Ocampos Palomar, Emilio José (2025). La poesía neoplatónica de Juan Valera. Estudio y antología, Granada, Editorial Comares, 118 pp. ISBN: 978-84-1369-927-1

Abstract

With La poesía neoplatónica de Juan Valera. Estudio y antología (Editorial Comares, 2025), Emilio José Ocampos Palomar offers a renewed perspective on a previously marginal facet of the renowned Andalusian novelist’s work: his lyrical output inspired by Neoplatonism. The volume, consisting of a rigorous introductory study and a carefully curated anthology, recovers Valera the poet and places him within the spiritual and aesthetic context of the fin de siècle, in dialogue with Greco-Latin tradition, Renaissance Petrarchism, and Christian mysticism. Through this work, Ocampos restores Juan Valera to the heart of the 19th-century canon, revealing him as a pivotal figure between Enlightenment classicism, emerging symbolism, and early modernist sensibility. An essential study for understanding poetic spirituality in a time of deep cultural tensions.