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Customer Reviews (6)

Excellent, but not quite perfect
This collection of Spanish sonnets is an excellent book. The selections are in general difficult to argue with. I only question whether it makes sense to place Borges (who was, in truth, more innovative as a prose-writer than as a poet) in the same category of merit as geniuses like Quevedo and Lorca. The fact that Barnstone personally knew Borges quite well makes this seem a little suspicious to me. Nonetheless, the sonnets included by Borges are quite well-crafted and fully deserve to be read and re-read.

As for the actual quality of the translations, it seems rather uneven. Barnstone, like other verse-translators who are also poets, faces the Sisyphean task of trying to bend and mould his own voice and verve to fit those of the poet he is translating. The fact that the six poets represented in this volume have very different voices renders the translations particularly vulnerable to comparison.

Unfortunately, the six poets in translation end up sounding a little too similar to each other. What's more, they all sound a little like Barnstone. Quevedo suffers particularly badly in this regard. Here, by way of an example, is one of Quevedo's sonnets followed by Barnstone's translation.


Enseña Cómo Todas Las Cosas Avisan de la Muerte

Miré los muros de la patria mía,
si un tiempo fuertes, ya desmoronados,
de la carrera de la edad cansados,
por quien caduca ya su valentía.
Salíme al campo; vi que el sol bebía
los arroyos del hielo desatados,
y del monte quejosos los ganados,
que con sombras hurtó su luz al día.
Entré en mi casa; vi que, amancillada,
de anciana habitación era despojos;
mi báculo, más corvo y menos fuerte.
Vencida de la edad sentí mi espada,
y no hallé cosa en que poner los ojos
que no fuese recuerdo de la muerte.


He Shows How All Things Warn of Death

I gazed upon my country's tottering walls,
one day grandiose, now rubble on the ground,
worn out by vicious time, only renowned
for weakness in a land where courage fails.
I went into the fields. I saw the sun
drinking the springs just melted from the ice,
and cattle moaning as the forests climb
against the thinning day, now overrun
with shade. I went into my house. I saw
my old room yellowed with with the sickening breath
of age, my cane flimsier than before.
I felt my sword coffined in rust, and walked
about, and everything I looked at bore
a warning of the wasted gaze of death.


First of all, props to Barnstone for knowing that, in Renaissance Spanish, "monte" meant not only "hill" but also "forest." If you know Spanish, you'll notice the great liberties and compromises of image and diction that Barnstone has taken. There's nothing particularly wrong or unusual about this in a poetic, non-literal translation. It's to be expected. However, much of it does not sound at all like Quevedo or, for that matter, *any* Baroque Spanish poet.The half-dozen half-rhymes, though common in modern English poetry, sound peculiar here in a poem supposed to represent classical forms.

Even more jarring, though, is the enjambment of lines 8 and 9. The 9th line traditionally marks the *volta* or "turning point" of the classical European sonnet. In Quevedo's original, the first 8 lines discuss the speaker's experience outdoors, whereas the last 6 discuss his experience upon entering his own home. The "overrun/with shade" does violence to this classical balance to force a rhyme in a way that Quevedo would have found weird, if not in outright poor taste. Likewise, enjambments that split phrasal verbs such as "walked/about" in lines 12-13 are also peculiarly modern and not in keeping with the classical baroque aesthetic, particularly not in a poem with a theme, tone and music as solemn as this one's.

"I saw/ my old room yellowed with the sickening breath/ of age" seems egregious, even in a poetic translation. The original literally reads "I saw that it was despoiled, the remnants of an aged room." Though "anciana" can mean "elderly" and usually describes a person, the main metaphor is not anthropomorphic, but rather a suggestion of ancient, abandoned ruins. I can't shake the feeling that the image of sickness and pallor was employed simply to force the rhyme "breath" to go with the "death" of the final line.

Speaking of the final lines, "about, and everything I looked at bore/ a warning of the wasted gaze of death" is not only slightly incomprehensible, but also un-Baroque. The original Spanish reads "and I did not find a thing to rest my eyes upon/ that was not a reminder of death." The double negative lending force to a positive statement (a rhetorical figure also known by the two-dollar word "litotes,") balanced neatly over two whole lines, is what gives this poem's conclusion a kind of epigrammatic resonance. Barnstone's version, marred as the penultimate line is by the enjambed "about," quickly degenerates into phrase-making with a "warning" and a "wasted gaze." This poem, though a fine work by Barnstone, doesn't sound like Quevedo at all. It sounds like Barnstone's idea of how *he* would have written it. In my view, this renders it unsuccessful.

