If the street were time. Variations on Rubén Jacob’s The Boston Evening Transcript

Abstract

This paper puts forth a reading of The Boston Evening Transcript (1993), the inaugural book by the Chilean poet Rubén Jacob. The text demonstrates the interconnection between Jacob’s Mise in Abime and the avant-garde tradition of simultaneism. Jacob’s proposed intertextual procedures facilitate a dialogue between a diverse array of authors, characters, situations, and moments from recent history. These procedures are structured like a game of mirrors, with a central focus on a temporality that attempts to encompass all possible times. In selecting the street as the site of the encounter, Jacob is establishing an environment conducive to poetic discourse. This setting allows for the coexistence of tradition and individual creativity, as evidenced by Eliot’s approach. This represents a distinctive example within the contemporary Chilean poetry canon.