Dulce como un pepinillo, limpio como un cerdito

by Carson McCullers, Rolf Gérard (Illustrator), Celia Montolío (Translator)

Una maravillosa colección de poemas breves para que los lectores más jóvenes disfruten de una de las grandes autoras americanas del siglo XX. En 1964, Carson McCullers publicó Dulce como un pepinillo, limpio como un cerdito casi por casualidad, cuando su editora, Joyce Hartman, se encontró con varios de los poemas y le pidió ver más. En los veinte poemas que recoge esta edición bilingüe, la prestigiosa autora muestra de forma fresca y emotiva la mirada llena de inocencia, asombro y alegría de los más pequeños, así como su capacidad para cuestionar aquello que los adultos damos por hecho. Las delicadas y divertidas ilustraciones de Rolf Gérard, aclamado escenógrafo y pintor alemán, consiguen captar la esencia de ensueño y contemplación con la que McCullers evoca la realidad en estos versos.

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books, Childrens

60 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Carson McCullers was an American novelist, short-story writer, playwright, essayist, and poet. Her first novel, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1940), explores the spiritual isolation of misfits and outcasts in a small town of the Southern United States. Her other novels have similar themes. Most are set in the Deep South.
McCullers's work is often described as Southern Gothic and indicative of her Southern roots. Critics also describe her writing and eccentric characters as universal in scope. Her stories have been adapted to stage and film. A stage adaptation of her novel The Member of the Wedding (1946), which captures a young girl's feelings at her brother's wedding, made a successful Broadway run in 1950–51.

Reviews

[Maricruz · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,5 estrellas.

Me gusta mucho más Carson McCullers como novelista para adultos que como poeta para niños, pero el libro contiene algunas rimas graciosas (como la que sirve de título), y la edición, bilingüe, es agradable y bonita.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently bought a copy of McCullers’ rare book of children’s verse from 1964 Sweet as a Pickle and Clean as a Pig. There doesn’t seem to be much on the web about it, other than the fact that it exists. Most of the copies on AbeBooks go for at least $100 Australian, and while I do obviously love McCullers, I just couldn’t afford to shell out that much for one highly collectable book. Nonetheless, I kept a regular lookout for copies for sale and with some nifty searching skills, thanks to my library services course, came across a copy that was listed as “Clean as a Nut” rather than Pig and much cheaper than other copies so I snapped it up. I didn’t expect the quality to be too great for the price I got it for, I thought maybe it would be an ex-library copy or significantly damaged but when it arrived it was pretty much in perfect condition! A very lucky find.

These are children’s rhymes so there isn’t the same level of depth of human understanding here, but McCullers seemed to, even in her later years, have a firm grasp on the curiousity of childhood. Many of the poems are ponderous, sort of like a child-like daydream about the contradictions of the world, like, wondering who on earth put the “D” in Wednesday or if Santa will miss a friend’s house because he doesn’t have a chimney? Some of these poems even retain the strong connection and sense of the American South and family, such as in “Olden Times” when a child listens to her mother speak about her childhood. Seasonal events are given just as much importance as the everyday. There’s an understanding, even here, of the misfits, such as in the tale of the naughtiest boy in school Sport Williams:

Oh! Sport was a bad boy.
No one loved him but his mother.
And when he was suspended, she said “He was not
A bad boy,
But a sad boy…” because
No one loved him but her, his mother.

This is, and this is a completely biased opinion, a lovely little collection of childlike rhymes. The illustrations by Rolf Gérard are charming, black and white crayon styled drawings with splashes of orange or green. My favourite poem of all from Sweet as a Pickle and Clean as a Pig is “Song for a Sailor” which I think fits in so well with McCullers’ oeuvre, it covers imagination and love, the disparity between reality and imagined perceptions – though maybe not as beautifully expressed as in her fiction, the simplicity shows the same childlike, outsider point of view that we’ve come to associate so strongly with McCullers.

Song for a Sailor
I’ve never seen the ocean,
I’ve never seen the sea,
But once I loved a sailor,
And that’s good enough for me.

While Sweet as a Pickle and Clean as a Pig may not be an essential book for understanding McCullers and her writing, it is a genuinely lovely and simple book of poems, sure to evoke pangs of nostalgia in anyone.

