Premio Cervantes

Daniel del Real

Moderator
I've never read him, but he is highly esteemed and respected among living poets. This is a safe, uncontested choice for the Cervantes.
 

Ludus

Reader
This years Cervantes prize goes to Uruguayan poet Cristina Peri Rossi. I'm very very happy with this decision, her book "State of Exile" is one of my favorite poetry collections of all time and most of her books are currently out of print.

 

Daniel del Real

Moderator
Spanish language literature is so lost at this moment that the only option they have is to award old writers that were under the shadow of truly giants of the past. If you look at the winners in the last decade, only Nicanor Parra and Juan Goytisolo are real masters; on the other side they dared to award such poor writers like Elena Poniatowska and Sergio Ramírez.
If they continue like this they will end up awarding Isabel Allende.
 

Leseratte

Well-known member
This years Cervantes prize goes to Uruguayan poet Cristina Peri Rossi. I'm very very happy with this decision, her book "State of Exile" is one of my favorite poetry collections of all time and most of her books are currently out of print.

Enjoyed this interesting article. I´ll see if I find poetry of Cristina Peri Rossi.
 

Ludus

Reader
Spanish language literature is so lost at this moment that the only option they have is to award old writers that were under the shadow of truly giants of the past. If you look at the winners in the last decade, only Nicanor Parra and Juan Goytisolo are real masters; on the other side they dared to award such poor writers like Elena Poniatowska and Sergio Ramírez.
If they continue like this they will end up awarding Isabel Allende.

I have to disagree. Of course Goytisolo and Parra are truly masters, I hate that Cardenal passed away without the prize and the award to Poniatowska I don't understand either. But Ramírez is an excellent short story writer, Ida Vitale is an extraordinary poet, I was underwhelmed by Joan Margarit and Francisco Brines until I read a book by them, and Peri Rossi is an excellent poet. I read her collected poems a few years ago and, in her prime, I would consider her a master as well, regardless of her relationship with the Boom generation.

Peri Rossi was writing erotic lesbic poems in the surge of the dictatorship in Uruguay, then went to exile in Franco's Spain and kept writing them. I think she is not only an excellent writer, but a really brave one.
 

Daniel del Real

Moderator
I have to disagree. Of course Goytisolo and Parra are truly masters, I hate that Cardenal passed away without the prize and the award to Poniatowska I don't understand either. But Ramírez is an excellent short story writer, Ida Vitale is an extraordinary poet, I was underwhelmed by Joan Margarit and Francisco Brines until I read a book by them, and Peri Rossi is an excellent poet. I read her collected poems a few years ago and, in her prime, I would consider her a master as well, regardless of her relationship with the Boom generation.

Peri Rossi was writing erotic lesbic poems in the surge of the dictatorship in Uruguay, then went to exile in Franco's Spain and kept writing them. I think she is not only an excellent writer, but a really brave one.
She went from one dictatorship to another? Hope her poetry is way better than her life decisions.
 

Ludus

Reader
She went from one dictatorship to another? Hope her poetry is way better than her life decisions.

Jokes aside, most of the time people can't really pick the country they are exiled to.


«Cuando cayó la dictadura, me di cuenta de que había vivido catorce años con nostalgia de Montevideo –una nostalgia horrorosa– y ahora no tenía ganas de tener nostalgia de Barcelona. Para tener nostalgia, sigo teniendo siempre la misma. Además, uno no se exilia porque quiere, se exilia porque tiene que salvar el pellejo, y creo que, dentro de esa insensata geometría que es la vida, un acto involuntario no tiene que ser respondido con un acto voluntario como es volver. Estrictamente no se puede volver porque es un tiempo que ya no existe.»

(When the dictatorship fell, I realized that I had lived fourteen years nostalgic about Montevideo -a horrific nostalgia- and I didnt wanted to feel nostalgia for Barcelona. To have nostalgia, I keep having the same one. Besides, one does not goes into exile because one wants to, one goes to exile in order to save one's neck, and I think that, in life's senseless geometry, an involuntary act should not be responded with a voluntary one, like going back. Strictly, no one can't go back because it's it's time that does not exist anymore.)
(Source)
 

Ludus

Reader
This year's Cervantes prize has been awarded to venezuelan poet Rafael Cadenas.

This is excellent news. In México it's been very difficult for me to find copies of his books. Maybe the prize will make his work easier to get.

 

alik-vit

Reader
This year's Cervantes prize has been awarded to venezuelan poet Rafael Cadenas.

This is excellent news. In México it's been very difficult for me to find copies of his books. Maybe the prize will make his work easier to get.

Just found only one his poem in Russian translation. But most famous one, I think. It seems really interesting.
 

Daniel del Real

Moderator
This year's Cervantes prize has been awarded to venezuelan poet Rafael Cadenas.

This is excellent news. In México it's been very difficult for me to find copies of his books. Maybe the prize will make his work easier to get.


Ahí están sus obras completas editadas por el Fondo. La verdad no sé por qué le dan tantos premios a este señor; definitivamente tiene buenos poemas, pero me parece muy inconsistente.
A Vila-Matas le deben el Cervantes desde hace años y ahora parecía que le tocaba a un español.
 

alik-vit

Reader
^Share please :)

I don't read Spanish but I certainly read Russian, so... ?
It's here:

 

Leseratte

Well-known member
It's here:

Lol! Russian Paywal or Cookies warning!
Here it is in Spanish and as audio, read by the author:
 

palinuro

New member
Estoy muy feliz de que por primera vez un compatriota mío haya ganado el prestigioso Premio Cervantes. Un reconocimiento a la literatura y la poesía venezolana. ¡Ya era hora!

Rafael Cadenas es sin dudas uno de los grandes poetas de nuestra lengua y este premio es absolutamente merecido. Sus ensayos también son muy lúcidos. Vale la pena leerlos.

Cadenas fue profesor de mi Escuela de Letras. Lo conocí hace tres años (él ya estaba jubilado). Es un señor extremadamente humilde y reservado, pero siempre dispuesto a dar consejos a los escritores jóvenes y a conversar con cualquiera que lo busque. No le cierra la puerta a nadie.

Es adverso a la dictadura socialista actual, lo que le ha valido el ostracismo oficial. No importa. Tiene el cariño de la gente y el favor de la crítica y los lectores. Eso es mucho más importante.
 
Top