Territories of silence and secular mysticism

Mexico, the country that welcomed him and became his final destination, was his second homeland. He lived in the house of Octavio Paz for a short period and moved several times before he settled permanently in a small apartment in Cuauhtémoc, an area where a large number of the Spanish exiles lived. He removed himself voluntarily from all political activity, and dedicated himself to the development of his poetry that increasingly emphasized the metaphysical aspects that were present in his previous works. Working closely with José Bergamín and Juan Larrea, Prados took charge of the issues that they published in Séneca and Cuadernos Americanos. At the Instituto Luis Vives (one of the schools founded by the Spanish refugees close the circles of the Institución Libre de Enseñanza), he rediscovered his vocation for teaching, spreading the ideas and methods of the Institución. His work with the group of Spanish children who had arrived in Mexico during the Civil War deserves a special mention. In 1942, he legally adopted one of them, Francisco Sala. Titles such as Mínima muerte and Jardín cerrado show the deep inner experience that the poet was going through. The volume Laurel (antología de poesía hispánica moderna) also belongs in this stage, as well as the reappearance of the journal Litoral, a project that he accepted with little enthusiasm. In the late 1940s, he abandoned all work activity to devote himself entirely to his poetry. He lived very modestly with the financial aid that he received from his brother Miguel.

Jacob wrestling with the Angel: the word as a liberated matter

From the liberating experience represented by Río natural and Circuncisión del sueño, Prados finally shaped his concept of “New Life” (made up of love and solidarity) that his poetry had always pursued. The poet breaks the boundaries of his subjectivity to speak with a voice that wants to be everyone’s voice. The metaphor for the inner conflict is expressed by the struggle between Jacob and the Angel. In his final years, Prados re-established contact with his generation and at the same time, he affirmed his independence and the open mindedness of the generation of ‘27 that he had always defended. Considered a "minor member" of the group and largely silenced in his own country, only the critical work initiated by Sanchis-Banús and Blanco Aguinaga about his work will lay the groundwork for the study of his poetry, characterized by a radical and pure approach to the genre. It was then when he gave up the ownership of the printing house Sur to the workers who were running it and when his nostalgia for Malaga grew stronger. Aleixandre and José Luis Cano wrote essays about his poetry, and the journalsÍnsula, Caracola, and Cuadernos de Ágora made the works that he wrote in those years known to Spain. The anthology published by Losada in 1954, with a large number of copies, spread his work throughout several Latin American countries. His illness was aggravated by the pain caused by the death of friends as loyal as Altolaguirre and Moreno Villa. Prados's death (April 1962) coincided with the release of his book Signos del ser in Spain, published by Cela in Papeles de Son Armadans. The many tributes dedicated to his memory include the poem by Francisco Giner de los Ríos “Llanto con Emilio Prados”, an emotional portrait of the writer and an elegy which summarizes the deepest aspects of his personality.