The Whole Island: Six Decades of Cuban Poetry

About this book

Cubas 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 Nicols Guilln Jos Lezama Lima and Nancy Morejn but also poets widely read in Spanish who remain almost unknown to the English-speaking worldamong them Fina Garca Marruz Jos Kozer Ral Hernndez Novs and ngel Escobarand poets born since the Revolution like Rogelio Saunders Omar Prez Alessandra Molina and Javier Marimn. 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 poetsboth on and off the islandhave 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.