An empty temple. The sacred in the work of José Angel Valente

Abstract

The relationship between mysticism and poetry has become an almost inevitable topic in any study on the work of José Ángel Valente. However, we must be careful when studying this relationship if we want to avoid an erroneous interpretation. We cannot take as starting point an a priori identification of the question about the Sacred (so important not only in contemporary poetry, but also in contemporary art) with the belief in a real numinous presence that we find in the mystic tradition. The poetry of Valente is better understood if we consider an experience of the Sacred being originated not only from the sacred presence but also from its absence. This experience of the Sacred cannot be conceived apart from poetry itself (a poetry that appears in the philosophical and religious horizon of God’s death). The search for the Sacred is developed through three great paths in the work of Valente: the matter, the body (love and eroticism) and the poetic word (and also the silence).