{{Short description|1931 book by Vicente Huidobro}} {{for|the Chilean award|Altazor Award}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2015}} {{Infobox book | italic title = Altazor | name = Altazor | image = Altazor - Poema.JPG | image_size = | alt = Altazor or the parachute trip | caption = Altazor or the parachute trip | author = Vicente Huidobro | audio_read_by = | title_orig = Altazor o el viaje en paracaídas | orig_lang_code = es | title_working = | translator = | illustrator = Pablo Picasso | cover_artist = | country = Chile | language = Spanish | series = | release_number = | subject = | genre = Poetry | set_in = | published = Madrid | publisher = Compañía Iberoamericana de Publicaciones | publisher2 = | pub_date = 1931 | english_pub_date = | media_type = Print (Paperback) | pages = 176 | awards = | isbn = | oclc = | dewey = | congress = | preceded_by = | followed_by = | native_wikisource = | wikisource = | notes = | exclude_cover = }} {{wikisource|es|Altazor|Altazor in Spanish}}

'''''Altazor o el viaje en paracaídas''''', or simply '''''Altazor''''', is the magnum opus of Chilean poet Vicente Huidobro, published in Madrid in 1931.

This poem in the shape of a book can be classified as an example of the Avant-garde literature movement developed during the first half of the twentieth century.<ref>[https://www.memoriachilena.cl/602/w3-article-3288.html Vicente Huidobro: Altazor – Memoria Chilena] www.memoriachilena.cl Dirección de Bibliotecas, Archivos y Museos May 16, 2009, Retrieved January 19, 2015 {{in lang|es}}</ref> It can also be thought of as part of the Creacionismo (Creationism literary movement) along with Pablo Neruda's "Residencia en la Tierra", César Vallejo's "Trilce", and Pablo de Rokha's "Los gemidos".

The name "altazor" is a combination of the noun "altura" ("altitude") and the adjective "azorado" ("bewildered" or "taken aback"). "Azorado"<ref>[http://www.wordreference.com/sinonimos/azorado Azorado wordreference] 2015 WordReference.com retrieved on February 26, 2015</ref> has more than one meaning in Spanish and can be interpreted in different ways.<ref>[http://www.mec.gub.uy/academiadeletras/Boletines/03/Benitez.htm ALTAZOR, la intemperie de Huidobro] Ministerio de Educacion y Cultura de Uruguay, Hebert Benítez Pezzolano Retrieved January 19, 2015</ref>

The poem is divided in seven "cantos", ("songs"), preceded by a preface. These cantos were written over an extensive period of time, from 1919 to 1931,<ref>[http://www.bookslut.com/poetry/2004_01_001302.php Altazor review] bookslut.com, Laura Felch, January 2004, Retrieved June 15, 2015</ref> and for that reason the topics seem unrelated. The first canto is the longest with almost seven hundred verses, and its content feels metaphysical. In this first canto, the poet introduces himself as "Altazor". The second canto, by contrast, is an ode to women, while in cantos III to VII the author plays with and dismantles the language and its expressive limits.

thumb|left |Picasso's portrait of Huidobro on a sign indicating his resting place on the coast of Chile

;A fragment of Altazor:

{{col-begin|width=auto|bgcolor=#EFEFEF}} {{col-break}} <poem> The waterfall tresses over the night While the night beds to rest With its moon that pillows the sky I iris the sleepy land That roads towards the horizon In the shade of a shipwrecking tree </poem> {{col-end}} The book includes a Picasso portrait of Huidobro. In honour of Huidobro's work, the poem has been used to name the Chilean Award of the National Arts, known as the Altazor Award.

==See also==

* Vicente Huidobro * Chilean literature

==References== {{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Altazor}} Category:1931 poetry books Category:Chilean poetry collections