César Vallejo / Octavio Paz

César Vallejo: Selected Poems (1976)

The year was 2004. I was about to start off on a car-trip around Ireland with my elder brother Ken. The problem was we didn't have enough books with us to read along the way. So when we stopped at a secondhand bookshop in Belfast, I was determined to find something large and intense enough to occupy a good deal of time.

I'd already reread War and Peace and Tim Powers' The Anubis Gates on an earlier leg of the trip, in Prague, so I was looking for something equally weighty. But nothing in the shop was calling out to me. Finally, I decided on a bit of uplift, and went up to the desk with the following two hefty tomes:

Sergio Peraza Avila: Busto de cabeza de Octavio Paz (2018)

•

Hans Hoffmann: Octavio Paz (2008)

Ulysses

Ulisse

Nella mia giovinezza ho navigato
lungo le coste dalmate. Isolotti
a fior d'onda emergevano, ove raro
un uccello sostava intento a prede,
coperti d'alghe, scivolosi, al sole
belli come smeraldi. Quando l'alta
marea e la notte li annullava, vele
sottovento sbandavano più al largo,
per fuggirne l'insidia. Oggi il mio regno
è quella terra di nessuno. Il porto
accende ad altri i suoi lumi; me al largo
sospinge ancora il non domato spirito,
e della vita il doloroso amore.

- Umberto Saba (1946)

•	

When I was young I sailed down
the Dalmatian coast    rock-reefs stood out 
above the waves    slick with algae
emerald-green    an occasional raptor 
hovering there    intent on prey    
but when high tide and darkness 
swallowed them    my leeward sails 
would steer us out to the open sea 
away from danger    today my kingdom
is that no-man’s land    the harbour
lights its lamps for others    my love
of life    painful at times    my perverse soul
chase me out from every shelter

- trans. JR (2026)

Daniel Malpica: Polémico collage del premio nobel Octavio Paz (2014)

•

Pablo Picasso: Posthumous Portrait of César Vallejo (1937)

Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888-1970) is one of the most influential and widely read Italian poets of the twentieth century. Probably only Nobel-Prize-winner Eugenio Montale could be said to rival his celebrity. Together with Saba, they constitute the "big three" major modernists in modern Italian poetry.

So why didn't he win the Nobel prize, rather than the far less famous Salvatore Quasimodo? The answer is simple: Fascism.

You'll find it distinctly downplayed in the bio-notes printed on most of his books, but Ungaretti was - at least for a time - a convinced follower of Mussolini. Like Saba, he wrote for Il Popolo d'Italia, but after the war his brief flirtations with Dadaism and other anti-establishment movements culminated in support for Mussolini's 1922 March on Rome

•

Italian Trench on the Alpine Front (1918)

Vigil

Veglia

Un'intera nottata 
buttato vicino 
a un compagno
massacrato
con la sua bocca
digrignata
volta al plenilunio
con la congestione
delle sue mani
penetrata
nel mio silenzio
ho scritto
lettere piene d'amore

Non sono mai stato
tanto 
attaccato alla vita

- Giuseppe Ungaretti (1917)

•	

a whole night
laid beside
a battered
comrade
fish mouth
gaping at the moon
with the touch
of his hands
upon
my silence
I scribbled
letters
full of love

I’ve never felt
so close
to life

- trans. JR (2026)

TUTTI EROI! O IL PIAVE O TUTTI ACCOPPATI !
All heroes! The River Piave or everyone killed !
Luigi Marzocchi: Church of Sant'Andrea di Barbarana (24/6/1918)

•

Octavio Paz (colorized) (1984)

Octavio Paz Lozano
(1914–1998)

Books I own are marked in bold:

Poetry:


