Jorge Guillén

Jorge Guillen is one of Spain's most important and productive poets of the twentieth century; yet though recently honored with prestigious literary prizes in Spain, Italy, and the United States, he remains little known in this country. This selection of his poetry and his commentary on the poems comprise an extraordinary introduction of the poet to an English-speaking audience. Ranging over the nearly sixty years of Guillen's poetic career, this anthology consists of the poet's own selection of forty-one poems that represent for him the coherence and unity of his life's work. His commentary on each poem explains its place and significance in this context. With the original Spanish and the English translations on facing pages, the anthology proceeds thematically. The poet asks us to consider the architecture of his work as a whole, and not necessarily his development as a poet. At Guillen's invitation, the translators visited him at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where they taped the poet reading and talking about his poetry for more than five hours. Guillen on Guillen is the edited transcript of that meeting. Originally published in 1979. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Jorge Guillen is one of Spain's most important and productive poets of the twentieth century; yet though recently honored with prestigious literary prizes in Spain, Italy, and the United States, he remains little known in this country. This selection of his poetry and his commentary on the poems comprise an extraordinary introduction of the poet to an English-speaking audience. Ranging over the nearly sixty years of Guillen's poetic career, this anthology consists of the poet's own selection of forty-one poems that represent for him the coherence and unity of his life's work. His commentary on each poem explains its place and significance in this context. With the original Spanish and the English translations on facing pages, the anthology proceeds thematically. The poet asks us to consider the architecture of his work as a whole, and not necessarily his development as a poet. At Guillen's invitation, the translators visited him at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where they taped the poet reading and talking about his poetry for more than five hours. Guillen on Guillen is the edited transcript of that meeting. Originally published in 1979. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Jorge Guillen belongs to a brilliant cluster of Spanish poets, a generation once defined by Salinas, one of its members, as "born under a lyrical star". Towards the end of his life Guillen's most famous work "Cantico" - the fruit of some 30 years of labour - was recognized as a masterpiece and stands alongside the poetical works of Lorca, Alberti and Cernuda. Most usefully translated as a hymn or song of praise, "Cantico" is an antidote to today's world of doubts, fears, conflicts and seductive philosophies of despair. The attitude to life it holds out to its readers is summed up in the epitaph on Guillen's tomb in the English cemetery in Malaga: "Aqui yace un enamorado de la vida" ("Here lies a lover of life").

Winner of the 2000 Harold Morton Landon Translation Award.Jorge Guillen, one of the greatest poets of the Generation of '27, went into voluntary exile during the Spanish Civil War, and spent many years in the US and Latin America.While some poems in Horses in the Air were written in America, many of them had never been translated into English before. Guillen's view of Europe from the New World, his experience as an exile and an immigrant, as well as his encounters with Spanish America provide insights into our shared culture that are fresh and relevant today.This is the best possible introduction to a major Spanish poet. Jore Guillen sang memorably of the joys and sorrows of mortal existence: of life together and life alone. His luminous intelligence, cordiality toward the reader, vast knowledge of literature, and epigrammatic wit are governed by an impeccable sense of form. In selecting from his work and capturing his voice, Cola Franzen has proven herself, once again, the most graceful and faithful of translators. --Christopher MaurerA noteworthy retrospective of an overlooked and undervalued poet.--Library Journal. . . well represents the breadth and depth of the poet's marvelous achievement.--Kirkus ReviewsJorge Guill n was born in Valladolid, Old Castile. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 he was arrested and detained briefly in Pamplona as a political prisoner. He left Spain in 1938 to go into voluntary exile in the United States, where he remained until after the death of Franco. In 1978 he returned to live in Spain. He died in M laga in 1984.