Little Stones at My Window, Vol. 1
\ These poems range in theme from pain of exile to joys of love to the horrors of political repression. Benedetti also frequently conveys with Kafkaesque irony the impact of bureaucracy on the lives of ordinary citizens. His latest poems in this collection focus on the personal and collective problems of reintegration into a wounded and changed society and the desire for universal brotherhood.
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These poems range in theme from pain of exile to joys of love to the horrors of political repression. Benedetti also frequently conveys with Kafkaesque irony the impact of bureaucracy on the lives of ordinary citizens. His latest poems in this collection focus on the personal and collective problems of reintegration into a wounded and changed society and the desire for universal brotherhood.Mario Benedetti was born in 1920 in Uruguay. He lived much of his life in political exile. Writing from exile, he was able to inform the world about the tragic events in his own country and to gain international recognition.Gianna M. Martella, Western Oregon Univ., Monmouth Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information. - CriticasUruguay's best-known poet, Benedetti is also famous for his short stories, political essays, and novels, as well as his frequent contributions to the Uruguayan journal Marcha and Spain's El Pais. The novels La tregua (Truce, Alfa, 1960) and Gracias por el fuego (Thanks for the Fire, Alfa, 1965) stand out among his work. This bilingual collection of poems, which spans almost 50 years of Benedetti's writing, provides a clear picture of his development as a poet, showing the range of his poetic voice. An extensive introduction by translator Hatfield features biographical material and historical background for the period in which Benedetti wrote (1945-2003), all invaluable for understanding his work. Recurrent themes in the selected poems include love, the nostalgia of exile (Benedetti lived in exile for several years and saw his writing banned from his country), the paradoxical and enigmatic nature of existence, and the need to give a voice to the oppressed. Overall, his writing is colloquial and accessible and, with few exceptions, lacks the hermetism of most contemporary Spanish-language poetry. This is the first bilingual anthology of Benedetti's poetry published in the United States, and it gives readers a clear idea of his social concerns and literary strengths. Recommended for public and academic libraries.
IntroductionOnly in the Meantime (1948-50)Absence of God2Assumption of You6Office Poems (1953-56)Salary14The New Guy16Typist20Time Off24Poems for the Moment (1958-61)Birthday in Manhattan28A Latin American "Our Father"38Notion of My Country (1962-63)Notion of My Country44The Next Progeny (1964-65)Curriculum Vitae50We All Conspire52See You in the Morning56Blinking58Against Drawbridges (1965-66)Against Drawbridges66Ars Poetica70Habanera72Down to Sleep (1967)Dismayed and Furious84Burn the Boats (1968-69)Cracks90The Furrow94Artigas102Semantics106Burn the Boats110Emergency Letters (1969-73)Being and Seeming114The Verb118Something of a Requiem122Ode to Pacification124Poems of Others (1973-74)Tactics and Strategies126Creed130The Other Glass in the Toast132Foundation of a Memory136Your Face140You Come and Go144Everyday Poems (1978-79)Little Stones at My Window146That Battle148Constant Shackles150Everyday Poem 1152I'm Going with the Lizard156I'm a Lost Cause158Innocent Countries166Risk Analysis168A New Inter-oceanic Channel170Syndrome172Now I Understand174Wind of Exile (1980-81)The Wind of Exile176Pastime180Every Time Someone Dies182Companies184Allende186Reality/News190Shelter192Not Happily Ever After194Geographies (1982-84)The Silence of the Sea200Desaparecidos202Random Questions (1985-86)Behind the Smoke206The Acoustics at Epidaurus210Yesterday and Manana (1988)Manana214Il cuore218Storm220The Solitudes of Babel (1990-91)Otherness222We're the Catastrophe226The Solitudes of Babel230Survivors234Utopias236Forgetting is Full of Remembering (1992-94)Birds240Bubble242That Parenthesis Called Life (1995-97)Few Things244Mass Media246Soliloquy of the Desaparecido248Che 1997254The Scene of the Crime256The World I Breathe (1998-2001)Neither258Children260From Defeat262The World I Breathe264Closing268
\ CriticasUruguay's best-known poet, Benedetti is also famous for his short stories, political essays, and novels, as well as his frequent contributions to the Uruguayan journal Marcha and Spain's El Pais. The novels La tregua (Truce, Alfa, 1960) and Gracias por el fuego (Thanks for the Fire, Alfa, 1965) stand out among his work. This bilingual collection of poems, which spans almost 50 years of Benedetti's writing, provides a clear picture of his development as a poet, showing the range of his poetic voice. An extensive introduction by translator Hatfield features biographical material and historical background for the period in which Benedetti wrote (1945-2003), all invaluable for understanding his work. Recurrent themes in the selected poems include love, the nostalgia of exile (Benedetti lived in exile for several years and saw his writing banned from his country), the paradoxical and enigmatic nature of existence, and the need to give a voice to the oppressed. Overall, his writing is colloquial and accessible and, with few exceptions, lacks the hermetism of most contemporary Spanish-language poetry. This is the first bilingual anthology of Benedetti's poetry published in the United States, and it gives readers a clear idea of his social concerns and literary strengths. Recommended for public and academic libraries. \ —Gianna M. Martella, Western Oregon Univ., Monmouth Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.\ \
