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Biographical note: Juan Gelman (Buenos Aires, 1930) is one of the most read and influential poets in the Spanish language. He has published more than twenty books of poetry since 1956 and has been translated into fourteen languages. A political activist and critical journalist since his youth, Gelman has not only been a literary paradigm but also a moral one, within and outside of Argentina. Among his most recent awards are the National Poetry Prize (Argentina, 1997), the Juan Rulfo Prize in Latin American and Caribbean Literature (Mexico, 2000), the Pablo Neruda Prize (Chile, 2005), the Queen Sofia Prize in Ibero-American Poetry (Spain, 2005), and the 2007 Cervantes Prize (the most important award given to a Hispanic writer). The Poems of Sydney West belongs to both Gelman’s cycle of “translations” and narrative poems, and is a superior example of his radical dialogic poetry.
Biographical note: Rodríguez Núñez
BIC Basic
EAN13: 9781844714643
ISBN: 9781844714643
Author: Juan Gelman
Title: The Poems of Sidney West
Series: Earthworks
Product class: BC
Language: eng
Audience: General/trade
BIC subject category: CTCH1
Publisher: Salt Publishing
Pub date: 28-Apr-09
Extent: 152pp
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 9 mm
Weight: 228 gms
Supplier: Gardners Books
Supplier: Ingram Book Group
Supplier: Inbooks (James Bennett)
Availability: IP
Price: GBP 9.99
Price: USD 15.95
Rights: World
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description/annotation: This translation offers to English readers for the first time the splendid verse of imaginary American author Sidney West, created by Juan Gelman, one of the greatest living poets of the Hispanic world. These laments question Western assumptions surrounding death, erase boundaries between poetry and narrative, privilege the magical as a vital aspect of reality and seek the transformation of the lyric persona.
Main description: This translation offers for the first time the splendid poems of Sidney West to English readers, supposedly their original addressees. West is among the best imaginary poets of America, allegedly his native land, and of all possible lands. His texts, although rich with exceptional life experience, will satisfy those who still believe in “the death of the author.” No less satisfied, in spite of his anti-romanticism, will be those captivated by “committed writing.” And in another paradox that West himself would have loved, if he had existed, what’s offered here constitutes a translation of a translation. An English version based on the prior version into Spanish completed in 1969 by Argentine writer Juan Gelman, one of the greatest living Latin American poets. He should be considered the genuine author of the author of these poems, and the poems themselves.
Gelman’s superb text poses a radical question: must human beings in modern society die in order to recuperate their human condition? Something happens after the passing of the book’s thirty-five characters, their absence causes unforeseen consequences, generates certain kinds of presence. This profound questioning of Western assumptions surrounding death requires an innovative form that challenges the traditional boundaries between poetry and narrative, privileges the magical as a vital aspect of reality, and ultimately seeks a redefinition of the lyric persona. In The Poems of Sidney West, writing, without lessening its essential condition of creative practice, is conceived as an instrument not only to interpret but to transform the world.
Table of contents:
Acknowledgements
Juan Gelman: Translation as Fidelity
lamento por la muerte de parsifal hoolig
lament for the death of parsifal hoolig
lamento por el arbolito de philip
lament for philip’s tiny tree
lamento por gallagher bentham
lament for gallagher bentham
lamento por la tórtola de butch butchanam
lament for butch butchanam’s turtle-dove
lamento por el pájaro de chester carmichael
lament for chester carmichael’s bird
lamento por el sapo de stanley hook
lament for stanley hook’s toad
lamento por los ojos de vernon vries
lament for vernon vries’ eyes
lamento por el ciruelo de cab cunningham
lament for cab cunningham’s plum tree
lamento por los que envidiaron a david cassidy
lament for those who envied david cassidy
lamento por el día español de raf maloney
lament for raf maloney’s spanish day
lamento por el uteró de mecha vaugham
lament for mecha vaugham’s uterus
lamento por la nuca de tom steward
lament for tom steward’s nape
lamento por los alelíes de ost maloney
lament for ost maloney’s wallflowers
lamento por las aguas de bigart sample
lament for bigart sample’s waters
lamento por los pies de andrew sinclair
lament for andrew sinclair’s feet
lamento por las flores de david burnham
lament for david burnham’s flowers
lamento por el vuelo de bob chambers
lament for bob chamber’s flight
lamento por los pies de carmichael o’shaughnessy
lament for carmichael o’shaughnessy’s feet
lamento por la tripa de helen carmody
lament for helen carmody’s gut
lamento por el pelo de bright morgan
lament for bright morgan’s hair
lamento por la camisa de sam dale
lament for sam dale’s shirt
lamento por la historia de cab calloway
lament for cab calloway’s story
lamento por la niña blanca de johnny petsum
lament for johnny petsum’s white girl
lamento por el llanto de sim simmons
lament for sim simmon’s weeping
lamento por las yerbas de jack hammerstein
lament for jack hammerstein’s grasses
lamento por la gente de raf salinger
lament for raf salinger’s people
lamento por la mano de arthur donovan
lament for arthur donovan’s hand
lamento por la llama de roy joseph gally
lament for roy joseph gally’s flame
lamento por el furor de roy hennigan
lament for roy hennigan’s rage
lamento por los idiotas de warren s. w. cormoran
lament for warren s. w. cormoran’s idiots
lamento por las manos de astor frederick
lament for astor frederick’s hands
lamento por el sicomoro de tommy derk
lament for tommy derk’s sycamore
lamento por george bentham
lament for george bentham
lamento por la cucharita de sammy mccoy
lament for sammy mccoy’s tiny spoon
Fe de erratas
Errata View excerpt as PDF:  Click here to view a sample (92 KB)
Excerpt from book:
lament for sim simmon’s weeping
one autumn morning sim simmons
woke without eyes as if they had fallen in favor of the season
“but no matter” he said
and smoothed his memory
“no matter no matter at all” sim simmons would say
placing empty trees in eye sockets
trees he fed with stampedes
cries forgetfulness silent parts
nocturnal insects death’s bearers
made their rounds through the trees
“no matter” sim would say
spreading his tender wings
and circling the sky
“if I were a cloud” he would say “if I were a falcon or catastrophe
what my heart eats away at” he would say
“you have quenched yourself dove” sim simmons would say without weeping
“I have no eyes to cry” he would say “but I should”
he would say remembering everything vegetable
water weeping rain or river needs
a tender nest to guard against the cold
and so sim simmons began to weep
the trees flew all around him
and once again he had eyes to watch or to see or to suffer
and to weep without feeding anyone
“I deserve it” sim simmons would say late
“I quite deserve it” he would say with his eyes now dry
hard brilliant as the sun
beneath the Alabama land
two rivers were born where they buried him
one toward the north the other toward the south
for memory for oblivion
and everyone had water
but sim simmons did not:
he looked downward
now deserving or dead or sad
without trees without trees
Unpublished endorsement: One of the greatest poets the world has today. José Saramago, Nobel Prize in Literature, 1998 Unpublished endorsement: Juan Gelman’s poems bring us to a state of mind, at once thoughtful and instinctive, forcing us to search for what we really are…This state of mind has no need for cries, proclamations, or insults. The ultimate force of Juan Gelman’s words is born from abandoning the surface of pain and anger to penetrate their roots. Julio Cortázar, author of Hopscotch |
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