Description
The continuing Gander/Johnson excavation of Jaime Saenz is by far the most interesting project of Spanish poetry translation in many years. They have taken a poet who was completely unknown in the U.S. and put him on the map as someone who must be read. The Night, this hallucinated journey into the hell of the self, may be Saenz's greatest work, and it may well be that the most original version of the poem is its English translation. -- Eliot Weinberger The Bolivian poet Jaime Saenz's last major poem is a strange, delicate, anguished work of great emotional power and rich literary value. Expertly translated here, it is a paean to the irreducible sadness and unpredictability which lie at the heart of all the best parts of life... and of poetry. -- Nicholas Jenkins, Stanford University
About the Author
Forrest Gander is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Brown University. He is the author of numerous books, including "Eye Against Eye". Kent Johnson is Instructor of English and Spanish at Highland Community College. His books include "Lyric Poetry After Auschwitz: Eleven Submissions to the War".
Reviews
"Published as a part of the excellent Facing Pages series of translations, major Bolivian poet Jaime Saenz's death-obsessed masterwork, The Night, is now available in English for the first time. Veteran translators Forrest Gander and Kent Johnson of Saenz (1921-1986) seem to understand the haunting beauty of these lines as though they had written them."--Publishers Weekly "This bilingual edition of Saenz's The Night brings to English-speaking readers the anguished, hallucinogenic world of this morbid Bolivian poet...The translators' introduction sets the tone and scene, and their inspired translation communicates the terrible intensity of Saenz's images and his fascinating with death."--D.L. Heyck, Choice "Published two years before the Bolivian poet Jaime Saenz's death in 1984, The Night redefines what it means to be illuminated by anatomizing the experience of being enveloped in darkness...Exquisitely produced, this edition advances Saenz's ultimate mission for The Night: to reveal a vision of the body connected with its soul, 'inhabiting' it, passing through a life full of danger, fear, and humiliation, constructing a holistic view of existence, a unified conception of life and death."--Aaron Belz, Boston Review "American readers will find that The Night diverges from much contemporary American poetry, particularly in its elaborate symbolism and ethereal atmosphere. The Night is best read as a complete piece, preferably in one sitting, and probably more than once. Readers will find their time well spent."--Lisa Butts, Pleiades
Book Information
ISBN 9780691124834
Author Jaime Saenz
Format Hardback
Page Count 160
Imprint Princeton University Press
Publisher Princeton University Press
Weight(grams) 369g