
Description
Derived from these notebooks, The School of Solitude is the first book of Hernández's poetry in English. The haunting voice of Hernández evokes an irrevocably distant past, with the poems contemplating happiness and joy, love and fulfillment, yet always with a sense of sadness, solitude, and dream. Including rare images from Hernández's notebooks, as well as several poems never before published in any language, The School of Solitude will be read not only for its powerful poetry and imagery, but also as a means to learn more about this enigmatic Latin American poet and the mystery of his life and work.
Product Details
Publisher | Swan Isle Press |
Publish Date | August 15, 2015 |
Pages | 167 |
Language | English |
Type | |
EAN/UPC | 9780983322061 |
Dimensions | 8.1 X 5.1 X 0.3 inches | 0.7 pounds |
About the Author
Reviews
-- "Mester"
[Is] finely translated by Anthony Geist. . .merit[s] enthusiastic acclaim. . .will not only provide ample access to Luis Hernández' poetry, but also open the door to original and versatile lyricism worthy of greater critical attention."-- "Latin American Literature Today"
Shortlist-- "2016 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation"
"Anthony Geist renders the poetry-reading world an immense service in plucking the mercurial Peruvian writer Luis Hernández (1941-77) from English-language obscurity with the publication of The School of Solitude."--Gregary J. Racz "Review: Literature and Arts of the Americas"
"Distributed throughout The School of Solitude are photocopies of Hernández's handwritten poems and drawings, all done on lined school notebooks. They provide a sense of the physical form of the poem's original renderings, as well as Hernández's free, unconventional spirit. Luis Hernández believed not only in challenging and complicating poetic conventions within his work; he conducted his entire life as an expression of this belief. With this publication of Anthony Geist's excellent translation of The School of Solitude, Swan Isle Press has presented a great gift to English reading public. We should receive these poems with the same warmth and joy as did those friends, family members, poets, and strangers to whom they were originally given."--Mike Puican "Make Magazine"
"A deep humanity and seductive, bluesy rhythms pervade these poems of Luis Hernández, as does a mindful quality and emotional symmetry that rise from the ceaseless interaction between the natural order and disorder of experience. In taut, spare lines, the pursuit of love and even the moments of apparent randomness turn on precise, simply stated observation and paradoxical memories, flashes of humor, and beautiful, enduring loss. 'I don't remember your eyes / Only what they saw.' Anthony Geist provides skillful, honest translations--poems in English--which in their courage and conviction recreate the integrity of the originals."--William O'Daly, poet and translator of Pablo Neruda
"In this collection of poems by Luis Hernández, prepared specifically for this edition, the poet's offhanded wit of everyday melancholy flashes out often. Some of the poems create the tone and language of work written out of the immediate moment, to protect some part of it for a moment longer, since 'living is made out of glass.' Others shift to the tone of elegy not only for persons but as if for the world. In only a few years, neglectful of self, perhaps, but burning with creativity, Hernández seems to have spanned the poetic development of a much longer lifetime. What a great gesture of faith not only in this poet but also in poetry itself that the work of this poet, 'former welterweight champion' of poetry, has been kept alive for readers in Spanish and is now offered to readers in English."--Reginald Gibbons, Northwestern University, author of Slow Trains Overhead
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