Altazor, or a Voyage in a Parachute/1919, a Poem in VII Cantos (Palabra sur) [Paperback]

Vicente Huidobro (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1988 | Series: Palabra sur

poetry, Chile, tr Eliot Weinberger, bilingual

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this book-length poem, appearing here in Spanish and English, bursts of pure musical sound alternate with concrete, incisive observations to describe the existential dread and mystery of the human condition. Weinberger's translation from the Spanish of the esteemed Chilean poet Huidobro's (1893-1948) seven-canto epic establishes its own rhythm and velocity; words and ideas whirl and dance, masterfully choreographed.The anti-poet Altazor (which means high hawk) is the volatile hero whose rage is calmed by melody. During his flight through life he philosophizes, fantasizes, grunts, singswildly and exquisitely. The cantos are discrete in focus and pulse and length and shape yet all rise to a crescendo and reverberate similarly, and are essential to the whole. The interior monologue-fantasy-stream of consciousness form is, at times, exhaustivethis is a soaring to all destinations and no destination. "Earth and its sky/ Sky and its earth/ Forest night/ And river day through the universe/ The bird tralalee sings in the branches of my brain/ For I've found the key to the infiniternity/ Round as the unimos and the cosverse/ Oooheeoo ooheeoohee." Altazor's adventure, like life, is unpredictable, dangerous, uncensored and urgent, and Weinberger is faithful to Huidobro's untamable spirit. This poem marks the inauguration of Graywolf's Palabra Sur series.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Inaugurating Graywolf's " Palabra Sur " (Words from the South) series, Altazor is a radical experiment by a Chilean poet (1893-1948) linked with Vallejo and Neruda as the founders of modern Spanish American poetry. Full of the optimism and energy of the post-World War I era, it uses as its central metaphor the anti-poet's fall through space at the speed of light as he searches for a new poetic idiom: "I want to bring you a music of the spirit/ . . . that . . . explodes in festival lights inside your dream." Indeed, the remainder explodes language, turns it inside out through syntactical ellipses, long, chant-like rhymes, punsuntil meaning is pure language of sound. For all foreign poetry collections. Robert Hudzik, P.L. of Cincinnati & Hamilton Cty.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 114 pages
• Publisher: Graywolf Pr; First edition. edition (April 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555971067
• ISBN-13: 978-1555971069
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,378,965 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Huidobro is the quintesential Latino contemporary poet., July 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Altazor, or a Voyage in a Parachute/1919, a Poem in VII Cantos (Palabra sur) (Paperback)

This epic poem begins with language that is fascinating and strangely honest. It is written in seven cantos which prove to be a very easy read and striking at the same time. Huidobro invites you into a world that is created and governed by himself, much like the world Tolkien created in "Middle Earth." The difference is that in Huidobro's world there are no rules, no grammar, and no universal truths. A reader should leave his or her own biases and assumptions at the cover of the book. By the time the poem is in its last canto, the author arrogantly assumes that the reader speaks the language of the poem and writes accordingly. The poem was written for readers who can understand the last canto of the poem, which to the naked eye appears to be nonsense. Huidobro is one of the finest contemporary poets that I have come across.