1. Luna silvestre (1933)
2. ¡No pasarán! (1936)
3. Raíz del hombre (1937)
4. Bajo tu clara sombra y otros poemas sobre España (1937)
5. Entre la piedra y la flor (1941)
6. A la orilla del mundo, compilation (1942)
7. Libertad bajo palabra (1949)
8. Semillas para un himno (1954)
9. Piedra de Sol (1957)
10. La estación violenta (1958)
11. Salamandra (1958–1961) (1962)
12. Viento entero (1965)
13. Blanco (1967)
14. Discos visuales (1968)
15. Ladera Este (1962–1968) (1969)
16. La centena (1935–1968) (1969)
17. Topoemas (1971)
18. Configurations: Bilingual Edition. Trans. G. Aroul, Paul Blackburn, Lysander Kemp. Denise Levertov, Muriel Rukeyser et al. (1971)
19. [with Jacques Roubaud, Edoardo Sanguineti & Charles Tomlinson] Renga: A Chain of Poems (1972)
    • [with Jacques Roubaud, Edoardo Sanguineti, & Charles Tomlinson] Renga: A Chain of Poems. Foreword by Claude Roy. Introduction by Octavio Paz. 1971. Ed. & trans. Charles Tomlinson. 1972. Penguin Modern European Poets. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1979.
20. Early Poems 1935-1955: Bilingual Edition. Trans. Muriel Rukeyser (1973)
21. Pasado en claro (1975)
22. Vuelta (1976)
23. [with Charles Tomlinson] Hijos del aire/Airborn (1979)
24. Selected Poems. Ed. Charles Tomlinson (1979)
    • Selected Poems: A Bilingual Edition. Ed. Charles Tomlinson. The Penguin Poets. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1979.
25. Poemas (1935–1975) (1979)
26. Prueba del nueve (1985)
27. Lectura y contemplación (essay on translation) (1985)
28. Árbol adentro (1976–1987) (1987)
29. Collected Poems 1957-1987. Trans. Eliot Weinberger (1987)
    • The Collected Poems, 1957-1987. Ed. Eliot Weinberger. Trans. Elizabeth Bishop, Paul Blackburn, Lysander Kemp, Denise Levertov, John Frederick Nims, Mark Strand, Charles Tomlinson, & Eliot Weinberger. 1987. Manchester: Carcanet Press Limited, 1988.
30. El fuego de cada día (1989)

Prose:


31. El laberinto de la soledad: Vida y pensamiento de México (1950)
    • El laberinto de la soledad. 1950. Ed. Enrico Mario Santí. Letras Hispánicas. Madrid: Ediciones Cátedra, S. A., 1993.
    • The Labyrinth of Solitude: Life and Thought in Mexico. 1950. Trans. Lysander Kemp. 1961. King Penguin. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1985.
32. El arco y la lira (1956)
33. Las peras del olmo (1957)
34. Cuadrivio (1965)
35. Los signos en rotación (1965)
36. Puertas al campo (1966)
37. Corriente alterna (1967)
38. Claude Levi-Strauss o El nuevo festín de Esopo (1967)
39. Marcel Duchamp o El castillo de la pureza (1968)
40. Conjunciones y disyunciones (1969)
41. Posdata, continuación de El laberinto de la soledad (1970)
42. El signo y el garabato (1973)
43. El mono gramático (1974)
    • The Monkey Grammarian. 1974. Trans. Helen R. Lane. 1981. London: Peter Owen Publishers, 1989.
44. Los hijos del limo. Del romanticismo a la vanguardia (1974)
45. La búsqueda del comienzo. Escritos sobre el surrealismo (1974)
46. Xavier Villaurrutia en persona y obra (1978)
47. El ogro filantrópico (1979)
48. In/Mediaciones (1979)
49. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz o las trampas de la fe (1982)
    • Sor Juana: Her Life and Her World. 1982. Trans. Margaret Sayers Peden. London: Faber, 1988.
50. Tiempo nublado (1983)
    • One Earth, Four or Five Worlds: Reflections on Contemporary History. 1983. Trans. Helen R. Lane. Manchester: Carcanet Press Limited, 1985.
51. Sombras de obras (1983)
52. Hombres en su siglo y otros ensayos (1984)
    • Convergences: Essays on Art and Literature. 1984. Trans. Helen Lane. London: Peter Owen Publishers, 1987.
53. Primeras letras (1931-1943) (1988)
54. Pequeña crónica de grandes días (1990)
55. La otra voz. Poesía y fin de siglo (1990)
56. Convergencias (1991)
57. Al paso (1992)
58. La llama doble (1993)
    • The Double Flame: Essays on Love and Eroticism. 1993. Trans. Helen Lane. 1995. London: The Harvill Press, 1996.
59. Itinerario (1993)
60. Un más allá erótico: Sade (1994)
61. Vislumbres de la India (1995)
    • In Light of India. 1995. Trans. Eliot Weinberger (1997)
62. Estrella de tres puntas. André Bretón y el surrealismo (1996)
63. Luis Buñuel. El doble arco de la belleza y de la rebeldía (2000)

Translations:


64. [with Eikichi Hayashiya] Matsuo Bashō: Sendas de Oku (1957)
65. Fernando Pessoa: Antología (1962)
66. Versiones y diversiones (1974)

Edited:


67. Anthologie de la poésie mexicaine. Trans. Guy Lévis-Mano (1952)
    • An Anthology of Mexican Poetry. Trans. Samuel Beckett. Preface by C. M. Bowra. 1958. A Calderbook CB 220. London: Calder & Boyars, 1970.
68. [with Alí Chumacero, Homero Aridjis & Jose Emilio Pacheco] Poesía en movimiento - México: 1915–1966 (1966)
    • [with Ali Chumacero, Jose Emilio Pacheco, & Homero Aridjis] New Poetry of Mexico: Bilingual Edition. 1966. Ed. Mark Strand. 1970. London: Martin Secker & Warburg Limited, 1972.

