Gabriela Mistral: A Reader

by Gabriela Mistral, Marjorie Agosín (Editor), Maria Giachetti (Translation)

Poems and prose by Latin America’s first Nobel Prize laureate.

“This beautiful anthology holds the first English translation of Gabriela Mistral’s extraordinary poetry and prose... hidden to the mainstream no longer, here is the breathtaking lifework of a most gifted and enigmatic muse.”—NAPRA Journal

Genres: Poetry, Womens

227 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Lucila de María del Perpetuo Socorro Godoy Alcayaga (pseudonym: Gabriela Mistral), a Chilean poet, educator, diplomat, and feminist, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1945 "for her lyric poetry which, inspired by powerful emotions, has made her name a symbol of the idealistic aspirations of the entire Latin American world." Some central themes in her poems are nature, betrayal, love, a mother's love, sorrow and recovery, travel, and Latin American identity as formed from a mixture of Indian and European influences.

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

"What the soul does for the body so does the poet for her people."

Mistral's tomb inscription, Montegrande, Chile - shared in GABRIELA MISTRAL: A READER, edited by Marjorie Agosin, and translated from the Spanish by Maria Giachetti, 1993.

🏅Mistral won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1945, making her the first Latin American writer with this honor. I read some of her translated prose and poetry last year and this new volume had many of the same poems, this time by a different translator, as well as many new-to-me poems.

There were no distinct difference in the translations between the duplicated works, but the READER volume shared more of her lyric poetry than the Selected Works volume did. And I was surprised to see a I distinct eroticism in her writing that I hadn't seen before...

"The wild strawberry, set apart
in a leafy tent,
gives off fragrance before she is picked.
Before she is seen, she blushed...
Untouched by birds,
It is heavens dew
the moistens the wild strawberry.
Do not bruise the earth;
do not squeeze the sweet one.
For her love, lower yourself,
Inhale her, and give her your mouth."
.
(Gabriela... are we still talking about strawberries? 🍓)
.
Some background: most of her writing is undeniably sensual with strong texture, smell, sound descriptions, and for lack of a better word, very "earthy". She uses maternal imagery a lot, as well as calling up soil, plants, food, and her Catholic faith. Perhaps this is the most enduring image - this Spiritual Mother Of Chilean Letters -  what Mistral is primarily known for.

This lyric poetry is also known and read for decades, and its erotic undertones made me wonder. Here is this cultivated image of chastity, faith, and non-sexualized mother of a country... was this ever what Mistral intended?

Of course, there's quite a bit of textual analysis and #queertheory applied to her writings now, and it only took a little digging to find some intriguing information about her personal life, and how her image was co-opted and cultivated...

Never married, she was consistently asked questions about her sexuality. Quite understandly she resented the question, dodged and denied.

✍️A cache of 200 letters published in 2010 / translated into English in 2018, reveal that she had a long-standing romantic relationship with a woman, who was/posed as her secretary, traveling with Mistral all over the world in her diplomatic and humanitarian capacities.

There are some questions here about the ethics of posthumously "outing" someone, (perhaps the letters' provenance is clearly discussed in the book, which I have not yet read... It's got a heavy price tag and I just recently learned of its existence!) but this does bring a new reading to her work, and a re-framing of her image.

Some sources shared that her maternal, chaste, patriotic image was cultivated by the Chilean fascists / Pinochet regime as the model and antithesis to the Communist and fellow Chilean Nobel Prize winner, Pablo Neruda. Mistral writes essays and poems mentioning Neruda, and he notes meeting her as a young man and appreciating her work. So whether they were polar opposites on the political spectrum... Well, who knows, but there was a shared admiration between them.

All of this underlines the fact that there is always more below the surface, and it's quite intriguing to read her work - of which I already loved - with these new(ish) revelations in mind.

[Gill · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third book relevant to Gabriela Mistral that I've read recently, in connection with a seasonal poetry author in a group on GR. I'm coming to the conclusion that it is the group discussion that I am enjoying much more than the actual poems. So this worth reading, for the discussion we've been having.

There was a prose section at the end but my eyes weren't up to reading that.

