The Great Zoo A Bilingual Edition
Synopsis
A fantastical collection of poems by revolutionary Afro-Cuban poet Nicolás Guillén presented in a Spanish-English bilingual edition.Born in Cuba to parents of African and European ancestry, Nicolás Guillén worked in printing presses and studied law before moving into Havana’s literary scene. A virtuosic maker and breaker of forms, Guillén rose to fame by transforming a popular form of Cuban music into poetry that called attention to the experience of Afro-Cuban people, and he continued to interweave his artistic and political commitments as he traveled the world.
Originally published in Spanish in 1967, The Great Zoo is a humorous and biting collection of poems that presents a fantastical bestiary of ideas, social concerns, landscapes, phenomena, and more. The “animals” on view in this menagerie include the Mississippi and Amazon Rivers, clouds from different countries, a singing guitar, a temperamental atomic bomb, blue-pelted police, a hurricane, the KKK, and the North Star, among many others. Translated by Aaron Coleman with a keen understanding of the contexts of colonial racialization, oppression, and exoticism, this bilingual edition stands as a testament to Guillén’s carnivalesque vision.
Book details
- Series:
- Phoenix Poets
- Author:
- Nicolás Guillén
- ISBN:
- 9780226834795
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- Pages:
- 96
- Reading age:
- Not specified
- Includes images:
- No
- Date of addition:
- 2024-10-01
- Usage restrictions:
- Copyright
- Copyright date:
- 2024
- Copyright by:
- Nicolás Guillén c/o Indent Literary Agency, LLC
- Adult content:
- No
- Language:
- English, Spanish
- Categories:
- Literature and Fiction, Poetry