Ramón Gómez de la Serna

RAMÓN GÓMEZ DE LA SERNA (Madrid, 1888-Buenos Aires, 1963)
"Great essay on the spiral staircase".
Handwritten quarto (9).
Preserved in a hard folder.
Signed on page 1.
Measurements. 23 x 16 cm.
Set of nine handwritten quartos by Ramón Gómez de la Serna, preserved in a hard folder and signed on the first page, which constitute the fragment of a "Gran ensayo sobre la escalera de caracol" (Great essay on the spiral staircase). The manuscript, written on yellow sheets of paper and with the author's autograph annotations, also presents the particularity of preserving an incomplete structure, with the absence of pages 7 and 8, which adds the character of a fragment in process or testimony of literary work.
In this text, Gómez de la Serna develops his usual aphoristic and metaphorical thinking based on an everyday architectural motif: the spiral staircase. Through it, the author constructs a reflection of symbolic and philosophical scope, in which the spiral becomes an image of the ascent of time, life and thought. The famous statement included in the manuscript - "The spiral staircase is the stairway to heaven and the great spiral in which the ascent of time and life consists"- condenses his poetic vision of reality, where objects are transformed into ideas in movement.
The text exemplifies Gómez de la Serna's ability to turn apparently trivial elements into triggers for aesthetic and metaphysical reflection, integrating the everyday into a universe of free associations and strong imaginative charge. The staircase ceases to be a functional object to become a total metaphor of human evolution.As a whole, this manuscript not only has literary value for its content, but also for its autographic and fragmentary condition, which allows us to approach the author's creative process and his way of thinking.