Literatura Mexicana (Nov 2017)

The secret liturgy of time. A review of the genesis, publication and reception of 'El minutero' by López Velarde

  • Alfonso García Morales

DOI
https://doi.org/10.19130/iifl.litmex.27.2.2016.920
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 27, no. 2
pp. 51 – 67

Abstract

Read online

As we read it today, López Velarde’s El minutero is the result of a complex process of production, edition and reception, which has barely been clarified by scholars. This article tries to explain how the book, which had been previously planned by its author, became a posthumous publication finally prepared by Enrique Fernández Ledesma and Velarde’s closest circle of friends. Furthermore, the discussion also deals with the subject of its reception. Even though López Velarde conceived El minutero as a book of “prose poems”, the critics took a long time to recognize this genre as the best reading option. Finally, and following the idea of Xavier Villaurrutia, the book, decisive in forging the writer’s legend, is analyzed as a “profane prayer book”.

Keywords