"Between the Cell Walls": A Reappraisal of César Vallejo's Escalas

Abstract

This article focuses on the relationship between Cesar Vallejo' s narrative and poetic works, and intends to reestablish the autonomy of the first one -in particular of Escalas (1923)- by noting the limitations that undermine the biographical approach of traditional criticism, and recognizing avant-gard features that contradict the narrative logic and linguistic conception of Realism. In regards to "Más allá de la vida y la muerte", formal procedures and thematic elements of fantastic literature are emphasized as well as a tendency to contrast the predominant hiperrealism of fantastic literature.