Unthinkable Tenderness: Selected Poems
Juan Gelman is Argentina's leading poet, but his work has been almost unknown in the United States until now.\ In 2000, he received the Juan Rulfo Award, one most important literary awards in the Spanish-speaking world, and in 2007, he received the Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-speaking world's top literary prize. With this selection, chosen and superbly translated by Joan Lindgren, Gelman's lush and visceral poetry comes alive for an English-speaking readership.\ Gelman is a stark witness to...
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"At last, a marvelous translation into English of the soulful and celebratory and heartbreaking words of Juan Gelman, one of Latin America's most extraordinary poets."—Ariel Dorfman, author of Death and the Maiden"Perhaps the most admirable element of [Gelman's] poetry is the unthinkable tenderness he shows where paroxysms of rejection and denouncement would be justified, or his calling upon so many shadows for one voice to lull and comfort, a permanent caress of words on unknown tombs."—Julio Cortàzar"Gelman's poetry is epic in its scope—no corner of life goes unnoticed in this work. Here we find politics and history as seen through one vital human spirit. Rendered in a breathless style, this is the diary of a human heart in a rough world where artistry is the first salvation."—Oscar Hijuelos"This selection of Juan Gelman's poetry introduces to an English-speaking readership the full range of Argentina's leading poet and a chief architect of Latin America's postcolonial social conscience."—Victor Perera, author of Unfinished Conquest: The Tragedy of Guatemala"This is a voice that sings and makes others sing. It speaks of struggles and dignity: It offers a faith that springs from doubt and a sense of freeedom strengthened by prison walls. It celebrates life while standing in its very midst."—Eduardo Galeano, from the ForewordLibrary JournalChosen from the two collections of verse that Gelman wrote from 1971 to the mid-1980s, these poems serve to introduce U.S. readers to this leading Argentian poet. (His works have not been widely available here before.) Their themes arise from Gelman's own experiences: his Jewish heritage, the disappearance of his son and daughter-in-law during Argentina's Dirty War, his 20-year exile in Europe (he now lives in Mexico City), and his leftist revolutionary ideas. Imbued with anger and sorrow, often together ("I ate my portion of rage and sadness"), yet also at times poignant and brutal, as when recalling political imprisonment, these polymetric poems are capped by the heart-wrenching "Poem to My Mother" and the epistolary epilog to his unborn grandchild. A vivid testimony of an unsung voice who seeks in poetry the answer to and means of coping with suffering and with life. [In March, Gelman was awarded the national poetry prize of Argentina, the equivalent of U.S. Poet Laureate.Ed.]Lawrence Olszewski, OCLC Lib., Dublin, Ohio
ForewordEditor's PrefaceFrom Interruptions I1Foreword3Relations7Somata9Confidences10Noises11Clarities12Facts13What They Don't Know15Deaths16Graces17Sheets18Arte Poetica19Notes21Note I23Note XII24Note XVII25Note XVIII26Note XX27Note XXI28Note XXV29Open Letter31XIII33XVII34So Gently37Alone39Still Harboring40Use the Poor41Killing the General Defeat42Remembering Their Little Bones43They Are Waiting44They Wait45Commentaries47Commentary I (saint teresa)49Commentary VI (saint teresa)50Commentary XX51From Interruptions II53Under Foreign Rain (Footnotes to Defeat)55I57II59III60IV61V62VI63VII64VIII65IX66X67XI68XII69XIV70XV71XVI72XVII73XVIII74XIX75XX77XXI78XXII80XXIII81XXIV82XXV83XXVI84Southward87The Table89Somewhere Else91You Are93Southward94Flights96The Poems of Jose Galvan97Southern Latitudes99Nightingales Again100I, Too, Write Stories102Other Writing104Kingdoms105The End107Cherries109The Poems of Julio Greco111Truths113Women117On Poetry119They Say ...121Literatures123Poetry Forever125Sayings127Poetry Once More129Aunt Fran's Bunuelos131Certain Flights133Dampnesses136Pharmacies138Tides141An Exhibition of a Few Paintings143The Beauty of All Creation146Com/positions149Exergue151The Cradle152Psalm154What Will Come to Pass155The Expulsed156The Prisoner157Song158The Battle159In Prison160That161Rain163
\ Library JournalChosen from the two collections of verse that Gelman wrote from 1971 to the mid-1980s, these poems serve to introduce U.S. readers to this leading Argentian poet. (His works have not been widely available here before.) Their themes arise from Gelman's own experiences: his Jewish heritage, the disappearance of his son and daughter-in-law during Argentina's Dirty War, his 20-year exile in Europe (he now lives in Mexico City), and his leftist revolutionary ideas. Imbued with anger and sorrow, often together ("I ate my portion of rage and sadness"), yet also at times poignant and brutal, as when recalling political imprisonment, these polymetric poems are capped by the heart-wrenching "Poem to My Mother" and the epistolary epilog to his unborn grandchild. A vivid testimony of an unsung voice who seeks in poetry the answer to and means of coping with suffering and with life. [In March, Gelman was awarded the national poetry prize of Argentina, the equivalent of U.S. Poet Laureate.Ed.]Lawrence Olszewski, OCLC Lib., Dublin, Ohio\ \