[Rusty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read carefully, but these just didn't resonate fully, though I liked some of the poems very much. I feel as if this just wasn't *my* book. But it could be yours.

[Margarita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gabriela Mistral - Chilean Author - The first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature - Her birth name was Lucila de María del Perpetuo Socorro Godoy Alcayaga. Some central themes in her poems are nature, betrayal, love, a mother's love, sorrow and recovery, travel, and Latin American identity.

The poems chosen in this series show her creativity on various topics. Despite them being in English (I prefer to read them in Spanish), the translation is good and brings forwards her loving, supportive and simple, yet pronounced thoughts on topics mentioned above.

If you don't speak Spanish, this book is a great way for you to learn about an incredible female-latin american poet who, of course, is Chilean. ;)

If you speak Spanish, this should whet your palet to go out and check out her original works in Spanish...

Enjoy!

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found some of the poetry really great, and some of it to be rather bland; I thoroughly enjoyed about 90% of the prose, and thus, another 'good read' is relegated to three stars in the inane rating system that is the Goodreads website and phone app.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-written lyric poetry of nature, mother hope.

[Patty · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Artist’s Decalogue

I. You will cherish Beauty, God’s shadow over the universe.
II. There is no art without God. Although you say you do not love the
Creator, you will affirm Him by creating His likeness.
III. You will not create beauty as bait for the senses, but rather you will create the soul’s natural nourishment.
IV. Beauty will not be your excuse for luxury and vanity; it is a divine exercise.
V. You shall not seek Beauty at carnivals and you will not bring your work to them because Beauty is virginal and what you find at carnivals does not belong in Beauty’s realm.
VI. Beauty shall rise from your heart in song, and you shall be the first soul purified.
VII. Your Beauty will also be called compassion and you will console the human heart.
VIII. You will give birth to your work in the same way that a child is born; by subtracting the blood of your heart.
IX. Your Beauty will not be a sleep-rendering opiate, but rather, a generous wine that inflames your actions. If you cease being a genuine man or woman, you will no longer be an artist.
X. You will walk away from each creation with a sense of modesty because it was inferior to your dream, and inferior to God’s marvelous dream: Nature.

I have had this book on my shelf for decades. At some point I read about Mistral and couldn’t find any of her writings in my local libraries. So I purchased this and read at it over the years. Thanks to the Book Riot challenge, I finally read the whole book.

I really like Mistral’s poetry. There were many poems, like the one above, that I stopped, reread and then reread again. Her language, even though translated is beautiful. I will continue to dip into these poems as I need to.

I did not find the prose as accessible. That is probably my fault – I know so little about Latin America.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Echa atrás la cara, hijo
y recibe las estrellas.
A la primera mirada,
todas te punzan y hielan,
y después el cielo mece
como cuna que balancean,
y tú te das perdidamente
como cosa que llevan y llevan...

Dios baja para tomarnos
en su vida polvareda;
cae en el cielo estrellado
como una cascada suelta.
Baja, baja en el Carro del Cielo;
va a llegar y nunca llega...

Él viene incesantemente
y a media marcha se refrena,
por amor y miedo de amor
de que nos rompe o que nos ciega.
Mientras viene somos felices
y lloramos cuando se aleja.

Y un día el carro no para,
ya desciende, ya se acerca,
y sientes que toca tu pecho
la rueda viva, la rueda fresca.
Entonces, sube sin miedo
de un solo salto a la rueda,
¡cantando y llorando del gozo
con que te toma y que te llevar!"

[Matt Miles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every time I find another English translation of Gabriela Mistral’s poetry I wish we had more. With much translated poetry I can see the original beauty if I squint a little, but so far, what I’ve read of Mistral seems to defy obfuscation. This collection throws in some brief prose works as well that also depict nature, history and humanity’s place in it, love, loss,motherhood, and grief. I’m grateful for her work, and I look forward to reading more of it.

[Jim Manis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The translator is my friend Maria Jacketti. She spelled her last name differently at the time she translated this work.

[Gloria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es bueno este libro

[Sebastián · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lectura de tesis!! Ella fue la que se tomó más libertades pa traducir jjajajaj