his image exists and persists is not surprising given the history of Esproncedian criticism from the first biography by Ferrer del Río and the review of Poesías by Alberto Lista through standard contemporary treatments like those of Ángel de Río and Ricardo Navas Ruiz.' With few exceptions, esproncedistas have concentrated largely on the poet's life and interpreted his work in a limited biographical context, misinformed, unfortunately, with biographical data that was more fanciful than factual. Thus Esponcedian criticism has been marred by the failure to interpret the totality of the poet's workpoetry, fiction, drama, and essayas a reflection, not only of his own personal crisis but also as a part of the socio-political conflict of Spain in the first third of the nineteenth century.^Such a study is, of course, beyond the scope of this paper but herein I propose to reconsider a few selected passages of Espronceda's poetry in the light of his little-known essays and to suggest from these examples that Espronceda was not an "exagerado y teatral declamador de voz hueca y ademán desafiante" but rather a committed artist, and that his work reflects a more coherent critique of Romantic Spain than previously believed.Ê spronceda's essays certainly merit the attention of the literary critic.While not by definition a formal thesis or dissertation, the essay does provide a structured, analytic versión of the author's thinking presented in a discursi ve style. The personal nature of the statement is not diminished but the more direct, less connotative language gives the reader easier access to the ideas behind the words. If, as Terry Eagleton affirms in his study, Marxism and Literary Criticism, "Science gives us conceptual knowledge of a situation, [and] art gives us the experience of that situation, " then the essay lies somewhere in between, providing a useful key to the artist's visión of reality as reflected in his creation." Espronceda's essayistic writings are limited to the well-known pamphlet. El ministerio Mendizábal, eight newspaper articles, and his five discursos before the Cortes between March and May of 1842.* While these bear widely diversified tilles, they all deal in some way with contemporary politicai events and issues, events and issues in which the poet was actively involved. We are all aware of his participation in the "Numantinos" and of his revolutionary activities during his stay abroad from 1828 to 1834; much less known is the fact that before serving in