‘The Eternal No-Return’: Melancholy and Deterritorialization in the Cántigas de Alén by José Ángel Valente

Abstract

The article explores Cántigas de alén, published in 1989 by José Ángel Valente, in light of the exiled and bilingual condition of its author. In this sense, the collection can be seen as a peculiar elegy for a part of Valente’s personal and authorial identity; its loss generates a melancholic pattern that encourages an impossible return. The premise of a Galician identity based in deterritorialization, in which a complex reformulation of saudade acquires a special relevance, is shaped by the precarious language.

Keywords

• José Ángel Valente
• Cántigas de alén
• deterritorialization
• elegy
• saudade [homesickness]