Les irreals omegues (1949), by J. V. Foix, a post-symbolist interpretation of twentieth-century history

Abstract

Les irreals omegues (1949) by J. V. Foix is one of the most important poetry collections in modern literature. This article explains in what sense it can be considered an epitome of modernity and, within that concept, of post-symbolist poetry. It highlights the connection of this book with the whole of Foix’s work and its structural and symbolic unity. All this makes it possible to read the book as a poetic interpretation of Catalan and European twentieth-century history, especially the 1930s, viewed from a symbolic perspective, in which cultural, political, and social phenomena are investigated in relation to an absolute experience of reality, which involves all the areas, both physical and metaphysical, in which human activity takes place.