The works of the Novísimos, Spanish poets of the 1970s, often include different manifestations of pop culture: photo, cinema, comics, popular literature, etc. Sometimes these references operate benevolently and pop culture is looked upon with nostalgia. At other times they bitterly denounce the superficiality of contemporary society and the failure of pop culture to say anything about reality. The vain attempt of the creators (painters, and then poets) to situate themselves in the gap between art and life (Rauschenberg) proved fruitless in their search to reveal the essence of things and men. But beyond the reference to pop culture (as a theme), its integration into poetic compositions and to writing process engenders a commentary of writing itself. Especially as seen in Pere Gimferrer’s poetry, cinema is used either with a “transformation” (G. Genette), i.e. an appropriation of images, characters or situations, or with an “imitation,” i.e. a formal influence of its processes on poetic writing. In the first case, pop culture enables an understanding of the subject itself, whereas in the second, the influence of pop culture suggests a writing method for a “Poetic Pop Art.”
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