The FSG Book of Twentieth-Century Latin American Poetry
An Anthology
Edited by Ilan Stavans
Introduction and
Selection Copyright 2011 by Ilan Stavans
Farrar Strauss
Giroux
New York, NY
Softbound, 728 pages,
$25.00
ISBN 978-0-374-53318-2
Review by Zvi A. Sesling
Poets you know,
poets you don’t know. Male and female. Spanning the late 19th
century through most of the 20th century, Latin American poetry has
much to attract both readers and writers of poetry and The FSG Book of Twentieth-Century Latin American Poetry fills that
bill to perfection.
First there are
the eighty-four authors from sixteen countries who write in Spanish, Portuguese
and seven other languages, including indigenous Central and South American ones.
Another plus for this volume are the translators who include: Samuel Beckett, Ursula K. Le Guin, Martin
Espada, Willis Barnstone, James Merrill, Mark Strand, Elizabeth Bishop, W.S.
Merwin, Richard Wilbur and others.
Aptly edited and selected
– and occasionally translated – by Ilan Stavans, Lewis-Sebring Professor in
Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College, one can thoroughly enjoys
the selections of Pablo Neruda, Gabriela Mistral (Neruda’s teacher), Jose Marti,
Julia De Burgos, Cesar Vallejo, Juan Gelman, Jorge Luis Borges, Octavio Paz and
Carlos Drummond De Andrade, to name a few. There are also many other poets and
Prof. Stavans delivers delicious selections, many of which are worth reading
several times as they inspire and motivate poets to write and readers to admire
the talent in this book.
Stavans’s
Introduction: Translation and Power provides,
for those who have not had the opportunity to hear his class lectures, the
opportunity to read a semester or two of informative poetic history in the
context of sociology and politics.
Stavans who grew up in Mexico
states that he became familiar with those speaking indigenous languages and
this too shows in his selection of poets writing in their native languages
rather than Spanish or Portuguese. Of interest to readers too is the inclusion
of Ladino poetry, the equivalent of Eastern European Yiddish, but used mostly
by Spanish and Portuguese speakers and writers.
Reading these
poems you can taste the flavors of Latin America
and savor the richness of the poetry presented by Stavans. Whether or not you
are familiar with Latin American poetry, this is a must have book for your
shelf, and take the time to read it all thoroughly.
_______________________________________
Zvi A. Sesling is
author of King of the Jungle (Ibbetson Street,
2010), Across Stones of Bad Dreams
(Cervena Barva, 2011) and the soon to be published Fire Tongue (Cervena Barva). He is Editor of Muddy River Poetry Review and Bagel
Bards Anthology #7.
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