Martín Adán pseudonym of Rafael de la Fuente Benavides, was a Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

vian poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

 whose body of work is notable for its hermeticism

Hermeticism

Hermeticism or the Western Hermetic Tradition is a set of philosophical and religious beliefs based primarily upon the pseudepigraphical writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus...

 and metaphysical

Metaphysics

Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...

 depth.

From a very young age Adán demonstrated great literary talent (talent he shared with classmates Emilio Adolfo Westphalen and Estuardo Núñez). As time passed, he lived with increasing economic difficulty and suffered from serious alcoholism. A good part of his final years were spent in sanitariums, until his death in 1985.

Allen Ginsberg

Allen Ginsberg

Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...

 showed interest in Adán's work and in the writer himself. Taking advatage of his trip to Peru where he planned to study the ayahuasca

Ayahuasca

Ayahuasca is any of various psychoactive infusions or decoctions prepared from the Banisteriopsis spp. vine, usually mixed with the leaves of dimethyltryptamine-containing species of shrubs from the Psychotria genus...

, Ginsberg was able to interview Martín Adán.

Work

Martín Adan's first book was the novel La casa de cartón (The Cardboard House). Published in 1928 when the author was only 20 years old, The Cardboard House was influenced by the Avant-garde

Avant-garde

Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....

 and is one of the best examples of Peruvian narrative of its time. The novel was told through the paintings of a young man's experiences and reflections and was notable for evoking the district of Lima, Barranco

Barranco

Barranco is one of 43 districts in Lima, Peru. Its current mayor is Jessica Vargas and its postal code is 04.The district is considered to be the city's most romantic and bohemian, being the home and working place of many of Peru's leading artists, musicians, designers and photographers...

. The Cardboard Houses innovative theme and structure can, in some ways, be considered precursorial to novels of the literary boom in Latin America.

The remainder of Adán's work was poetry

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

. It stands out for a profundity of philosophical reflection, that sinks into the mysteries of what's eternal and transcendent. His poetry incorporates a series of images and hermetic, symbolic metaphors (among them, notably, the rose

Rose

A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...

). Adán's poetry mixes novel uses of language with traditional poetic forms like the sonnet

Sonnet

A sonnet is one of several forms of poetry that originate in Europe, mainly Provence and Italy. A sonnet commonly has 14 lines. The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song" or "little sound"...

. Reality and identity are also common themes in his poetry.

With his body of poetry, Adán tried to achieve a "creación total" (total creation) through "la poesía absoluta" (absolute poetry) and affirm the divine power and omnipotence of the poet who creates realities.

Books of poetry

• La Rosa de la Espinela / (1939)
• Sonetos a la Rosa (1931-1942)
• Travesía de Extramares (1950)
• Escrito a Ciegas (1961)
• La Mano Desasida, Canto a Machupicchu (1964)
• La Piedra Absoluta (1966)
• Mi Darío (1966-1967)
• Diario de Poeta (1966-1973)
• Antología (1989)

Sources

• This entry was created as a translation of Martín Adán's entry in the Spanish Language Wikipedia.