CREACIONISMO

(Spanish: Creationism), short-lived experimental literary movement among Spanish writers in France, Spain, and Latin America. It was founded about 1916 in Paris by the Chilean poet Vicente Huidobro. That year Huidobro also began a friendship with the French poet Pierre Reverdy, who influenced the movement. From France, where Huidobro lived mainly until after World War II, Creacionismo influenced the Spanish poets Gerardo Diego Cendoya and Juan Larrea. For followers of Creacionismo, the function of the poet was to create a highly personal, imaginary world rather than to describe the world of nature. Creationist poets boldly juxtaposed images and metaphors and often used an original vocabulary, frequently combining words idiosyncratically or irrationally. The movement strongly influenced the generation of avant-garde poets in France, Spain, and Latin America during the period immediately after World War I. Huidobro is considered by many authorities to be Creacionismo's most important poet.