Selected Verse - Federico García Lorca; Edited and with an Introduction and Notes by Christopher Maurer

See larger image
See Hi-Res Jpeg image

Selected Verse

Revised Bilingual Edition

Federico García Lorca; Edited and with an Introduction and Notes by Christopher Maurer

Farrar, Straus and Giroux Paperbacks, June 2004
Edition: Revised Edition, ISBN: 978-0-374-52855-3, ISBN10: 0-374-52855-1,
6 1/8 x 9 1/4 inches, 432 pages, Includes a Preface, an Introduction, Notes to the Poems, a Bibliography, About the Translators, and an Index of Titles,
Trade Paperback, $17.00

Share this book with friends through your favorite social networking site.

Shelve:

add this book's widget
to your site or blog

Categories and Subcategories

See All Categories Poetry Poetry in Translation

The work of Federico García Lorca, Spain's greatest modern poet, has long been admired for its emotional intensity and metaphorical brilliance. This revised Selected Verse, which incorporates changes made in Christopher Maurer's landmark 2002 edition of Lorca's Collected Poems, is the most wide-ranging abridgement of his verse available in English. As vividly and sensitively rendered by some ten translators—Catherine Brown, Cola Franzen, Angela Jaffray, Galway Kinnell, Will Kirkland, Christopher Maurer, Jerome Rothenberg, Greg Simon, Alan S. Trueblood, and Steven F. White—the poems in this selection appear in a clear, bilingual, facing-pages format.

Editor Maurer, a leading scholar of this poet's life and work, draws from every book of poems that Lorca published during his lifetime while also including several uncollected poems. Lorca's poetic range comes clearly into view, from the playful Suites and stylized evocations of Andalusia to the utter gravity and mystery of the final elegies—thus confirming his stature as one of the twentieth century's finest poets.

The book concludes with an Index of Titles, an extensive Bibliography, biographical summaries for all of the translators, and an in-depth yet accessible array of Notes to the Poems (as made by Maurer throughout).

Praise

"Rarely has anyone written with such duende (or 'soul'), such fervent eloquence, such vividness and audacity as Lorca."—David H. Rosenthal, The New York Times Book Review

"Through the sheer power of [Lorca's] imaginative genius, in [these] lucid translations of his poems that are as intelligent as they are intuitive, we witness how the poet . . . expanded the scope of lyric poetry [and] entirely redefined the elegy."—Rafael Campo, The Washington Post

"García Lorca's poems remain influential, mysterious, and some of the most emotional we have . . . English and Spanish readers can depend on this bilingual series of volumes to enjoy [his] timeless body of work."—The Bloomsbury Review

"The entire poetic spectrum of Spain's greatest modern poet and dramatist is showcased [here] . . . Lorca (1898-1936) drew upon his country's rich and sonorous musical tradition for inspiration, and his early poems are spellbindingly beautiful, animated with the sweet breath of the Andulusian land he loved so much and lit with images and metaphors as bright and quick as birds. His ballads, nocturnes, and Suites are tender inquiries into the dark corners of heart and mind, all set in a promising realm of gardens and roads. Gradually, as Lorca's passion for the theater intensified, his poems became longer and more dramatic, and as our brutal [twentieth] century picked up speed, his heretofore gentle surrealism became harsher and more pronounced. His poetry changed even more radically once he moved to New York. Words such as mire, putrid, anguish, and blood surface repeatedly as he captures the cruelty of this racially divisive city. Scholar Maurer has chosen well
qlfrom all ten of Lorca's published poetry collections as well as from a selection of previously uncollected works, and the translations are superb."—Donna Seaman, Booklist (on the earlier edition of this selection)

About the Author(s)

By Federico García Lorca and Christopher Maurer

Federico García Lorca, born in Granada in 1898, is widely seen as Spain's greatest modern poet. Among his best-known books are The Divan at Tamarit, Poet in New York, and The Gypsy Ballads. He was murdered by Franco's soldiers in 1936.

Christopher Maurer is head of the Department of Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese at the University of Illinois in Chicago.