[Liam O'Leary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carson McCullers writes beautifully sad Southern Gothic novels, this last work of hers is a collection of short poems for very young kids (illustrated with nice pencil drawings).

These poems get at the sad unanswered questions of very early life

"But Mama darling, Papa dear, I sometimes wonder
Where is nowhere?"

"He has no chimney,
So what will happen at Christmas time?"

These poems, as in her adult work, have a solipsistic loneliness to them on the one hand, but encourage a uniquely strong empathetic concern.

I think some of the poems might be a bit too emotionally complex or scary for the very young children that they seem aimed for:

"My mother's voice was sad and gay". (Ambivalent nostalgia)

"No one loved him but her, his mother". (Maladaptive upbringing)

"So look what happened to poor Pandora". (Spooky things coming out of box in drawing)

All in all it's a nice collection that I think encourages very young children to emotionally empathize more than the average bedtime story book.

[Montse Gallardo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lo leí con motivo del Día Mundial de la Poesía, el 21 de marzo. Son 20 poemas infantiles de Carson McCullers. Una curiosidad graciosa, ingenua que vale la pena leer con niños o -como en eta ocasión- por ser el día de la poesía, pero poco más

Es mi segundo intento con la escritora, cuyo libro más famoso El corazón es un cazador solitario se me ha atragantado las dos veces que he intentado leerlo. Pensé que con los poemas sería más sencillo pillarle el punto, pero no... Aún así, sí hay un par de poemas que me han gustado bastante. Transcribo aquí el que más me gustó

La caja de Pandora

Había una niña llamada Pandora
que abrió una caja mágica.
La caja mágica era una caja trágica,
Y mira lo que le pasó a la pobre Pandora

Así puede verse el estilo de los poemas, todos breves (no siempre tanto), con cierto toque irónico.

Lo leí, eso sí, en esta estupenda edición bilingüe e ilustrada de Siuela, que es lo que le da las tres estrellitas (en vez de dos)

[Silver · Rating 3 out of 5]

Colección de poemas en una bonita edición ilustrada y bilingüe para los más pequeños. 😊

Un solo mundo

Habrá un solo mundo o ninguno, dicen por ahí.
En el mundo hay esquimales forrados de pieles,
indios con arcos y flechas,
gente negra, gente blanca, gente roja, gente amarilla...
Diferentes diferencias que me gustan.
No me gustaría que el mundo fuera uno solo.
Pero si algún día no hubiera mundo, como dicen por ahí,
¿qué sería de ti y de mí?

[Marina Miguel · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Why is it rude to point at people, but not to point a rat or a rainbow?"

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

A ver, no os voy a decir que sea lo mejor ah hayaleído no nada por el estilo; pero es una curiosidad que imagino que muchos no sabrán de su existencia.

Es un librito de apenas unas 60 páginas y porque es una edición bilingüe; así que en unos minutos os lo leéis. A mí me ha gustado como me ha hecho transportarme a las preguntas que uno se hace sobre todo cuando es niño, a esa inocencia.

Son poemas muuuuy sencillitos pero son cositas interesantes. Me ha parecido una lectura super ligera y me ha dejado contenta, así que bueno. A veces nos hace falta una sonrisa, no? Ser niños por un momento. Os dejo uno de los poemas para que lo leáis si deslizais la imagen.

Me ha gustado la autora, así que al encontrarme libros infantiles de autores que me gustan yo soy de las que se lanzan a la piscina directas.

[Ivon Lara · Rating 5 out of 5]

«¿A QUÉ ALTURA ESTÁ EL CIELO?
El cielo está más alto que un árbol que yo me sé.
Y más alto que un avión, también.
Pero en noches repletas de estrellas
miro y pienso: ¿qué está más alto,
el cielo o ellas?»

estoy fascinada con esta lectura, un poemario muy dulce, me encanta el concepto de ser poesía para las infancias, desde su perspectiva curiosa y de bondad.
además me encantó el estilo de ilustraciones, de dan un toque más especial a los poemas.

[Kris Dersch · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was actually really sweet. It's quite dated and the poem in the middle about the dog is too long but I really liked this. Not a lot of people really can get into the heads of little kids and understand what things are a big deal...Carson McCullers, who is a master at understanding motivation, could.

