The Whole Island: Six Decades of Cuban Poetry, A Bilingual Anthology

The Whole Island: Six Decades of Cuban Poetry, A Bilingual Anthology - Mark Weiss (Editor)

Cuba's cultural influence throughout the Western Hemisphere, and especially in the United States, has been disproportionally large for so small a country. This landmark volume is the first comprehensive overview of poetry written over the past sixty years. Presented in a beautiful Spanish-English en face edition, The Whole Island makes available the astonishing achievement of a wide range of Cuban poets, including such well-known figures as Nicolas Guillen, Jose Lezama Lima, and Nancy Morejon, but also poets widely read in Spanish who remain almost unknown to the English-speaking world--among them Fina Garcia Marruz, Jose Kozer, Raul Hernandez Novas, and Angel Escobar--and poets born since the Revolution, like Rogelio Saunders, Omar Perez, Alessandra Molina, and Javier Marimon. The translations, almost all of them new, convey the intensity and beauty of the accompanying Spanish originals. With their work deeply rooted in Cuban culture, many of these poets--both on and off the island--have been at the center of the political and social changes of this tempestuous period. The poems offered here constitute an essential source for understanding the literature and culture of Cuba, its diaspora, and the Caribbean at large, and provide an unparalleled perspective on what it means to be Cuban.

The Whole Island: Six Decades of Cuban Poetry - About the Author

Mark Weiss is a poet, translator, publisher, and editor. His publications include six books of poetry; as coeditor, Across the Line/Al otro lado: The Poetry of Baja California; and as translator, Stet: Selected Poems of Jose Kozer.

The Whole Island: Six Decades of Cuban Poetry - Review

"Effectively broaden[s] the sense of poetic terrain outside the United States and also create[s] a superb collection of foreign poems in English. There is nothing else like it."--The Nation

"Reading selections from this enormous volume is an immersion in fine poetry and translation and a reminder of how Cuba remains a vital center of artistic expression."--Bloomsbury Review

"[A] literary feat... This is a prized collection of Cuban poetry. Recommended for all libraries and bookstores."--Library Journal

"This impressive, bilingual anthology is the first comprehensive overview of the Cuban poetic tradition... A useful introduction to little-known riches."--Latin America Foresight / Foreword Magazine "

This unique anthology of Cuban poetry ... is invaluable for both its scope and its concern for political and literary context."--Choice