The Whole Island: Six Decades of Cuban Poetry - Softcover

Weiss, Mark

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0520258940 ISBN 13: 9780520258945

Publisher: University of California Press, 2009

Synopsis

Cuba's cultural influence throughout the Western Hemisphere, and especially in the United States, has been disproportionally large for so small a country. This landmark volume is the first comprehensive overview of poetry written over the past sixty years. Presented in a beautiful Spanish-English en face edition, The Whole Island makes available the astonishing achievement of a wide range of Cuban poets, including such well-known figures as Nicolás Guillén, José Lezama Lima, and Nancy Morejón, but also poets widely read in Spanish who remain almost unknown to the English-speaking world—among them Fina García Marruz, José Kozer, Raúl Hernández Novás, and Ángel Escobar—and poets born since the Revolution, like Rogelio Saunders, Omar Pérez, Alessandra Molina, and Javier Marimón. The translations, almost all of them new, convey the intensity and beauty of the accompanying Spanish originals. With their work deeply rooted in Cuban culture, many of these poets—both on and off the island—have been at the center of the political and social changes of this tempestuous period. The poems offered here constitute an essential source for understanding the literature and culture of Cuba, its diaspora, and the Caribbean at large, and provide an unparalleled perspective on what it means to be Cuban.

About this title

Product Description:

Cuba's cultural influence throughout the Western Hemisphere, and especially in the United States, has been disproportionally large for so small a country. This title offers the poems that constitute an essential source for understanding the literature and culture of Cuba, its diaspora, and the Caribbean at large.

Review:

"Magnificent anthology."--Chris Andrews"Times Literary Supplement (TLS)" (07/30/2010)

"Effectively broaden[s] the sense of poetic terrain outside the United States and also create[s] a superb collection of foreign poems in English. There is nothing else like it."-- (02/15/2010)

"Reading selections from this enormous volume is an immersion in fine poetry and translation and a reminder of how Cuba remains a vital center of artistic expression."--Bloomsbury Review (05/01/2010)

"This impressive, bilingual anthology is the first comprehensive overview of the Cuban poetic tradition. . . . A useful introduction to little-known riches."-- (11/01/2009)

"This unique anthology of Cuban poetry . . . is invaluable for both its scope and its concern for political and literary context."-- (06/01/2010)

"A startling triumph."--Queer New York (07/09/2010)

"Reading this book, you discover a new world of poetry. What could be more exciting than that?"-- (12/11/2009)

"[A] literary feat. . . . This is a prized collection of Cuban poetry. Recommended for all libraries and bookstores."-- (03/11/2010)

"This bilingual anthology offers an excellent introduction to modern Cuban poetry."--Review: Lit & Arts Of Americas (02/08/2011)

"[This anthology] demonstrates the extent to which translation can generate exciting innovations in poetic techniques and form."--Pleiades (06/16/2011)

About this edition

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0520258940
• ISBN 13: 9780520258945
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 622