Otrarse: Ladino Poems - Paperback

by Juan Gelman (Author), Ilan Stavans (Editor)

One of Latin American's most important poets of the twentieth century, Juan Gelman (1930-2014) spent much of his life in exile from his native Argentina during the Dirty War. Gelman was a child of Yiddish-speaking Ukrainian immigrants, and a significant, seldom recognized portion of his poetry dealt with Jewish themes. He established a dialogue across time with Santa Teresa de Ávila and San Juan de la Cruz, the sixteenth-century Spanish mystical poets whose ancestry was also Jewish. He rewrote portions of the Bible, medieval Hebrew poetry, and even taught himself Ladino, the language of Sephardic Jews, and wrote a book of poems in it.

In this bilingual volume, celebrated scholar Ilan Stavans retraces Gelman's regard for these poetic ancestors, translating into English his Jewish oeuvre by carefully preserving the Hebrew, Spanish, and Ladino echoes of the originals. The result is historically accurate and artistically exhilarating, repositioning Gelman as a major Jewish writer of the last century.

Author Biography

One of Latin America's most distinguished and influential contemporary poets, Juan Gelman (1930-2014) is the author of more than two dozen collections of poetry and an assortment of essay volumes. A vocal, transformative human-rights activist, he is the recipient of Argentina's National Literature Prize and Spain's Premio Cervantes, the most prestigious award in the Spanish language.

Internationally renowned scholar, essayist, linguist, translator, editor, and cultural commentator Ilan Stavans is the Lewis-Sebring Professor of Humanities, Latin American, and Latino Culture at Amherst College. He serves as the series editor for the University of New Mexico Press's acclaimed Jewish Latin America Series.