Mr Bruce Swansey [Mexican Embassy, Ireland]

"Quevedo y Valle-Inclán: la creación del cuerpo esperpéntico"

The lecture established relations between Quevedo and Valle-Incán. It showed how the "esprepento" has its origins in Quevedo's novels and plays. The idea of a grotesque body, torn to pieces, or made out of unarticulated fragments, is present in Quevedo but also a question of perspective, fundamental in Valle's asthetic theory: they both view the human carnival from the height of God. Other similarities are the following: simultaneous actions, characters as "figuras", the improtance of seeing through appearances, which leads to the baroque "desengaño", the grotesque technique of mixing animals and human beings, hell as a metaphor of life and, obviously, adultery and theatrical techniques.