Abstract
The well-known poem by Emily Dickinson (1830-86), CXXVI “The brain is wider than the sky,” was quoted by Nobel laureate in medicine Gerald Edelman in his book “Wider than the Sky: The Phenomenal Gift of Consciousness” (2005). Poets and scientists formulate testable hypotheses to support or rule out a theory. Sometimes like a laboratory test, a poet hypothesizes whether or not a series of words will produce the desired effect on the reader. Similarly, a scientist hypothesizes whether an independent variable will produce an effect on the dependent variable. Octavio Paz in the poem he dedicated to the surrealist painter Roberto Matta, “La casa de la mirada”, showed us his playful spirit of a curious man and the intelligence of one who knows how to recognize the play of opposites and the contrasts between the subatomic and the sidereal. Inspired by the “gastronomic poetry” of Charles Simic and Mark Strand, in this paper I will discuss some cases of poets (Pablo Neruda, Gabriel Ferrater, Enric Casasses, Vicent Andrés Estellés, among others) who explore scientific possibilities through the reflection on food products apparently inert and insignificant and that give us clues to measure the microcosm.
Presenters
Enric BouProfessor Emerita, Department of Comparative Linguistic and Cultural Studies, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, Italy
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
GASTRONOMIC POETRY; POETRY AND SCIENCE, METAPHOR; LATIN AMERICAN AND CATALAN