[Rey Félix · Rating 3 out of 5]

I SOMETIMES WONDER

I do not wonder where everything is
Everywhere is shops and children, trees and air,
Our gate, our garden, these are everywhere.
But Mama darling, Papa dear, I sometimes wonder
Where is nowhere?

[Clari Salinas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jaja no pensé leer algo así la verdad mu bueno

[Paola · Rating 5 out of 5]

🥺

[Chr*s Browning]

Slight, but with moments where the old Carson slips in.

[Eric Hinkle · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

Cute little book consisting of simple children's verse and what appear to be quickly-dashed-off crayon outline illustrations. I'd guess the guy spent about 30-45 minutes illustrating this book. Carson, luckily, spent more time on her poems. They're full of wonder and questions, and are mostly written from the point of view of a child.

This book goes for a lot of money. If you pay a lot for it, you may be disappointed!

Here are some of my favorites.

"How High Is The Sky?"

The sky is higher than a tree I know
I know it's higher than an airplane
But when at night there is a starry sky -
I wonder which is higher
Stars or sky?

------

"Song For a Sailor"

I've never seen the ocean,
I've never seen the sea,
But once I loved a sailor,
And that's good enough for me.

-----


"One World"

One world or none they say it will be.
In the world there are furry Eskimos,
Red Indians with arrows and bows,
Black people, white people, red people, yellow people -
I like these different differences.
I would not like the world to be just one.
But if there were no world as they say there might be,
What would happen to you and to me?

-----

"What is the meaning of a dream?
KROOCHEY, KAZOOCHEY, KALOOCHIE, KAZEEN.
This is the meaning of a dream."

[Samuel Rivero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Resulta raro, insólito, haber llegado tan lejos, tanto tiempo transcurrido, sin haber nunca acabado un libro en inglés. O quizá sí, pues al dejar de lado esa experiencia vital es que estoy donde estoy. Volteo al cielo y me pregunto: ¿hay algo más allá? ¿Las estrellas están más lejos? ¿Las nubes? ¿Qué es lo que tengo frente a mí? ¿Mis historias? La poesía que reúne este pequeño libro (pequeño en su extensión, grande en sus temas) ha terminado por significarme y mostrar otra perspectiva. Una Carson que tiene el mismo empeño en la construcción de imágenes para todos, adultos e infancias. Melancólicos en su mayoría, sí, pues el tiempo es cruel y sólo nos deja recordarlo a la distancia.

[Alexiel Dubois · Rating 1 out of 5]

Io amo le poesie e di conseguenza adoro anche quelle dedicate ai bambini, a maggior ragione ho un bel ricordo di poesie e filastrocche. Così, mi sono detta: prendiamo questo libro di Carson McCullers acclamata autrice per bambini e di poesie per essi. Che dire il mio bambino interiore è morto! Lo ha seppellito totalmente! Tralasciando il fatto che solo due o tre poesie di tutta la raccolta sono carine, il resto è sciapissimo, non riesco a capire come possa destate stupore e meraviglia su degli infanti!
Prima che qualcuno possa pensare che lo giudico male perche adulta e quindi non lo capisco, no, non è così. Come dicevo quando mi accingo alla lettura per ragazzi, mi siedo con gli occhi del bambino, per questo voglio restare stupita e meravigliata come uno di loro, ma Carson McCullers ha spezzato tutta la magia. Poesie senza un senso profondo, rime pochissime, sembrava che doveva riempire le pagine in maniera casuale. Devo dire però che il titolo scelto e la copertina sono graziosissime, illustrazioni interne bocciate.
Quindi in sintesi, non so se faccia schifo come autrice Carson McCullers o se sia poco accurata e brutta la traduzione di Ilaria Rigoli.

[Veronica Molina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tanto edición como traducción dejan mucho que desear. Se optó por traducir de manera literal y se pierden rimas y hasta sentido, como en el poema miércoles (en el original sí tiene sentido que se hable de una "d"). La ilustración de la portada se pierde.
Se pierde toda la riqueza del original.

[John]

if anyone has a copy, I want to borrow it!

[Katy Pitrucha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poems for children, just about being a child.