Love Poems by Pedro Salinas
My Voice Because of You and Letter Poems to Katherine
When Pedro Salinas's 1933 collection of love poems, "La voz a ti debida", was introduced to American audiences in Willis Barnstone's 1975 English translation, it was widely regarded as the greatest sequence of love poems written by a man or a woman, in any language, in the twentieth century. Now, seventy-five years after its publication, the reputation of the poems and its multifaceted writer remains untarnished. A portrait of their era, the poems, from a writer in exile from his native civil war-torn Spain, now reemerge in our time.
In this new, facing-page bilingual edition, Barnstone has added thirty-six poems written in the form of letters from Salinas to his great love, Katherine Whitmore. Discovered years later, these poems were written during and after the composition of "La voz" and, though disguised as prose, have all the rhythms and sounds of lineated lyric poetry. Taken together, the poems and letters are a history, a dramatic monologue, and a crushing and inevitable ending to the story of a man consumed by his love and his art.
Bolstered by an elegant foreword by Salinas's contemporary, the poet Jorge Guillen, and a masterly afterword by the Salinas scholar, Enric Bou, that considers the poet and his legacy for twenty-first century world poetry, "Love Poems by Pedro Salinas" will be cause for celebration throughout the world of verse and beyond.
About the Author
Pedro Salinas (1891-1951) was a poet, scholar, and literary critic who taught extensively in Europe and the United States. He is the author of nine books of poems, as well as a novel, short stories, plays, essays, and criticism.
Reviews
"This volume of Pedro Salinas's love poems is a necessary one in the canon of great Spanish literature and a valuable text for scholars and students of poetry alike everywhere. A contemporary of Federico Garcia Lorca and a member of the Generacion del 98, Salinas and his love poems distinguish themselves for their fervent language and consummate quest for passion and love; his was a pulls-no-punches poetry that was possibly one of several factors that landed him in Franco's prison, where he died of tuberculosis. This volume is a testament to the poet's great bravery. Time and again, Willis Barnstone, poet and scholar of great eminence and heart, proves he has perfect pitch for being able to translate with subtlety and nuance. I highly recommend this book" – Virgil Suarez, Florida State University, author of "90 Miles: Selected and New Poems"
"'La voz a ti debida' is the greatest Spanish love poem of the twentieth century, and Willis Barnstone, one of our greatest living translators, loses none of the beauty, purity, and light of the Spanish original in his outstanding translation. Excellent" – Sergio Waisman, George Washington University
