“Marcha nocturna”: a poem by Gabriela Mistral published by La Nación in Buenos Aires (1942)

Abstract

 Analysis of manuscripts and edition of the poem “Night March” by Gabriela Mistral, starting from the concept of “units of composition” proposed by Jean Bellemin Nöel in the framework of genetic criticism. The article tests a relationship between the original structure of the poem in quatrains constructed with binaries and the call for Latin American union, represented by the friendship between José de San Martín and Bernardo O’Higgins. In the same way, the letters between Mistral and Eduardo Mallea, director of the “Arts and Letters” supplement of the La Nación of Buenos Aires, where Mistral published “Night March”, and Martha Salotti, her intermediary with the Argentine newspaper are studied with the aim of contextualizing the collaboration between the Chilean poet and this publisher.