This dissertation proposes a new approach to the poetics of the late Spanish poet José Ángel Valente (1929-2000), a member of the «Generation of the 50's». Its purpose is to evaluate mystical influences as a projection of an ontological state, a necessity of being to explore its own immanence.
The historical context is the divide between modernity and postmodernity in a movement toward an ideal notion of premodernity. Valente develops an immanent and transcendent inner voyage which is not just a reaction against the age of mechanical or technological reproduction, but a way of establishing a new epistemological analysis in order to examine more effectively the traditional notion of 'reality'. His is an antirationalist thought that seeks to fill in the gaps in the traditional rationalistic and positivistic modes of analysis. Thus, his attitude is the same as the one practiced by mystics of all eras, who have always tried to avoid established ways of thought, whether religious, social or linguistic. All of Valente's essays, critical works and books of poetry are permeated by mystical intertextualities and by the literary and philosophical commentaries of three mystical traditions which have been deeply rooted in Spain: the Jewish Cabala (Abraham Abulafia, Moses de León, Moses Cordovero,...), Muslim Sufism (Ibn 'Arabī, the Avicena brothers'), and the Christian Catholics (San Juan de la Cruz, Santa Teresa de Jesús, Miguel de Molinos,...).
These influences, moreover, were profoundly stimulated by the authority of the noted Spanish philosopher María Zambrano, whose ideas about 'diafanidad' or 'poetic reason' are basic to understanding his poems. Study of these influences on his poetry is essential so as to understand his evolution from an initial desire for poetic communication in history to a search for a new mode of mystical expression and knowledge in what I call 'ultrahistory'. Namely, Valente is searching human transcendence in the innermost parts of his own shattered immanence.
