Hernández en el corazón is a newly issued book that surveys Miguel Hernández through a wide lens of scholarship and reflection. The edition, published by the Miguel Hernández Cultural Foundation, offers a curated journey across critical pages that illuminate Hernández from many angles. The editor of this edition has framed a compact, pointed homage to a poet whose life and work continue to provoke study and debate among specialists in Spanish and Italian philology alike.
Hernández en el corazón extends the Foundation’s program of editorial projects that assemble the most significant Hernandísta research from renowned critics and scholars. In this volume, a veteran Italian Hispanist brings together a substantial body of work—more than three hundred pages—that maps a broad arc of Hernández’s reception. The collection includes items ranging from early essays to contemporary inquiries, all translated into Spanish to illuminate the dialogue across generations. It traces Hernández’s connections with Vicente Aleixandre, notes the exchange of letters with other prominent European scholars, and examines how Hernández’s influence traveled internationally and shaped Italian literary reception in the decades that followed. The book also considers the practice of translating Hernández’s poetry into Italian, offering insight into cross-cultural translation work that shaped perception on both sides of the Alps.
The dedication to Neruda, highlighted in the book’s title, carries a special resonance. The editor notes that Neruda, during his student days in the same university circle, met Hernández’s supporters and offered hospitality and a listening ear for the scholar working on Hernández. The encounter underscored a moment when cross-border friendships helped unlock scarce documentation and deepen understanding of the poet’s life and work.
Spain in the sixties
The volume gathers many personal reflections from the Italian scholar who arrived in Spain in the 1960s to study Hernández. These memories describe the practicalities of scholarly life in a time when acquiring books could be challenging and the literary scene operated within a distinct cultural tempo. The collection also recounts visits to Elche and Orihuela, where colleagues and companions of Hernández’s world offered both support and skepticism, revealing the complex web of relationships that surrounded the poet. The contributions presented here are widely regarded as an authoritative reference, offering new angles on familiar episodes and introducing overlooked details that enrich the overall portrait of Hernández’s public and private life.
From the intimate relations of the poet to the broader framework of his circle, the narrative emphasizes the protective and admiring stance of Aleixandre toward Hernández. The text also reveals the personal trust Hernández inspired at times in his close circle, captured in recollections and documented conversations that shed light on the emotional landscape of the era. The book scrutinizes the ties between Hernández, his wife Josefina Manresa, and the Italian critic Dario Puccini, highlighting how correspondence through the years contributed to a nuanced understanding of the poet’s life and work. It also explores how Manresa’s perspective shaped the reception of Hernández in Italy, including moments when she supported or contested specific textual readings and biographical interpretations.
Among the notable materials is a selection of poems and notes that Morelli translated and edited in Italy, with thoughtful readings that connect themes of life, love, and mortality. The final sections gather reflections on the poems that composed the Cancionero and its broader reception, presenting connections between the Italian translations and the Spanish originals. The book also examines how Hernández’s affiliation and ideological affiliations were debated by contemporaries and later analysts, a topic that remains instructive for scholars studying the poet’s public image as well as his artistic evolution.