Dumb fish in the sea. Rhetoric of aphorism in Juan Varo

Abstract

The aphoristic work of Juan Varo Zafra is one of the most original of the genre in Spain in the 21st century. For its intrinsic quality, from its formal, discursive, and thematic characteristics, but also for what it implies for the understanding of the genre. Varo Zafra has developed a genuine poetics and rhetoric of the aphorism from the aphorism itself. He has also reflected on it from a theoretical point of view. With this work, we intend to study the theory  and rhetoric, of this author's aphorism, and to vindicate him as one of its outstanding figures of the present day. On the other hand, we want to add, as far as possible, one more theoretical and critical milestone in the general inquiry about this textual object so difficult to define, delimit and classify.