Canto malabar

by Elsa Cross

Elsa Cross, poeta y directora de escena, escribió este poemario entre la India y México hacia 1982 y 1985 . El poema se origina en la leyenda hindú de Savitri, quien eligió como esposo a Satiava, hijo de un rey destronado y ciego. La joven supo que Satiava había sido condenado, según un oráculo, a morir después de un año de haberse casado.

Paperback

Published January 1, 1987

About the author

Elsa Cross (born March 6, 1946 in Mexico City), is a contemporary Spanish-language Mexican writer perhaps best known for her poetry. She has also published translations, philosophical essays and is known as an authority on Indian philosophy.

She has a doctorate in Philosophy and Letters from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and is currently a professor in that Faculty.

In 1990, she was awarded the Premio Nacional de Poesía Aguascalientes for her book of poems El diván de Antar. She is also the recipient of the Premio Nacional de Poesía Jaime Sabines (in 1992).

According to Octavio Paz, Elsa Cross is one of the most personal voices in recent Latin-American poetry. Her work, already considerable, includes some of the most perfect poems of the last generation of Mexican writers. I say voice and not poetic writing since poetry, although written, must always be spoken. Two opposing notes reconcile harmoniously in Elsa Cross: the complexity of her thought and the clarity of her diction.

Reviews

[Carlos]

Dice Adolfo Castañón que este libro es “uno de los más limpios y perfectos entre los producidos por la poesía mexicana del último tercio del siglo XX. [...] La plenitud de Elsa Cross es la de un lenguaje, de un conjunto de recursos imaginarios y, al mismo tiempo, la de una sintaxis que sabe hacer pasar desapercibidas y prestar un aire espontáneo a materias y formas no exentas de la mayor complejidad”.