The literary find of the year: a new book by Guillermo Chirinos Cúneo, the greatest of our damned

Elusive as he alone Guillermo Chirinos Cuneo he made himself known to the world (that’s to say) almost reluctantly, drawing the attention of a handful of readers drawn by his feverish writing. Not too many have followed his work – he dodges and scatters too – but there could and should be many more.

Only a few clear facts are known about the author: he was born in 1946 and died in 1999. In that 53-year interval he devoted himself mainly to a wandering life, perhaps as a form of escape the schizophrenia that haunted him. He was seen in San Marcos, then in the streets of La Punta, and he lost contact with reality between one internment and another in psychiatric hospitals.

But mostly he wrote, and he wrote a lot. Too bad that of all that production (more than a thousand poems, according to what he told his relatives), few traces have been left. In life, he only published a short but forceful platelet, “Idiot of the apocalypse” (1967), edited with the support of her mother and eternal protector, Aída Cúneo.

That is why the discovery and publication of another book of his is so significant, “The warrior of the rainbow”, in charge of the label Maquina Purísimaby Cecilia Podestá. A work that had been kept by the poet Armando Arteaga and that finally sees the light, in a careful and beautiful edition. It is the second book by Chirinos Cúneo (apart from a few individual texts that appeared in magazines from time to time) and therefore also the main local literary event of this 2021.

“Your angel footprint rotted in the garbage of the night, where the reverse of the light shows us the delirium of a shattered paradise “ (p. 67). With passages like that, in “El guerrero del arcoíris”, written at the end of the 80s, we find a Guillermo Chirinos Cúneo much more sober and controlled than in “Idiot of the apocalypse”, two decades ago.

It would give the impression that, between one book and another, the derangement may have been somewhat tamed by its author. And that signal, on the merely human level, also gives a feeling of relief and comfort. As when he writes: “Let us synthesize the forms, let us vibrate in the magic of consciousness, let us paint our anxiety with luminous omens “ (p. 75).

As the writer and critic José Carlos Yrigoyen points out in the exhaustive study that accompanies this edition, despite the contrasts between “Idiota…” and “El guerrero…”, there is also “a coherent continuation”, since the new book represents “The superhuman triumph of a brilliant man in the face of the demons of his alienation.”

Yrigoyen’s analysis of Chirinos Cúneo’s work also includes an interesting reflection on how much attention his disorders and psychological abysses should arouse. And although it could well be argued that this sad and dark aspect of the poet corresponds to the mere private sphere, and not to the literary sphere, Yrigoyen rightly points out that “There are books that cannot be fully understood without the life of the author”.

Which does not exclude, also, that in many cases it is not usual to fall into a kind of gratuitous romanticization regarding the link between literature and mental health. In this sense, Yrigoyen also cites an article by Dr. Shaun McNiff, entitled “The myth of schizophrenic art”, to disprove the absurdity of thinking of mental illnesses as exceptional creative illumination.

“The hallucinatory episodes, supposed literary-inspired geysers, they become ineffective when the affected person does not have the culture or intuition to put them accurately into words “, Yrigoyen points out, before specifying and insisting that Chirinos Cúneo” made strenuous efforts to overcome the mental chaos that beset him. “

Where, then, to place a ‘rare bird’ like Chirinos Cúneo within the Peruvian poetic tradition? At least for temporary reasons, it would be fair to insert it into the 60s generation next to figures such as Antonio Cisneros, Rodolfo Hinostroza or Juan Ojeda.

However, under other criteria, his also seems related to authors such as Luis Hernández or Josemari Recalde: not because of an arbitrary connection between marginalization and tragedy, but because of the way their lives influenced their writings, and their writings had an impact. In their lifes. Unbreakable dimensions in those beings marked by talent and despair.

Author: Guillermo Chirinos Cúneo

Pages: 156

Publisher: Maquina Purísima

“El guerrero del arcoíris” can be purchased at El Virrey, Sur, Inestable, La Rebelde bookstores and soon at other stores.