SOURCE: “Eros and Thanatos: The Poetry of Vicente Aleixandre—Surrealism or Freudianism?”, in Vicente Aleixandre: A Critical Appraisal, edited by Santiago Daydí-Tolson, Bilingual Press, 1981, pp. 200-20.

In the following essay, Schwartz questions the influence of surrealism on Aleixandre, suggesting instead that the poet may have been more swayed by early psychoanalytic theory.

Dámaso Alonso states that Vicente Aleixandre may have helped initiate surrealism in Spain without any intention of doing so. He denies that Aleixandre had any knowledge of the French school.¹ Other critics qualify their statements with limiting adjectives such as “telluric” or “existential” in order to define Aleixandre's surrealism and to make a connection between what is obviously a personal spiritual and psychological projection and broader literary manifestations. Ricardo Gullón believes that Aleixandre's surrealism is neither French nor complete.² Carlos Bousoño also agrees that Aleixandre's surrealism “no fue nunca puro—ni aun...