Imposeída

by Mercedes de Acosta, Jesus J. Barquet (Translator), Carlota Caulfield (Translator)

MERCEDES DE ACOSTA (Nueva York, 1893-1968), de origen hispano-cubano, es una figura fascinante de la época dorada de Hollywood.

Escribió teatro, novela y poesía, pero es célebre por su biografía amorosa ya que fue amante de una constelación de artistas como Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Isadora Duncan y Eva Le Gallienne.

IMPOSEÍDA, en edición bilingüe, constituye la primera publicación y traducción de la poesía de Mercedes de Acosta en España. Esta obra ofrece un conjunto significativo de los tres poemarios que publicó en vida: Moods (Mudanzas, 1919); Archways of Life (Arcos de vida, 1921) y Streets and Shadows (Calles y sombras, 1922), donde la autora plasmó, entre temas íntimos y sociales, la experiencia urbana y homoafectiva de una época turbulenta y transgresora.

La selección e introducción han sido realizadas por Jesús J. Barquet y Carlota Caulfield, quienes se encargaron también de la traducción junto a Joaquín Badajoz.

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Imposeída


Nunca lograrán someterme
Ni comprender el verdadero secreto de mi ser.
Tal vez logren, con pasión y violencia,
Poseer mi cuerpo,
Pero mi alma
Siempre virgen
Vagará eternamente
¡Imposeída!

192 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2018

About the author

Though she was the author of books of prose, collections of poems, and scripts, Mercedes de Acosta is rarely remembered for her writing. She is, instead, celebrated as a passionate lover who had affairs with some of the most intriguing and beautiful women of her time. De Acosta is rumored to have boasted often of her prowess as a lover, even going so far as to declare “I can get any woman from any man.” Her list of lovers is long, including Eva Le Gallienne, Isadora Duncan, Marlene Dietrich, and, most famously, Greta Garbo.

De Acosta, the daughter of affluent Cuban immigrants, grew up in New York where, in the 1920s, she was a figure in both the city’s “high society” and its drag clubs and speakeasies. “These were years guided by the spirit of the New,” she wrote of this period; “We were on fire with fire, with a passion to create and a daring to achieve.” Equal to the times, de Acosta was a forward-thinking student of eastern religions and a strict vegetarian. An early feminist, de Acosta advocated, along with her friend and lover the dancer Isadora Duncan, the elimination of uncomfortable and restricting fashions for women; while other women were lacing themselves into corsets, de Acosta was often seen wearing trousers. When she convinced Garbo to visit her tailor and get a pair also, the two caused a great commotion on Hollywood Boulevard. “GARBO IN PANTS!” the headlines exclaimed. “Considering what walks down Hollywood Boulevard now,” de Acosta wrote in 1960, “it seems strange that Greta and I should have caused such a sensation.”

After a life surrounded by fame, glamour, and wealth, Mercedes de Acosta spent her last years in loneliness and poverty. She suffered a variety of illnesses later in life, requiring several painful surgeries, and was forced to sell her diamonds to pay her medical bills. Her 1960 tell-all autobiography, Here Lies the Heart, alienated many of de Acosta’s friends. Some claimed the book to be wildly exaggerated and even blatantly untrue.

Reviews

[Kfeina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Me ha gustado menos de lo que me pensaba. Tiene algunos poemas guays, pero sin más.

[Mills College Library]

861.6 A185a 2018