La teoría de la acción poética de Paul Valéry

This article purports to show that Paul Valery's poetic art is, in the end, a theory of poetic action in which the main concern revolves around the work in progress rather than in the final product. To do so, we follow the poet's critique (with deep wittgensteinian elements) of classic aesthetics' stance on beauty and taste. In our view, this reflection results in Valery's proposal of a poetics which can be explained in three moments: poiein of reception - the recipient as producer; poiein in its proper sense - the producer as creator of the work and him/herself; and artrficialist poiein - the creator as opposed to natural creation. Valery's emphasis on poiesis and, therefore, on the action exerted upon what is being done, makes his proposal also an ethical assertion: the artist's action, his/her discipline whilst producing, create both the work and the artist. Thus, the spirit will also be a never-ending work in progress.