The Whole Island: Six Decades of Cuban Poetry

Mark Weiss

Univ of California Press, Nov 25, 2009 - Poetry - 624 pages

Cuba's cultural influence throughout the Western Hemisphere, and especially in the United States, has been disproportionally large for so small a country. This landmark volume is the first comprehensive overview of poetry written over the past sixty years. Presented in a beautiful Spanish-English en face edition, The Whole Island makes available the astonishing achievement of a wide range of Cuban poets, including such well-known figures as Nicolás Guillén, José Lezama Lima, and Nancy Morejón, but also poets widely read in Spanish who remain almost unknown to the English-speaking world—among them Fina García Marruz, José Kozer, Raúl Hernández Novás, and Ángel Escobar—and poets born since the Revolution, like Rogelio Saunders, Omar Pérez, Alessandra Molina, and Javier Marimón. The translations, almost all of them new, convey the intensity and beauty of the accompanying Spanish originals. With their work deeply rooted in Cuban culture, many of these poets—both on and off the island—have been at the center of the political and social changes of this tempestuous period. The poems offered here constitute an essential source for understanding the literature and culture of Cuba, its diaspora, and the Caribbean at large, and provide an unparalleled perspective on what it means to be Cuban.

Contents

• Introduction: 1
• Nicolás Guillén: 32
• Eugenio Florit: 50
• José Lezama Lima: 58
• Virgilio Piñera: 86
• Samuel Feijóo: 106
• Gastón Baquero: 120
• Eliseo Diego: 140
• Cintio Vitier: 158
• Fina García Marruz: 170
• Lorenzo García Vega: 188
• Carlos Galindo Lena: 204
• Francisco de Oraá: 210
• Roberto Branly: 224
• Pablo Armando Fernández: 230
• Roberto Fernández Retamar: 238
• Fayad Jamís: 244
• Heberto Padilla: 258
• José Álvarez Baragaño: 270
• César López: 280
• Antón Arrufat: 290
• José Kozer: 296
• Miguel Barnet: 314
• Belkis Cuza Malé: 326
• Nancy Morejón: 332
• Luis Rogelio Nogueras: 334
• Lina de Feria: 352
• Delfín Prats: 358
• Excilia Saldaña: 362
• Raúl Hernández Novás: 368
• Amando Fernández: 386
• Soleida Ríos: 392
• Lourdes Gil: 406
• Reina María Rodríguez: 410
• Abilio Estévez: 418
• Iraida Iturralde: 422
• Ruth Behar: 426
• Ángel Escobar: 430
• Ramón Fernández Larrea: 444
• Roberto Méndez: 450
• Rolando Sánchez Mejías: 454
• Rogelio Saunders: 462
• Ismael González Castañer: 468
• Juan Carlos Flores: 476
• Pedro Llanes: 480
• Sigfredo Ariel: 486
• Frank Abel Dopico: 492
• Alberto Rodríguez Tosca: 498
• Omar Perez Lopez: 504
• Antonio Jose Ponte: 514
• Heriberto Hernandez: 522
• Pedro Marques de Armas: 526
• Damaris Calderon: 534
• Alessandra Molina: 540
• Carlos A Aguilera: 546
• Javier Marimon: 556
• Biographies and Notes: 563
• Translators: 593
• Acknowledgments: 597
• Credits: 599

About the author

Mark Weiss is a poet, translator, publisher, and editor. His publications include six books of poetry; as coeditor, Across the Line/Al otro lado: The Poetry of Baja California; and as translator, Stet: Selected Poems of José Kozer.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Whole Island: Six Decades of Cuban Poetry
• Editor: Mark Weiss
• Publisher: Univ of California Press, 2009
• ISBN: 0520944534, 9780520944534
• Length: 624 pages
• Subjects: Poetry / Anthologies (multiple authors); Poetry / General