Self-Portrait in the Zone of Silence

by Homero Aridjis, George McWhirter (Translator)

An exciting new collection of poems by “one of the Spanish-speaking world’s greatest living writers” ( LA Review of Books ) Self-Portrait in the Zone of Silence, by the renowned Mexican writer Homero Aridjis, is a brilliant collection of poems written in and for the new century .  Aridjis seeks spiritual transformation through encounters with mythical animals, family ghosts, migrant workers, Mexico’s oppressed, female saints, other writers (such as Jorge Luis Borges and Philip Lamantia), and naked angels in the metro. We find tributes to Goya and Heraclitus, denunciations of drug traffickers and political figureheads, and unforgettable imaginary landscapes. As Aridjis himself “a poem is like a door / we’ve never passed through...” And now past eighty, Aridjis reflects on the past and ponders the future. “Surrounded by light and the warbling of birds,” he writes, “I live in a state of poetry, because for me, being and making poetry are the same.”

Genres: Poetry

176 pages, Paperback

Published February 7, 2023

About the author

Homero Aridjis, a Mexican writer and diplomat, was born to a Greek father and Mexican mother; he was the youngest of five brothers. As a child, Aridjis would often walk up a hillside near his home to watch the migrating monarch butterflies. As he grew older logging thinned the forest. This and other events in his life caused him to co-found the Grupo de los Cien, the Group of 100, an association of one hundred artists and intellectuals that became heavily involved in trying to draw attention to and solve environmental problems in Mexico.

Aridjis has published 38 books of poetry and prose, many of them translated into a dozen languages. His achievements include: the Xavier Villarrutia Prize for best book of the year for Mirándola dormir, in 1964; the Diana-Novedades Literary Prize for the outstanding novel in Spanish, for Memorias del nuevo mundo, in 1988; and the Premio Grinzane Cavour, for best foreign fiction, in 1992, for the Italian translation of 1492, Vida y tiempos de Juan Cabezón de Castilla.1492 The Life and Times of Juan Cabezon of Castile was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Twice the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, Aridjis has taught at Indiana University, New York University and Columbia, and held the Nichols Chair in Humanities and the Public Sphere at the University of California, Irvine. The Orion Society presented him with its John Hay Award for significant achievement in writing that addresses the relationship between people and nature. He received the Prix Roger Caillois in France for his poetry and prose and the Smederevo Golden Key Prize for his poetry. In 2005 the state of Michoacan awarded him the first Erendira State Prize for the Arts. Eyes to See Otherwise: Selected Poems of Homero Aridjis is a wide-ranging bilingual anthology of his poetry.

Excerpted from Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Gregory Duke]

I have read a third of the poems and have lost interest. My favorite poems here tend to regard ghosts and animals. Too many poems with punchlines.

[Barry Westbrook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent poetry. He writes about old age, memories of violence, environmental destruction of the earth, body and mind, all with a tinge of magical realism

[Aden · Rating 4 out of 5]

This poetry collection kept me company during the challenging Election Night, so it will always have a place in my heart. Beautiful ecological poetry--what he does with the sun here is so rad. I want to read much more of his translated work.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

The English translation won the international Griffin Poetry Prize. It is an excellent book. QED.
Aridjis writes about Mexico, flora and fauna, and Mexicans, present and past.
This is not the Mexico of AI holidays but the real and the surreal Mexico.
It is a wonderful collection of his poems by a wonderful Mexican author.

[Penn Kemp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful to read with the Spanish conveniently alongside:
“We have traveled east all day long
on acoustical roads and boats of old wood.
Our ears registered the shadows.
Our eyes harkened to the whirrings.”

[Brian Brogan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading everything by Aridjis, he's an old school deep poet, vibrant and potent. Top scores

[b̴̜͍̮̘̫͚̺̎́̈̆͜͠͝ę̶̦̜́ń̸̯̫̣͑ · Rating 5 out of 5]

banger

[tatiana · Rating 5 out of 5]

woooahhhh

[Margo Montes de Oca · Rating 5 out of 5]

epic

[Jack Malik · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent collection.