Verso y prosa: Antología

by Rubén Darío

Rubén Darío revolucionó la poesía hispánica. Su genialidad y sus peripecias biográficas le permitieron situar la poesía española a la altura de la mejor poesía de su momento. Esta Antología de su obra en verso y en prosa muestra a un autor ciudadano del mundo, con un sentimiento de la naturaleza casi místico, exótico, preocupado por encontrarse en armonía con el universo o romántico en la expresión de su anhelo, modernista, lleno de color, ritmo y sensorialidad; espontáneo, elegante, mágico y fantástico en sus cuentos. Su capacidad para expresar la belleza, la música de sus versos y el ritmo de sus palabras, le convierten en uno de los mayores poetas en lengua española.

Genres: Poetry, Short Stories, Spanish Literature

176 pages, Paperback

Published June 13, 2005

About the author

Nicaraguan poet Félix Rubén García Sarmiento initiated and epitomizes Spanish literary modernism. Dario is in all possibility the poet who has had the greatest and most lasting influence in twentieth century Spanish literature. He has been praised as the prince of Castilian letters.

Reviews

[Jack]

Was lovely to leaf through while lounging around in Nicaragua

[Simone · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars rounded up to 3
I didn't like the poem. Most of the short stories, however, were lovely! I loved the wording. It created a beautiful image in my head of the scenery and characters.

[Pisha Padongjic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome
Dual-language: fantastic.
Good layout, also. Opposing pages, not following (which I’ve seen before. I struggle to understand why you would have translations following each other and not readily accessible as you read.)

A little confused by the selection presented? It covers “the best” (their words), everything from Azul to Prosas profanas. That being said, I am hardly a Darío expert. May be a very robust selection, I have nothing to compare it to. I just couldn’t find some poems that had been recommended to me as the most famous, which surprised me at the time.
And so: Beggars can’t be choosers. So little Darío in English. Even less in dual language. This volume is by far worth it.

[Sara G]

Rubén Darío was an incredibly skilled writer, which means when he's good he's great. However, some of the topics are so....I'm gonna go with iffy and stay vague. Or perhaps say 'of their time'. Lets leave it that.

[Liz Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of them were really good! But others felt like he was trying to hard to be Homer or similar writers.

[Anna Hiller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Darío is the founder of modernismo, and as such very much merits this anthology. The translator clearly states that he has done a literal translation, and has not attempted to capture rhyme or meter, which is both asset and weakness, depending on what is of value to the reader or student. In the short stories this is not an issue so much, but the poetry really suffers in translation. Darío's excellence in poetry is very much due to his welding of form, content, and image. He presents a very difficult task for the translator ( see Walter Benjamin's essay of that same title regarding said task). Applebaum thankfully realizes his limitations and explains his philosophy clearly, acknowledging the inherent difficulty.

The best way to read this dual language book is with a critical eye to the form in the original Spanish, and then seek the "meaning" of the poem in English. You cannot fully appreciate darío's work without at least recognizing the strict form that defines his work as a poet, and thereby understand his place in the pantheon of modernismo... Perhaps as the one exclusive deity therein.

That said, it is always a pleasure and a challenge to meet Darío again for the first time, every time.

[Hena]

Nicaragua loves Ruben Dario. It really really does. He's their only very famous person. This is the first fiction I'm reading in Spanish since high school. I might get through it if I pick it up more than once a month.