Customer Reviews

The Oxford Book of Latin American Poetry

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If your only language is English, this collection might just be what you want. If, however, you would like to read the Spanish and Portuguese originals alongside the English translations, do not purchase this book. The original poems appear at the bottom of the page, in solid blocks of text that looks like prose, with verses separated by a single slash (/) and stanzas by a double (//). It is as if the originals were reduced to prose poneys for the translations. While the selections range from some pre-Columbian selections to the present, the anthology is heavily weighted toward the 20th century. Fair enough. The selection seems to be more based on the quality of the English translations than the significance of the original poems, making clear that the anthologists' (or perhaps publisher's) focus is on the translated works rather than the original. A reader of Spanish and Portuguese, however, is left wondering why many favorite poems are omitted. The result is a rather lopsided view of Latin American poetry. Is this really what a 'bilingual' edition should be. The treatment of the original poems seems disrespectful.

A pity. This book should have been what it promises. Uneven selection: most of it is XXth Century, and this pick is tilted and -to say the least- gross, not only it does not show the vast richness and diversity one would have expected, but does not rise to a respectable leve. Really a pity.