Alfonso Reyes (1889-1959) was the leading Mexican writer of his
time. He was revered by his great successor Octavio Paz, a writer
who, like himself, was also an Ambassador. Enormously prolific, he
was a master of the essay, that “most Latin-American of art
forms” and an outstanding critic. He knew Hispanic and classical
literature, and translated Homer, Sterne, Chesterton, Stevenson,
Shaw, and Chekhov. In turn, Samuel Beckett translated some of his
poems into English; some of his essays, too, can be read in
English. Reyes saw writing as “the richest means of expressing
human feeling”. “Double redemption by the word: first through
the concord of bloods; second through the shaping of the
personality, in its relation to others as well as in its inner
growth.” His poetry was varied, always skilful and urbane, and
was far outweighed by his huge output of prose. The present
selection aims to convey his amazing, half-forgotten skill and some
of the flavour and astonishing variety of his formal verse. “Yes,
we have some outstanding poets, a playwright, several critics and
three or four prose writers. But above all we have a man for whom
literature has been something more than a calling or a destiny: a
religion. A man for whom language has been all that language can
be: sound and sign, inert trace and wizardry, a clockwork mechanism
and a living thing. In short: Poet, critic and translator, he is
the Writer; miner, craftsman, peon, gardener, lover and priest of
words. His work, various and perfect, is history and poetry,
reflection and creation: it is a Literature... Need I name this
writer who, while remaining himself, is in himself a group of
writers? Far from it: everyone knows I refer to Alfonso Reyes.”
—Octavio Paz, letter to Guillermo Ibarra, 15 August 1949 This
large selection of poetry by Alfonso Reyes is accompanied by the
brilliant English versions of an award-winning rhyming
translator-poet, Timothy Adès.
General
Imprint: |
Shearsman Books
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Release date: |
October 2019 |
Authors: |
Alfonso Reyes
|
Translators: |
Timothy Ades
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152 x 13mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback
|
Pages: |
214 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-84861-688-2 |
Subtitles: |
Spanish
|
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
1-84861-688-0 |
Barcode: |
9781848616882 |
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!