Siède French Svmbousm Through Its Premise That an Idea
Mester, Vol. xvz.v, (2000) Mario Vargas Llosa: Literatura, Art, and Goya's Ghost The relatíonship between the \'erbal and the pictorial—that is, between the written word and its \'isual representation, has exercised a particular fascination upon writers and ¿irtists throughout the ages. This nexus has operated both ways: artists have been fascinated by the manner in which writers manipúlate words, syntax and style to fashion new verbal realities (novéis, poems, plays), while writers for their part have succumbed to the allure of artists who utilise paint, ink, acid or crayons to créate new \'isual realities. Examples of this mutual attrac- tion and occasional cross-fertilisation between artists and writers abound. Perhaps no aesthetic movement illustrates the symbiosis be- tween literature and art more consistently and strikingly than fin ãc siède French svmboUsm through its premise that an idea could be expressed through form, the word orobjectrepresented beingnomore thím a sign to open up the pri\'ate world of the imagination. Thus, symbolist poets like Mallarmé, Verlaine and Rimbaud had their coun- terparts in painters like Redon, Moreau, Rops and Ensor—a spiritucd bond between the verbal and the plástic arts that has inspired exhibi- tions in importantmuseums,galleries andlibraries in cities as far apart as Melboume and Madrid.^ With respect to the Hispímic world, it is well-known that Sah ador Dalí and Federico García Lorca exercised considerable creative intlu- ence upon each other, while Dali also produced a series of one hundred wood engravings illustrating Dante's The Divine Comedi/. The early novéis of the Spanish Nobel Prize winner for literature, Camilo José Cela, were influenced by the power and the passion of Picasso's Guemica (1937), whose tortured images of mayhem in tum echo the scenes of murder cind mutilation in La familia de Pascual Duarte.
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