THE PRINTED SEA. LITORAL AND THE TRANSPARENCIES OF THE POETIC WORD

After leaving the Residencia, Prados returned to Malaga in the summer of 1924 and began a period of frantic activity in three complementary fields: his own work as writer, the founding of the journal Litoral, and his work as head of the publishing house Sur. Prados’ first books (Tiempo, Canciones del farero, and Vuelta) already show the originality of a work committed to fusing elements from the European avant-garde and the purist neo-populism of the poetry of that period. The ups and downs of his extremely sensitive personality and his disappointment when he confronted the strings of power that ruled the literary world were the causes why much of his work written during these years remains unpublished: El misterio del agua, Cuerpo perseguido, and his prose writings (1927- 1928).

Meanwhile, the dialogue among painting, music and poetry that takes place in the pages of Litoral is the most innovative aesthetic program of Spanish culture of the 1920s. The journal managed to bring together under a single creative platform figures such as Guillén, Moreno Villa, Picasso, Diego, Aleixandre, Falla, Dalí, Lorca, Ángeles Ortiz, Alberti, Gris, Cernuda, Palencia, Salinas, Bores, and Peinado.

Prados and Altolaguirre founded Sur in 1925, a printing house bought by Prados’ father. The company published many of the main titles of the poetry of the ’27 in books, which were so carefully printed that the criticts included them among the best editions of European poetry. The Litoral’s group(the youngest writers of  ‘27) defined a unique style of understanding creativity in which the concept of freedom is of paramount importance. The enormous effort made by Prados and Altolaguirre translated into a success that went beyond the Spanish borders. Sur’s working method became famous for the care that Prados put on the entire printing process of a book (paper type,ink color, typography, layout, spacing, etc.).

Apparently isolated in Malaga, Prados was one of the best-informed writers of Spain thanks to León Sánchez Cuesta, the bookseller. They maintained a close contact until the Civil War, and Sánchez Cuesta promptly delivered Prados the novelties in French literature durind those years and also subscribed Prados to numerous journals. His readings revealed that the poet was much closer to the European avant-garde currents than to the Spanish literature at the time. Prados also developed his activitites as educador with the children of fishermen in Malaga, teaching them a social pedagogy that spread widely the methods of the Institución Libre de Enseñanza. In his attempt to alleviate the inequities of the world around him, he already found the basis of a social and political commitment that he will demonstrate some years later.