Poética de la materialidad del libro como objeto: corteza de higueras, pergamino, nido de insectos, sedimentos en cartón

This dissertation examines four structures of books in the Latin American continent, delving into their materiality and the many stories and meanings that are housed in book matter. As a poet and scholar, I investigate these structures through academic prose and through poems located in the margins of the pages, putting both into a dialogue that explores the physicality of books.

The four structures encompass books from diverse periods and areas: the pre-Hispanic Madrid Codex from the Mayan region; a religious book in limp parchment binding printed in colonial Mexico in 1775; a Cuban artist’s book that communicates through poems and art; and contemporary books with covers that are made from cardboard collected by cartoneros (waste-pickers) from the trashes in Argentina. The investigation is concluded with an epilogue about colophons.

This dissertation makes a contribution to better understanding the role of materiality in books, and the ways materiality contains information about the economic, political and social features of the period in which the books are created. By combining and putting in dialogue academic prose and poems, this dissertation also contributes to expanding what scholarship and creativity can look like.