That said, Barnstone does do a much better job with the later poets: Borges, Lorca, Hernandez and Machado, whose modern aesthetic and tones are a little closer to those of his original poetry. Even though he uses the same stylistic tricks to find rhymes (such as odd enjambments and peculiar paraphrases) they seem less offensive in the modern poets because they are less foreign to their aesthetic. I found myself coming upon passages by Lorca and Hernandez that seemed as perfect as a translation could be, like the following four lines by Lorca from "Night of Sleepless love"

Climbing the night, we two in the full moon,
I wept and you were laughing. Your disdain
became a god, and my resentments soon
were morning doves and moments in a chain...

This passage is paced very differently from the original Spanish. Nonetheless, it still sounds plausibly like Lorca.

Borges in particular fares spectacularly well in Barnstone's versions, probably because Borges collaborated in their revision! In fact, I'd go so far as to say that there is no better translator of Borges' poetry than Barnstone. He has a unique ear for Borges' oddities and idiosyncratic shifts of thought. Even when he deviates from Borges' text, he still manages to sound like Borges.

In conclusion:

Buy this book for (mostly) excellent renderings of Lorca, Hernandez, Machado and Borges. If it's translations of Quevedo and Sor Juana Ines De la Cruz you're after, be prepared for a much more uneven, and occasionally jarring, performance.

Six masters of the Spanish sonnet
It was in new condition and the poetry is in Spanish with English translation.Worth reading, especially the comments by the author who is very knowledgeable with the subject.

Six Masters of the Spanish Sonnet
This book is more than I expected. Excellent biographical information and literary context for the six authors. Relates the work of six great Spanish poets of different epochs. The translations are very helpful for someone who knows some Spanish. I would have preferred more literal and less poetic translations.(See Sor Juana de la Cruz, "En perseguirme, Mundo, que interesas? ...") Even a fine poet like Barnstone must take liberties with the original when he turns a Spanish sonnet into an English sonnet. This book is invaluable to the amateur and, I would assume, to the professional as well.

Masterful Translations of Spanish Sonnets
The sonnet form was introduced to Spain from Sicily in the fifteenth century through the writing of El Marqués de Santillana (1398-1458), a poet who wrote Petrarchan sonnets in Spanish. During the Renaissance, the Italian sonnet made its way to most of the countries of Western Europe. In England, Edmund Spenser changed the Petrarchan rhyming form of 'abba abba cdecde' to 'abab bcbc cdcd ee,' and William Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets with the form 'abab cdcd efef gg.' As Willis Barnstone says in the introduction to his book, 'Six Masters of the Spanish Sonnet,' 'the Spanish sonnet, a literary vagabond in courtly dress, began in the court of the Sicilian Frederic II, went up to England, and finally, seven centuries after its Italian birth, with its picaresque wits and form intact, dropped down just above the Antarctic Circle to appear in the poems of the Argentine Anglophile [his maternal grandmother was English] Borges.' Professor Barnstone goes on to present a thorough history of the evolution of the Spanish sonnet and a colorful biography of six Spanish language poets who used the form. His writing is informed by his long friendship with Jorge Luis Borges. Barnstone offers here a sampling of 112 Spanish sonnets by these six masters, placed side by side along with his own magnificent translations.

Francisco de Quevedo (1580-1645) is described as a 'monstruo de la naturaleza' [monster of nature] because of his prodigious outpouring of writing. 'Like Swift, Dostoyevski, and Kafka, he is one of the most tormented spirits and visionaries of world literature ['El Buscón' (The Swindler), 1626, is his masterpiece] and also one of the funniest writers ever to pick up a sharp, merciless pen.' Though Quevedo's sonnets are at times scatological and darkly satirical, they are also humorous and hopeful.

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648/51-1695) was a Mexican discalced Carmelite nun who is considered by some religious scholars to be the first female theologian of the Americas. Although I was familiar with her love poems and her articulate defense of a woman's right to write in 'Response to Sor Filotea,' I had not read her sonnets in translation before. As he does with all six sonneteers, Barnstone faithfully maintains Sor Juana's rhyming, meter, and cadence in his translations of her sonnets. His analysis encompasses her writing and her life, including some critique of Octavio Paz's definitive biography, 'Sor Juana, or The Traps of Faith.'

