"Between the walls of the cell": A reassessment of César Vallejo's Escalas

© 2013 Latinoamericana Editores. All rights reserved. This article focuses on the relationship between Cesar Vallejo's narrative and poetic works, and intends to reestablish the autonomy of the first one -in particular of Escalas (1923)- by noting the limitations that undermine the biographical approach of traditional criticism, and recognizing avant-gard features that contradict the narrative logic and linguistic conception of Realism. In regards to “Más allá de la vida y la muerte”, formal procedures and thematic elements of fantastic literature are emphasized as well as a tendency to contrast the predominant hiperrealism of fantastic literature.