Book Description
By the close of the twentieth century, the brilliant poets that had emerged from the Americas included Ruben Dario, Pablo Neruda, Cesar Vallejo, Vicente Huidobro, and Octavio Paz. To this list must be added Jorge Carrera Andrade, an Ecuadorian, who spent his entire adult life traveling as a diplomat, politician, and poet. Despite a brief flurry of attention generated in the United States by his book, Secret Country (New York: MacMillan, 1946), published just after he served as Ecuadorian Consul General to the United States in San Francisco, Andrade has since been forgotten by American anthologists and literary critics. But in fact the late Andrade was a leading figure in Latin American letters. This volume of his poetry was selected and translated by Steven Ford Brown and is presented in both Spanish and English. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Absolutely amazing writing
I discovered the poetry of Jorge Carrerra Andrade about 5 years ago while I rummaged through the books in the Latin American Literature section of the Binghamton University library.It turned out that Jorge Carrerra Andrade was once a professor at the State University of New York, at Stoney Brooke.I found that interesting because Binghamton was a S.U.N.Y. school as well.I found a book titled Selected poems of Jorge Carrera Andrade.This book blew me away.I never read anyone who could describe so much beauty in a few stanzas.I later learned that this was a political person from Ecuador who was once nominated for a Nobel Prize in Literature and who was considered the foremost Spanish language writer of his time.Why didn't he get the Nobel...Well, for the same reason Tolstoy, Kafka, and Woolf didn't get one...I guess the judges don't know much...A bunch of Academics...

Steven Ford Brown did an excellent translation.No doubt about it.However, some of these poems can also be found translated in an earlier book titled Selected poems of Jorge Carrera Andrade.It was published by the State University of New York Press in 1972.I forgot who the translator was, but I remember comparing Mr. Browns translation to the 1972 translation and I felt that the latter was a lot better.It flowed better, and was more musical to my mind.The differences were extremely minute.But there is a subtle difference in the translation that makes a noticeable difference to me.

Now, of course the translation-criticism part of this review is simply my opinion.Some people might say Brown did a better translation.Perhaps his English is more poetic to some.The important thing is that the differences are subtle and both translations are great.

Read Jorge Carrerra Andrade.If you like poetry you owe it to yourself!Other books include....Secret Country (1922), Catalogue of the Apple (1935), Hour of the Lighted Windows (1937); and Poetic Eras (1958).Many of the poems in these volumes are contained in Selected poems of Jorge Carrera Andrade.If you are able to get this book in addition to this one, that's a beautiful thing.

A work of remarkably impressive poetry
Century Of The Death Of The Rose by Jorge Carrera Andrade (a nominee of the 1975 Nobel Prize for Literature), is a work of remarkably impressive poetry, offered in its original Spanish side by side with flawless English translations by Steven Ford Brown. Moving parables of the beauty and frailty of life itself are deftly combined with a heartfelt expression of wonder in the hidden treasures of natural and spiritual existence to make for an emotionally moving collection. Movements of Nature: Tree-bark listens to the rustle of plants and insects / as wind softly ruminates through the field. / The pond takes down a note in its memory / of kinship between the smallest clouds and geese. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A masterful book, by a worthy poet
This century Ecuador has given the world many great poets, like Jorge Enrique Adoum and Efrain Jadra Idrovo.But no other Ecuadorian poet has gained as much international fame as Jorge Carrera Andrade, the author ofthis book.In this book Jorge Carrera Andrade reflects on Spanish-Americanpoetry.No other writer of Latin America is better capable of doing such athing.Jorge Carrera Andrade examines Spanish-American poetry and all ofits meanings, and the book's manner of teaching us about Spanish-Americanpoetry reminds us that he was a professor of Spanish-American literature atthe State University of New York at Stony Brook.Since Jorge CarreraAndrade was considered not only Ecuador's finest poet, but one of thiscentury's foremost Spanish-language poets worldwide, it is fair to say thathis reflections on Spanish-American poetry are a treasure that we shouldprotect and cherish. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Poetry, published by Modern Poetry Association on May 1, 1998. The length of the article is 395 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Biography for the use of birds.(poem)
Author: Jorge Carrera Andrade
Publication: Poetry (Refereed)
Date: May 1, 1998
Publisher: Modern Poetry Association
Volume: v172Issue: n2Page: p76(2)

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