Between Poetry and Journalism: Efraín Huerta’s Poemas de guerra y esperanza (1943)

Abstract

This article analyzes Efraín Huerta’s book Poemas de guerra y esperanza (1943) in connection with the journalistic writing that the poet published in Diario del Sureste (1936-37), El Nacional (1937-39) and El Popular (1939-43). The literary project of this collection of poems dialogues with two lyrical traditions of the time: the one that was triggered by the Spanish Civil War, between 1936 and 1938, and the one that sang the Second World War in Mexico City between 1940 and 1943. The constant link between Efraín Huerta’s journalistic practice and his early poetic writing aroused strong tensions in the Mexican literary field, as he conceived a literary project associated with historical conditions.