Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature Commons^™

Hinduism In Animal De Fondo By Juan Ramón Jimenez, Christine Steffen

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

Animal de fondo (1949), by Juan Ramón Jimenez, is an enigmatic and joyous recounting of a mystical trance which the poet experienced during a sea voyage from New York to Buenos Aires in 1948. This essay approaches the poems from the perspective of classic Hindu religious traditions. The conciencia frequently used by Juan Ramón to express integration with the natural world is analogous to Brahman, the all-pervading reality which for the Vedic poets includes everything from the life of man to sticks and stones. The apparent polytheism of Animal de fondo echoes Vedic hymns, which deify many important social and …