Rafael Alberti

RAFAEL ALBERTI (El Puerto de Santa María, 1902- 1999).
-Verte y no verte", 2nd edition, 1936. Cruz y Raya, Madrid. Edition of 1100 copies.
-From one moment to another. Cantata de los héroes y la fraternidad de los pueblos. Bilingual life of a Spanish refugee in France", 1st edition, 1942. Ed. Baje, Buenos Aires. Paperback edition with dust jacket.
Measurements: 26.5 x 16 cm; 17 x 24 cm.
The first editions of Verte y no verte (1936) and De un momento a otro. Cantata de los héroes y la fraternidad de los pueblos. Vida bilingüe de un refugiado español en Francia (1942) are two representative milestones in the poetic and ideological evolution of Rafael Alberti, one of the fundamental voices of the Generation of '27 and a key figure in 20th century Spanish poetry, especially during his period of exile.
Verte y no verte, published in its second edition in 1936 by Cruz y Raya in Madrid, is part of a moment of transition in the poet's work, where lyrical experimentation coexists with a growing concern for historical and social reality. With a print run of 1,100 copies, the work already reflects the tension between the intimate and the collective that would mark his later production, in a convulsive historical context immediately prior to the Spanish Civil War.
De un momento a otro (1942), published in Buenos Aires by Baje, fully represents the period of Alberti's exile after the war. This politically and emotionally charged work takes the form of a poetic cantata that exalts fraternity among peoples and gives voice to the experience of Republican exile. Its subtitle, Vida bilingüe de un refugiado español en Francia (Bilingual life of a Spanish refugee in France), shows the linguistic and vital uprooting of the author, as well as his insertion in a new American cultural context.
Both editions allow us to trace Alberti's evolution from a poetry of aesthetic exploration to a committed writing, marked by memory, ideological struggle and the experience of exile. Together, they constitute essential testimonies of a work that is built in constant dialogue with contemporary history and with the author's personal circumstances.