Antonio Machada (1875-1939) recalls the landscape of his native Sevilla in his sonnets. In, 'El amor y la sierra' (Love and the Sierra), he writes, 'Calabaga por agria serranía / una tarde, entre roca cenicienta. (He was galloping over harsh sierra ground, / one afternoon, amid the ashen rock).' Barnstone calls Machado 'the Wang Wei of Spain' because 'he uses the condition of external nature to express his passion.' As Petrarch had his Laura, Machado had his Guiomar (Pilar de Valderrama). In 'Dream Below the Sun,' he writes, 'Your poet / thinks of you. Distance / is of lemon and violet, / the fields still green. / Come with me, Guiomar. / The sierra will absorb us. / The day is wearing out / from oak to oak.'

Federico García Lorca (1898-1936) was a Spanish poet and playwright who was affected by Luis de Góngorra and gongorismo. His 'Gypsy Ballads' was 'the most popular book of poetry in the Spanish language in his time.' Barnstone states that 'his closest attachment, his passion, was the painter Salvador Dalí,' with whom he carried on a six year love affair. Luis Buñuel castigated him for his Andalusianism; indeed, Lorca felt that Buñuel's satiric and surrealist film 'Un chien andalu' mocked him. After traveling to New York and Havana, Lorca became 'the playwright of Spain' with his brilliant 'Bodas de Sangre' (Blood Wedding). His 'Sonnets of Dark Love,' unpublished during his lifetime, were probably written to Rafael Rodríguez Rapún, an engineering student. Barnstone believes that 'dark love' is an allusion to San Juan de la Cruz's 'dark night of the soul.'

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) of Argentina considered himself a poet, though he was a master at prose.According to Barnstone, because of the blindness that afflicted Borges in midlife, 'he could compose and polish a sonnet while waiting for a bus or walking down the street' and then later dictate it from memory. 'Borges's speech authenticated his writing, his writing authenticated his speech. To have heard him was to read him. To have read him was to have heard him.' In 'Un ciego' (A Blindman), he says, 'No sé cuál es la cara que me mira / Cuando miro la cara del espejo; / No sé qué anciano acecha en su reflejo / Con silenciosa y ya cansada ira. (I do not know what face looks back at me / When I look at the mirrored face, nor know / What aged man conspires in the glow / Of the glass, silent and with tired fury.)'

Miguel Hernández (1910-1942), a poor goatherd and pastor from the province of Alicante in Spain, wrote his best poetry while imprisoned during the Spanish Civil War. 'In the prisons, Hernández became,' in Barnstone's opinion, 'the consummate poet of light, darkness, soul, time, and death.' One of his poems, 'Llegó con tres heridas' (He came with three wounds), is a popular song, recorded by Joan Baez on her 'Gracias a La Vida' album.

'Six Masters of the Spanish Sonnet' is recommended to all who love this poetic form and want to know more about the lives of these remarkable poets. A good index and list of references are included for further study.

The Cream of Spanish Sonets
The translation is marvelous: I read them all before in Spanish.And the Selection? Amazingly good ! Congratulations to the translator! It`s not an easy feat to translate Garcìa Lorca or Sor Juana Inès de la Cruz...eoither The Master: Quevedo...or Machado ( the name is ANTONIO, NOT ANTONIA ) The person who selected the poems is really knowing... If you want to read and enjoy the very best of Spanish written sonets...This Book is a Poetic "Bible " Don`t miss it ! ... Read more

Product Description
Federico García Lorca is perhaps the most celebrated of all twentieth-century Spanish writers, known not only for his plays but also for several collections of poems published both in his short lifetime and after. Lorca's poetry is steeped in the land, climate, and folklore of his native Andalusia, though he writes memorably of New York and Cuba too. Writing often in modernist idiom, and full of startling imagery, he evokes a world of intense feelings, silent suffering, and dangerous love.
This unique parallel-text edition balances poems from Lorca's early collections with his better-known later work, providing a clear vision of his poetic development and drawing attention to the brilliance and originality of some of the earlier work. Key poems from all Lorca's collections appear here, including the recently discovered Sonnets of Dark Love. Martin Sorrell's translations are thoughtful and accomplished, and D. Gareth Walters's shrewd Introduction, with its distinctive focus on the achievements of the poet, gives a clear and balanced appraisal of the poetry, while steering away from the tendency to mythologize Lorca's life and death. This edition also includes helpful notes, a bibliography, a chronology, and an index of titles. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

No complaints.
I bought this for a friend, he wanted it for his girlfriend, now they are engaged, no complaints so far.

