Fernando Vallejo's French Library: Linguistic Imaginaries and Writing Practices

Abstract

From Logoi (1983) to El cuervo blanco (2012), Fernando Vallejo's work displays a constant reflection on language. In this article I propose to analyze the French sources of this reflection through Vallejo's conflicting and contradictory dialogue with French grammar and stylistics. I intend to demonstrate how from two powerful national imaginaries (Colombian and French) Vallejo builds his evolutional and non-prescriptive conception of language. Subsequently, I show how, in contrast with this modern conception of common language, in Logoi Vallejo develops a neoclassical vision of literary language, thought of as essentially different from the common. Lastly, I point out how this separatist imaginary of literature contrasts with Vallejo's own practice of writing and work, as both indicate the vanishing of literary autonomy, an essential condition to reflect, from within language, on the violence that has been devastating Colombian society.