Abraxas 38/39: Selections From Cesar Abraham Vallejo's Trilce (Selections From The 1922 Edition)

Features of Abraxas 38/39: Selections from Cesar Abraham Vallejo's Trilce (Selections from the 1922 Edition)

Review Seventy-five years after its publication, Trilce remains the most hermetic poetry ever written in Spanish. Its seventy- seven poems, with only Roman numerals for titles, present an extraordinary challenge to translators because they tend to erase the referential and representational functions of language. It is as if the language were being forced to say more than it says in an attempt to express something completely new, never expressed in language before. Despite this, the Spanish of Trilce manages to communicate profound emotional and intellectual experiences with dramatic and ironic intensity, marking it as not only one of the first avant-garde works of the Twentieth Century but also one of the most important. . . Prospero Saiz's version of Trilce represents an important contribution. . . a poet in his own right, [he] appears to attempt the most literal possible translations of Trilce, relying on his command of Spanish. . . Of particular interest is the two-part theoretical introduction. . . A suggestive aspect of his discussion deals with the influence of Quechua on Vallejo's poetics. -- Keith McDuffie, Trilce, Encyclopedia of Literary Translation, 1998The shadow that falls in The Wasteland [sic] between thought and action is cast in Trilce between expression and meaning. Vallejo writhes and celebrates in this shadow. . . the poet orphan is confined to sing in a broken language, a cacological fit. Trilce precedes deconstructionism, as Vallejo abuses the language frequently in the form of barbarismos . . ., dislocated syntax, mis-spellings, mixed Peruvian slang, and constructions from his mother's native Quechua with traces of Aymara. . . Consequently, the degree of difficulty for non-native speakers and translators is extremely high. Trilce is the most challenging piece by one of the most challenging Latin American poets, written during an intense transformative moment in his complicated life. . . . [saiz'] understanding of the poems is unique. . . [he] finds traces of indigenous languages Quechua, Aymara, and believes that syntax is most mangled when Vallejo's maternal tongue tries to speak, that one aspect of Vallejo's assault on the Spanish language was a result of the ongoing battle of the mestizo poet. saiz also keenly recognizes the spoken nature of much of the poetry found in Trilce. His translations are street- wise, contemporary, and demotic. -- The Underground Forest / La Selva Subterrnea 12, May 1995 Product Description A special issue of ABRAXAS Magazine featuring 48 pages of a new translation of Vallejo's Trilce, taken from the only authorized edition (published by the poet in Peru in 1922). Includes Translator's Preface; illustrated. Also included in this double issue are poems in translation from Spanish, French, Hungarian and Chinese, as well as contemporary American poetry. From the Publisher We have attempted to reproduce the original edition, retaining all typographical and linguistic ambiguities, and matching the original typeface as closely as possible. This is the companion volume to ABRAXAS 40/41, which presents an additional 76 page selection from Trilce, and a second Translator's Preface. [See Trilce (selections bound in ABRAXAS 40/41) ISBN 0-932868-07-X] Excerpt. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Poem from Trilce, by Cesar Abraham Vallejo, translated into English by prospero saiz: LXXV Thou art dead. What strange way of being dead. Any- one would say thou art not. But, in truth, thou art dead. Thou floatest nothingly behind that membrane that, hanging from the zenith to the nadir, comes and goes from twilight to twilight, vibrating before the sonorous coffin of a wound that does not pain thee. To thee I say, Then, that life is in the mirror, and that thou art the original, death. While the wave goes, while the wave comes, how with impunity is one dead. Only when the waters smash upon the opposite borders, and they double and r