The Golden Age: Poems of the Spanish Renaissance

by Edith Grossman (Translator), Billy Collins (Introduction)

"Edith Grossman again demonstrates that she indeed is the Glenn Gould of translators."―Harold Bloom Celebrating the Spanish Renaissance's greatest poems and offering a new appreciation of Spain's "Golden Age, " Edith Grossman turns her passionate fervor and stylistic brilliance to the works of Jorge Manrique; Garcilaso de la Vega, a soldier and courtier who wrote love poetry; Fray Luis de León, a converso Jew; San Juan de la Cruz, whose poems are the finest exemplars of Christian mysticism; Luis de Góngora, a great sensualist; Lope de Vega, Cervantes' rival; Francisco de Quevedo, the ultimate Baroque poet; and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, the nun whose haunting poetry embodied the voice of Mexico. Through these glorious voices, presented in facing-page Spanish and English, The Golden Age offers a new way to connect with the literary heritage of the Spanish-speaking world. 10 illustrations

Genres: Poetry, Spain

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Edith Marion Grossman was an American literary translator. Known for her work translating Latin American and Spanish literature to English, she translated the works of Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa, Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez, Mayra Montero, Augusto Monterroso, Jaime Manrique, Julián Ríos, Álvaro Mutis, and Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. She was a recipient of the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and the 2022 Thornton Wilder Prize for Translation.

Reviews

[Antigone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully bound, titled, textured. The content is simple; primarily on faith and mortality, as one might expect from poetry written during the time of the Inquisition.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grossman’s anthology is the perfect introduction to Golden Age writers. She includes choice selections of verse from all the big names -- Garcilaso de la Vega, Fray Luis de Leon, St. John of the Cross, Gongora, Lope de Vega, and Quevedo -- as well as two writers who are just outside the timeframe of the Golden Age (but very much a welcome addition to the anthology): Jorge Manrique and Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz. I was especially glad for Grossman’s translation of Manrique’s Coplas because I had been having trouble tracking down any translation other than Longfellow’s 19th century version online. All the Sor Juana sonnets appear in Grossman’s translations of her work, Sor Juana Inés de La Cruz: Selected Works, which I am reading now and also recommend along with her translation of Gongora’s The Solitudes. Each writer in this anthology is given a brief (two-page) introduction with biographies and highlights of their work, while the poems are presented side-by-side in dual language format.

I only had a few minor criticisms. The biggest was that there were so few selections. The anthology is less than 200 pages (and half of those pages are the original Spanish language poems, so really we are getting less than 100 pages of verse). I realize the difficult task of creating these translations, so I guess I can't fault Grossman too much there. I also thought the Billy Collins introduction added little to the collection other than his name on the jacket. This was clearly meant to be a popular edition for casual English readers. I guess my ideal book would have had a bit more of a scholarly angle (more footnotes, more translations, more detailed introductions to the writers, etc.). However, the anthology works for what it is, and makes a nice springboard for readers interested in diving deeper into these writers' lives and works.