Trilce

by James Wagner, Derek White (Illustrator)

Poetry. The 77 poems in James Wagner's TRILCE are homophonic translations of Cesar Vallejo's book of the same name, or at least that was the cathartic process Wagner underwent--in creating them, his versions take on a life of their own. "Titling his book TRILCE, James Wagner calls attention to the fact that he used the sound structure of Vallejo's poems as his matrix--a process that has sometimes been called homonymic (or surface) translation and that Wagner called "auralgraph" in his earlier book, the false sun recordings. It is a form at least as demanding as rhyme & meter and, at this point in history, more likely to generate interesting work. But, as with any form, all depends on what you do with it. James Wagner does a lot"--Rosmarie Waldrop.

106 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

James Wagner (born 1969) is an American poet.


Librarian's note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it better before I realized about the homonymic translation thing.

Not for those who need "meaning" but lots of cool lines:

"Come up and almonds are nomads."