Cortijo's Wake / El entierro de Cortijo [Paperback]

Edgardo Rodríguez Juliá (Author), Juan Flores (Translator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0822332167 | ISBN-13: 978-0822332169 | Publication Date: December 30, 2003 | Edition: Bilingual

A bilingual edition of a renowned work of Puerto Rican literature, Cortijo’s Wake/El entierro de Cortijo is novelist Edgardo Rodríguez Juliá’s vivid description of the funeral of legendary Puerto Rican musician Rafael Cortijo. El entierro de Cortijo became an immediate bestseller following its original publication in Puerto Rico in 1983. An unparalleled Afro-Puerto Rican percussionist and bandleader, Cortijo (1928–1982) revolutionized the country’s musical culture. His band, Cortijo y Su Combo, captivated Caribbean and Latin American audiences as it emerged in the mid-1950s. Immensely popular across Puerto Rican social classes, the band both “modernized” the traditional vernacular forms of bomba and plena and forcefully reestablished their African and working-class roots. The group’s innovations have been integral to salsa since the 1960s.

Winding through the streets of working-class San Juan with Cortijo’s funeral procession, Rodríguez Juliá’s autobiographical chronicle provides a rare portrait of the impoverished society from which Cortijo’s music emerged. Along with detailed renderings of grief-stricken mourners—including Cortijo’s childhood friend and fellow musician, the celebrated singer Ismael ("Maelo") Rivera—Rodríguez Juliá records his feelings as he, a light-skinned, middle-class writer, confronts the world of poor black Puerto Ricans. The author’s masterful shifting of linguistic registers, his acute sensitivity to Puerto Rican social codes, his broad knowledge of popular music, and his sardonic ruminations on death and immortality make this one of the most widely read books of modern Puerto Rican literature. Well-known critic and cultural historian Juan Flores has provided a scrupulous translation of Rodríguez Juliá’s text and an introduction situating the book in relation to Puerto Rican music and culture and the careers of Cortijo and Rodríguez Juliá.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A highly entertaining account of the wake and burial of Rafael Cortijo. . . . [Edgardo Rodríguez Juliá’s] book mixes first-hand descriptions of places and people with extravagant helpings of personal opinion.”—Gerald Guinness, San Juan Star

“Edgardo Rodríguez Juliá’s El entierro de Cortijo is already a classic in contemporary Puerto Rican literature—challenging, entertaining, and enlightening. It is a real joy to see Juan Flores’s translation of Rodríguez Juliá’s narrative into English. Flores—sensitive to tone, sound, idiom, and meaning—has done an excellent job. Cortijo’s music echoes through the text.”—Arcadio Díaz-Quiñones, Princeton University

From the Inside Flap

"Edgardo Rodríguez Juliá’s El entierro de Cortijo is already a classic in contemporary Puerto Rican literature—challenging, entertaining, and enlightening. It is a real joy to see Juan Flores’s translation of Rodríguez Juliá’s narrative into English. Flores—sensitive to tone, sound, idiom, and meaning—has done an excellent job. Cortijo’s music echoes through the text."—Arcadio Díaz-Quiñones, Princeton University --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 152 pages
• Publisher: Duke University Press Books; Bilingual edition (December 30, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0822332167
• ISBN-13: 978-0822332169
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #697,401 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cortijo, the musician and friend, March 5, 2004

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This review is from: Cortijo's Wake / El entierro de Cortijo (Paperback)

A wonderful memory of a dear friend and one of the kindest human beings I've had the pleasure to know.

I left Puerto Rico in 1980 and still, in my heart, think of it as home.