La simbología de Machu Picchu en la poesía de Alberto Hidalgo y Martín Adán: entre la defensa nacional y la reflexión ontológica

Abstract

Among the multiple meanings attributed to the stone symbol throughout the Peruvian literary tradition, it is necessary to mention, for its uniqueness and originality, the identification of the stone image with Machu Picchu. The mythic site began to gain greater resonance starting in 1911, becoming decades later the main emblem of the Peruvian nation. An example of this are the collections of poems Patria completa (1960) by Alberto Hidalgo and La mano desasida. Canto a Machu Picchu by Martín Adán (1964). Although both works place the ruins at the center of their poetic discourse, they build completely different visions of the motif: while Hidalgo’s is a patriotic and national allegory, Adán’s is fundamentally an ontological and existentialist text.