El otro, nosotros y yo
La poesía mexicana frente a la violencia a principios del siglo XXI
abstract
Mexico saw a dramatic rise in violence during the first two decades of the 20th century. While mass media news (tabloid papers, television, internet) fed its audience what Octavio Paz called “the same dish of blood” day after day, these outbreaks of violence found a more internalised and subjective echo in works of poetry. Yet, how can one speak in the first person in the face of horror? What does it mean for poetry to say ‘I’ or indeed ‘we’ in these circumstances, at the risk of veering into civic and patriotic reflections? This article examines the challenges raised by these questions through the works of four contemporary Mexican poets.
Keywords: Mexico • Violence • Poetry • Lyrical subject • 21st century