Abstract

Intentionality, in its various forms, connects the subject with objects as they appear within the subject's view of the world. Poets, like artists, create with their bodies and perceive the world with their senses and with their souls. Subjects allow objects to reveal themselves, to manifest themselves having identities according to the contexts in which they appear. This system is called intentionality—a phenomenological concept in which appearances have ontological meanings. Phenomenology, as explained by Maurice Merleau-Ponty, provides a theoretical framework within which Pedro Salinas's poetry may be understood and interpreted. Pedro Salinas forms part of Spain's Generation of 1927 and produces collections of poetry about the intentionality of the beloved during a love affair. La voz a ti debida, Razon de Amor, and Largo Lamento form a type of trilogy under the suggestion of his friend Jorge Guillén. Salinas resides in America during and after the Spanish Civil War and composes poems which later appear in Largo Lamento posthumously. "La memoria en las manos" exemplifies how the subject intends the stone and his hands while remembering an experience with the beloved. The poetic self in the poem probes the identities of objects in order to comprehend the essence of the beloved and of himself.Pedro Salinas practices intense observations in real life when he travels. While teaching in various schools across the country, he attends conferences showcasing his literary criticism, poetry, and playwriting. He corresponds prolifically with his wife Margarita Bonmatí­ . Through his correspondence with his wife, we see how despite distances and space, he thinks of her constantly. He relates a theory of tourism that coincides with Merleau-Ponty's "brute expression." On one occasion, he travels to Los Angeles, California to attend a literary conference. Along the way he travels through Missouri, Colorado, and Utah visiting various landscapes, national parks, and cities. He chronicles his impressions in letters to his wife. The letters Salinas writes and the appearances he contemplates show his focus and soul are not only his wife, but also Katherine Whitmore, his lover. Margarita and Katherine form a conflation that Salinas perceives in his surroundings.

Degree

MA

College and Department

Humanities; Spanish and Portuguese

Rights

http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2010-06-23

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd3648

Keywords

Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Pedro Salinas, phenomenology, intentionality, Utah

Language

English

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