Some Clarifications
Abstract
This poetry collection finds its unity in two metaphorical techniques: the qualified metaphor and the inverted metaphor. These two techniques offer alternatives to the static metaphor in which transference travels only in one direction. The qualifying technique, which comes from Aristotle, allows certain aspects of a metaphor to be rejected. In other words, nothing is ever truly something else. The inverting technique, which comes from Borges, allows the figurative term to become the literal term and vice versa. The poems in this collection engage in such metaphorical play to question the use of metaphors to describe the experience of undocumented immigrants. At the end, the collection does not offer its own portrait of the undocumented—because these poems acknowledge the difficulty of such a task—only impossible metaphors.
Subject Area
American literature
Recommended Citation
Huerta, Javier Omar, "Some Clarifications" (2005). ETD Collection for University of Texas, El Paso. AAI1430958.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/dissertations/AAI1430958