A Good Introduction...
Federico Garcia Lorca is the quintessential poet/playwright of Spain. His poems evoke the landscapes of Granada, the Spain we often think of when we think of Spain is the territory of Lorca - guitars, gypsies, moons, bandits.

He is the poet that best represents the Generation of '27; he stands out amongst these poets which include Salinas, Guillen, Cernuda, Hernandez, Aleixander because of the popularity of his poetry, especially his Gypsy Ballads which became dear to the people of Spain. He was a talented guitar player and once had aspirations in composition and music. He knew and worked with the famed composer Manuel de Falla.

I thought this work was good but not up to par with the New Directions "Selected Poems of Federico Garcia Lorca" (introduced by W.S. Merwin). I can't really explain it but some of the translations feel very weak, often strained. My one complaint is the absence of La Casada Infiel (The Faithless Wife). The book has a solid introduction by D. Gareth Walters and some of the poems have a great energy to them, especially selections from the "Book of Poems", "Suites" and "Poems of the Canto Jando". The rest of the translations don't seem to have the same energy. I wish I knew enough Spanish to compare with some more confidence.

I much preferred the New Directions Selected Poems translations of Lorca's poems. I often find poets of Lorca's reach and depth are greatly treated by the works of many translators, collaborators working together to create a single work. Martin Sorrell has put in a great effort and certainly commendable as a translator. If you are looking for a good introduction, this work is suitable for that purpose. But I would look elsewhere for a better representation of Lorca's poems. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Direct and often magical
The book contains 3 "folk tragedies" written from 1933-1936. All share a passion and directness, and all seem to have as a theme of frustration and despair, and tension between passion and duty.In Blood Wedding, the balance tips toward passion, with the new bride choosing or irresistibly drawn in a way she didn't expect.From Garcia Lorca of course there are always poetic phrases: (Wounds of wax/, Salve of sorrow/. Sleeping by morning/, watching by night").In Yerma the frustrations of a childless woman are contrasted with the man, who wants nothing more than to love the wife ("You are what I'm after!In the moonlight, you are beautiful"). This introduces us to mysteries such as Delores the Conjurer, and the annual pilgrimage to Moclin (from the introduction "where all manner of pious ritual and impious coupling went on."). The House of Bernarda Alba, seems very different and harder to understand.There is no poetry here, only the seeming eavesdropping on a bitter old woman, Bernarda, and the comings and goings at her house.The only way to get out of this suppression is tragic ("When you least expect it, lightning strikes! When you least expect, your heart stops.").Perhaps Bernarda represents the fascists, that killed Garcia Lorca.These all deal directly with the most primal of human feelings.I regret that I cannot read the originals, and would love to see these staged. ... Read more

Product Description
Spain, tr Logan & Orrios, bilingual ... Read more

Product Description
Lorca, Public & Play w/o Title. "Greatest thing I have written for theater" - Lorca. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Two surreal journeys
"The Public & Play Without a Title" is a pairing of two theater pieces by Federico Garcia Lorca. The plays are translated into English by Carlos Bauer. The informative introduction puts these pieces into some context.

The first of the two pieces, "The Public," is full of surreal imagery--the stage instructions call for strange sets and costumes, and the play is full of weird dialogue. One interesting part of this piece is a dialogue between "Character in Bells" and "Character in Vine Leaves." This piece is a sort of metadrama. The Director is a character. Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" is mentioned, and Juliet even becomes a character in this play. This piece certainly has some colorful and imaginative elements, but overall I found it impenetrable.

I found "Play Without a Title" more satisfying as a reading text. This piece involves a play-within-a-play. The author addresses the audience directly and even argues with spectators. Once again, Shakespeare's work plays a significant role within the text. The specter of violence haunts this piece, which reminds me somewhat of Luigi Pirandello's "Six Characters in Search of an Author."

Overall, I found this pair of plays to be uneven but thought-provoking. Definitely worth reading for those interested in 20th century drama. ... Read more