Cosmic Canticle [Hardcover]

Ernesto Cardenal (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1995

In this epic poem, Cardenal explores Latin American history by relating the evolution of the universe to the development of human understanding. Throughout, Cardenal blends the visible and the invisible, science and poetry, religion and nature, in 43 autonomous yet integrated cantos.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Background radiation allows us to deduce that the universe / is harmoniously curved / like a woman." This nearly 500-page poem of Father Cardenal, a priest who was Nicaragua's Minister of Culture during the Sandinistas' years in power, superficially recalls Genesis and some of the Old Testament and prophetic writings, and also peruses contemporary scientists and science writers such as Lewis Thomas, Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking, Richard Feynman and Richard Dawkins, at times cited by name, in an attempt to justify the ways of God to Nicaragua and Latin America. The theology--largely homage to the Earth-goddess--seems literary, perhaps derived from Robert Graves. The text, as translator Lyons has rendered it, suggests the lecture outline of an eclectic, New Age professor. This is not a wholly credible synthesis of religious feeling and political engagement on the order of Milton or Blake, but instead the work of an amiable popularizer, seeking--yet not always reaching--the force of authentic prophecy or discovery: "Man is society. / The loneliness we suffer comes from being only individuals. / Happiness is others."
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Inevitably, this epic will be compared to Neruda's Canto General , but Cardenal is more geared to theology, science, and stream-of-consciousness than Neruda. Nor is Cardenal as doctrinaire, though he does cite James the Apostle demanding pensions for widows and nurseries for children and asserts that communion and communism are synonymous. Steeped in a spiritual love for Nicaragua and the world, Cardenal packs his epic with fact and aphorism that reflect all human experience. In the beginning was Chaos, order from disorder, the Tao, the supernova-created Sun, and the new notion of Gaia. Cardenal reminds us that the word theology was coined by Plato and that the Seminoles' dance of the fresh corn is a eucharist, too. He mocks Nixon, who said yes and no on Vietnam, the parrot Reagan, the Shah of Iran, Franco, and Somoza. There is a four-page bibliography of works by Cardenal but no introduction or glossary of the untranslated italicized words savored by this brilliant and humanitarian poet-priest of Nicaragua. Heady stuff recommended for all levels of academic libraries.
- Jack Shreve, Allegany Community Coll., Cumberland, Md.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 490 pages
• Publisher: Curbstone Books; First Edition edition (July 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1880684071
• ISBN-13: 978-1880684078
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #820,249 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A cosmological love poem with Latin American politics., March 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Cosmic Canticle (Hardcover)

In 474 pages, Ernesto Cardenal weaves a stunning, interconnected parallel between the politics of Latin America, "astrophysics and love" (125). His voice and style at times reminds me of Pound in _The Cantos_, "(Everything I write is fragmentary/ a collection of quanta)" (Cardenal, 64), but Cardenal is more rooted and accessible. If you enjoy cosomology, quantum physics, love, and/or Latin American politcs, this book will please.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Unforgettable Dazzling Experience, December 8, 2009

By 

dan noyes (New Mexico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cosmic Canticle (Paperback)

Cosmic Canticle reaches for the stars in its poetic vision. It is huge, warm, shattering, healing, encyclopedic, a chronicle of exploitation and a hymn to the Divine. Somehow Cardenal weaves these together into a vast cosmic tapestry. It is no accident that it is written by a poet Priest who also has a sense of the shaman in him.The vision that it offers is rare and magnificent. Overall it is a stunning success with a few minor imperfections sprinkled in. His vision and voice are unique and this is his masterpiece.I have returned to this book again and again to experience its fierce sense of wonder.

4 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A huge effort,about half on target, March 8, 2001

By 

A. Hogan (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cosmic Canticle (Hardcover)

Ernesto Cardenal is a tough call. former miinster of culture in the sandinista government,one time Trappist novice,former pacifist who took to the hills to fight the somoza government, then returned in triumph. Infamous for the incident at the Managua airport where the pope was caught on worlwide television wagging his finger at him,as an embarassed cardenal tried to kiss his ring[not a real highlight for either man,methinks}Nicaragua's most famous living poet,this is a series of cantos[think of pound and Neruda}It starts with, appropriately,the Big bang and ends, aslo appropriately with Omega. In between he quotes the tao{in the beginning was the Tao...}, Telihard de Chardin,thomas merton, Jesus as a communist revolutionary, honors Che` Guevera,quantum physics,micro-biology,the church fathers,glorifies Mao, Fidel and ,most things"left"> Some of this poetry is lyric, soaring, much of it pedantic,sounding like a tired old party hack. When he reaches for the cosmos,he fares so much better> Fr. cardenal has been savaged in print by mario Vargas LLosa,not for his poetry, but for his politics.Though it is impossible to seperate them, Fr. Cardenal comes off as quite sincere,and much of this shines through his poetry. An epochal effort,which though fallimng short{and its blindness to oppression by leftist goverments},this is a noble and quite good volume.