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Adam, published in 1916, is Huidobro's earliest mature work and his first attempt at free verse. While still full of rhetorical gestures from his previous symbolist (or modernista) style, heavily influenced by Ruben Dario, the book shows the author moving into very new territory, if at this stage not fully able to cast off his previous allegiances. It is fair to say that the book would today be forgotten, were it not for the author's spectacular later career, but it retains some interest as a transitional volume, albeit not as much as that demonstrated by El espejo de agua (The Water Mirror), also first published in 1916, but written after Adam. Adam is a young man's book, embarrassingly so at times, as the author proudly sets out his stall, but it represents a major leap forward. With his claim to Emersonian influence, his dismissal of traditional Hispanophone poetry in the Preface, and that typically outrageous tone-one we will meet many times in his later works, where he shouts from the rooftops, Look at me! , and lays into his perceived enemies-it's hard to ignore the fact that Huidobro was all of 21 when he began this poem. The sins of youth, indeed.

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9781848617759

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The Chilean poet Vicente Huidobro (1893-1948) is one of the most important figures in 20th-century Hispanic poetry and, with Cesar Vallejo, one of the pioneering avant-gardists in Spanish. Originally from an upper-class Santiago family, Huidobro was fortunate to have the means to support himself and his family while he found his artistic way. After an early phase writing in a quasi-symbolist style in his native city, he moved to Paris and threw himself into the local artistic milieu with a passion, quickly becoming a notable figure, publishing a large number of books in the period 1917-1925. Influenced initially by Apollinaire, Huidobro quickly befriended both forward-looking French writers such as Reverdy, Cocteau and Radiguet, and the Spanish expatriate artists, including Picasso and Juan Gris. He reached his poetic maturity in 1931 with the publication of two master-pieces: the long poem, Altazor, and the book-length prose-poem Temblor de cielo (Skyquake). Two further collections would follow during his lifetime, both published in Santiago in 1941. While he also published successful novels and plays, it is for his poetry that he is best remembered today.

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