Madrid marked a moment of quiet gravity on 24 April as the highest prize in Spanish literature was handed over, signaling a lifetime of achievement and a reflective pause for the author’s body of work. The ceremony carried a resonance that felt both celebratory and contemplative, acknowledging decades of literary labor and its impact on readers across generations.
Speaking on behalf of a Prime Minister who was absent from the event, Iceta delivered remarks that were steady and clear about how words can shield societies from authoritarian pressure, safeguard freedoms, and defend human rights. His message framed the Cervantes Prize as a beacon that brings a dispersed nation together in a single, shared celebration, uniting people across continents and communities in a common moment of recognition.
In Alcalá de Henares, inside the grand Auditorium, Iceta highlighted that the laureate is the first Venezuelan to receive the Cervantes Prize for 2022. The acknowledgment filled him with happiness and pride for the long journey that brought him to a city renowned for its university and rich history. The tribute touched on a personal path that began in this area, near the shadow of Complutense University, a place steeped in academic tradition.
As the program unfolded, the head of Culture presented a concise portrait of the Venezuelan writer born in Barquisimeto in 1930. The portrait emphasized that in Cadenas’s poetry, the word and the gaze converge to form an expansive aesthetic that resonates across time. Works such as Outdoor and Memorial, both published in 1977, stood as milestone signs of a lifetime devoted to inquiry through language and perception.
The discussion recalled how the dictatorship of General Marcos Pérez Jiménez expelled Rafael Cadenas into exile on the island of Trinidad, then a British colony, for participating in university student protests in 1954. The exile lasted four years, a period during which he learned English and deeply engaged with English and North American poetry. He returned to Venezuela in 1958 after the regime’s fall and the restoration of democracy, picking up a teaching path that would span more than three decades.
After his return, Cadenas embarked on a long teaching career that reached across generations. In classrooms, he shared reflections, questions, and doubts with students, turning lectures into living conversations about life, language, and wonder. The minister reminded listeners that these sessions were less about delivering certainties and more about inviting thoughtful inquiry, shaping poetry into an experience rather than a mere literary category, a distinction that became central to his pedagogy.
Known for works such as The Nasty Character and a Few Words, Cadenas is remembered for a form of pedagogy that students describe as life teaching itself. Iceta recalled this as a pedagogy rooted in the practical wisdom of poems, a way of learning to see the world with clearer eyes and more compassionate patience. Poetry, in this view, is not a shelf awaiting discovery but a living encounter to be felt, questioned, and renewed with every reading.
In this sense, poetry becomes an ongoing exchange rather than a closed vault of verse. The teacher urged students to approach poetry as a direct experience capable of awakening questions, inviting renewal, and defending against the erosion of meaning. This perspective would endure as a cornerstone of his teaching approach, encouraging readers to engage deeply with language and reality.
After reading a poem from the 1996 collection Gestiones, the minister highlighted the poet’s skill in making language precise and capable of bearing the weight of inquiry. Cadenas’s lines, concise and deliberate, invite readers to address, challenge, and reimagine the language that names reality. The precision of his phrasing invites active engagement and thoughtful critique, turning poetry into a tool for understanding the world rather than a passive display of art.
Iceta also recalled that Cadenas translated poets who ranged from Cavafy to Herbert, Graves, and Whitman. The act of translation was viewed not merely as linguistic work but as a bridge that connected cultures and generations through shared poetry. This translingual engagement underscored the power of literature to cross borders, inviting readers from North America, Latin America, and beyond to discover common human concerns expressed in different tongues. The translation work enriched both the translator and the audience, widening the circle of readers who encounter Cadenas’s thoughtful explorations of language and life.