Desolacion; Ternura; Tala; Lagar (Sepan Cuantos / Know How Many) (Spanish Edition) [Paperback]

Gabriela Mistral (Author), G. Mistral (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: Spanish --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 251 pages
• Publisher: Editorial Porrua; 9 edition (January 2000)
• Language: Spanish
• ISBN-10: 9684322801
• ISBN-13: 978-9684322806
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,722,022 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Masterpiece, July 27, 2006

By 

Robert Leutwiler (Luquillo, Puerto Rico (formerly Yabucoa)) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Desolacion (Spanish Edition) (Paperback)

I won't write about her life since you can find a lot about that if you just type Gariela Mistral in the search box.

Her poetry sings of a woman with very deep emotions and incredible poetic talent.

For example, Los Sonetos de la Muerte begins as follows:

Del nicho helado en que los hombres te pusieron,
te bajaré a la tierra humilde y soleada
Que he de dormirme en ella los hombres no supieron
y que hemos de soñar sobre la misma almohada.

Here we can see a woman persecuted by men (put onto freezing niches or recesses like in a cave I suppose.)

Gabriela will put the woman (or man, possibly) down on the humble and sunny ground.

She adds: The men didn't know that I have to sleep on the ground
and that we must sleep together on the same pillow.

If she is referring to a man, this is a wonderful romantic image but if she is referring to a woman, it is a beautiful illustration of sisterly love. For that matter, this poem is so universal that it could be talking about a child or even a parent.

The poem (which has 42 lines) ends as follows:

Se detuvo la barca rosa de su vivir...
¿Que no sé del amor, que no tuve piedad?
¡Tú, que vas a juzgarme, lo comprendes, Señor!

It is saying at the end that the ship of your life has stopped, and

It seems to me that then she is protesting something like: You say that I don't know about love; that I never had pity on you or never felt pity in general??!!??

Then she turns to God and adds: Lord, you who will judge me, you understand, my Lord.

Thus she ends up by asking God for His judgment (or even Her judgment) probably, to defeat the lie which said that she couldn't feel mercy or didn't know how to love.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars unread yet looking forward to, September 10, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Desolacion; Ternura; Tala; Lagar (Sepan Cuantos / Know How Many) (Spanish Edition) (Paperback)

as i was taking a look in the encyclopedia i found the name gabriela mistral.i got excited suddenly and i wanted to see who was her.i found out that she was some kind of alatin writer.but that wasn`t the most exciting thing i found , the most interesting fact was that she won the nobel prize in literature at the very year where the secon world war had eneded.one of the very few women who won this prize.yet i was dissapointed when i found out that her books are neglected .i looked for them everwhere , but i found them not.they were not sold oftenly and so i don`t expect them at all to be translated.what ought people like us do.lovers of literature who want to read to her.i found out that no one has reviewe thiss book. i wanted to be the first one but that seems unlikely right.i foind that quite strange that i couldn`t but say oh GOD