Manifestations of Dialogical Expression in Juan Gelman's Poetry

Abstract

The study of the second person as a condition of the «Me» in the poetic discourse gains momentum in the studies of literary theory from the emergence of the relatively recent field of the pragmatics of lyrical communication. This perspective of current study admits that the lyrical «Me» is not reduced to the category of mere «enunciative subject» that explains in itself the locutive process of enunciation; rather it is considered the projection of the subject towards the alterity of the interlocutor (Me) to the interlocutor (You), that is, the expression of the subject of enunciation to the addressee postulated in the discourse. In this sense, the textual presence of the «Me» and the «You» is interpreted as a sign of a dialogical relationship that becomes the fundamental sense of the poetic structure. In this context, the modes of postulation of «You» as a sign of dialogical manifestation in Juan Gelman's poetry are investigated.

For the purpose of this paper, the theoretical framework is composed of the positions of Émile Benveniste (2004) on enunciation; Carmen Bobes Naves (1991) and Jesús Maestro (1998) on the manifestations of dialogical expression in lyrical discourse; and Margarida Bassols and Anna M. Torrent (1997), Amparo Tusón (2015) and Álvarez Muro Alexandra (2001) on the formal conditions of conversation.