Countersong to Walt Whitman

Countersong to Walt Whitman and Other Poems is the only book-length collection of Mir's poetry in English translation, featuring signature pieces from the late 1940s to the 1970s. The introduction and foreword by Torres-Saillant and Jean Franco provide a broader appreciation of Mir's work, and a selected bibliography of works by and about the poet offers resources for further appreciation. Roberto Márquez describes Mir as a masterfully elegant and majestic poet, with a rare marriage of poetry and politics.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 172 pages
Publication date: 18 January 2018
Publisher: Peepal Tree Press Ltd

Countersong to Walt Whitman and Other Poems, published by Azul Editions in 1993, is the only book-length collection of Mir's poetry in English translation. The eight poems selected for the collection include several of his signature pieces from the late 1940s through the 1970s, such as "Countersong to Walt Whitman," "There Is a Country in the World," "If Somebody Wants to Know Which Is My Country," "To the Battleship Intrepid," "Not One Step Back," "Amen to Butterflies," "Concerto of Hope for the Left Hand," and "Meditation on the Shores of Evening." The introduction by Silvio Torres-Saillant, author of Caribbean Poetics (Peepal Tree Press), and the foreword by Jean Franco, author of Cruel Modernity (Duke University Press), provide a broader appreciation for the personal context and general impact of Mir's work. A selected bibliography of works by and about the poet, including an accounting of the prose he has published as a novelist, author of short stories, essayist, and historian, provides readers with ample resources for further appreciation of Mir's achievement. In his introduction, Torres-Saillant emphasizes that the bilingual edition of the book will give both Spanish- and English-speaking readers the opportunity to recognize themselves in the poetic visage of one of the most authentic literary artists to have come from the Caribbean. Roberto Márquez, in the Village Voice, stated that the publication of this first book-length anthology of work by the Dominican Republic's internationally acclaimed and locally celebrated National Poet is an event that has been long anticipated and too long delayed. Colleague, contemporary, and the equal in lyric vitality, epic ambition, and communal significance to Pablo Neruda or Nicolás Guillén, Mir remains, with Martinique, one of the most important literary figures of the Caribbean.

Weight: 242g
Dimension: 137 x 206 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781845233563
Edition number: 2 ed