Biblical figures and their poetic transformations in Cesar Vallejo

Abstract

The approach to some critical views on César Vallejo’s poetic work led me to discover the existence of two positions about the role of religion in his poetry: those who see an almost mystical approach in his poetry, and those who believe that he rather does a subver-sion of the doctrinal values and foundations of the Christian religion. Although, I fully read Vallejo’s poetry for the first time, in this essay I intend, in a very particular and modest way, to mediate briefly in the aforementioned Vallejian controversy. Given the brevity of this text, I will only analyze some biblical figures mentioned in some of Vallejo’s poems. This citation implies in turn a contextual replacement. Therefore, their use in the Vallejian poetic context will allow me to show that to the values already codified by Catholic interpretation, others are now added with new meanings.