Octavio Paz: The Collected Poems: 1957-1987 (1988)

•

César Vallejo (1929)

César Abraham Vallejo Mendoza
(1892-1938)

Books I own are marked in bold:

Poetry:


1. Los heraldos negros (1919)
   • The Black Heralds. Trans. Richard Schaaf and Kathleen Ross (1990)
   • The Black Heralds. Trans. Barry Fogden (1995)
   • The Black Heralds. Trans. Rebecca Seiferle (2003)
   • The Black Heralds and Other Early Poems. Trans. Michael Smith & Valentino Gianuzzi (2005)
2. Trilce (1922)
   • Trilce. Trans. Dave Smith (1973)
   • Trilce. Trans. Rebecca Seiferle (1993)
   • Trilce. Trans. Michael Smith & Valentino Gianuzzi (2005)
   • Trilce: A Homophonic Translation. Trans. James Wagner (2006)
3. Poemas humanos (1939)
   • Poemas Humanos, Human Poems: A Bilingual Edition. Trans. Clayton Eshleman (1969)
4. España, aparta de mí este cáliz (1939)
   • Spain, Let This Cup Pass from Me. Trans. Álvaro Cardona-Hine (1972)
   • Spain Take This Cup from Me. Trans. Mary Sarko (1992)

Poetry in Translation:


5. Cesar Vallejo: An Anthology of His Poetry. Trans. James Higgins (1970)
6. Neruda and Vallejo: Selected Poems. Trans. Robert Bly and James Wright (1971)
7. Selected Poems. Trans. Gordon Brotherstone and Edward Dorn (1976)
   • Selected Poems. Trans. Ed Dorn & Gordon Brotherston. Introduction by Gordon Brotherston. Penguin Latin American Poets. Ed. A. Alvarez. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1976.
8. The Complete Posthumous Poetry of César Vallejo (1978)
   • The Complete Posthumous Poetry. Trans. Clayton Eshleman & José Rubia Barcia. 1978. Berkeley & Los Angeles: University Of California Press, 1980.
9. Selected Poems of Cesar Vallejo. Trans. H. R. Hays (1981)
10. Songs of Home / Canciones de Hogar. Trans. Kathleen Ross and Richard Schaaf (1981)
11. The Mayakovsky Case. Trans. Richard Schaaf (1982)
12. Autopsy on Surrealism. Trans. Richard Schaaf (1986)
13. I Am Going to Speak of Hope: An Anthology of Selected Poems. Trans. Peter Boyle (1999)
14. The Complete Later Poems 1923–1938. Trans. Michael Smith & Valentino Gianuzzi (2007)
15. The Complete Poetry of César Vallejo. Trans. Clayton Eshleman (2008)
    • The Complete Poetry. Trans. Clayton Eshleman. Foreword by Mario Vargas Llosa. Introduction by Efrain Kristal. Chronology by Stephen M. Hart. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008.
16. The Complete Poems. Trans. Michael Smith & Valentino Gianuzzi (2012)
17. Malanga Chasing Vallejo: Selected Poems of César Vallejo with New Translations and Notes Trans. Gerard Malanga (2014)

Stories:


18. Escalas melografiadas (1923)
    • Cuneiformes
      1. Muro Noroeste
      2. Muro Antártico
      3. Muro Este
      4. Muro dobleancho
      5. Alféizar
      6. Muro occidental
    • Coro de vientos
      1. Más allá de la vida y la muerte
      2. Liberación
      3. Los caynas
      4. El unigénito
      5. Mirtho
      6. Cera
19. Fabla salvaje (1923)
20. Hacia el reino de los Sciris (1928)
21. El tungsteno (1931)
    • Tungsten. Trans. Robert Mezey (1988)
22. Paco Yunque (1931)
23. El niño del carrizo (1935)
24. Viaje alrededor del porvenir (1935)
25. Los dos soras (1936)
26. El vencedor (1936)
27. Novelas y cuentos completos. Ed. Georgette Vallejo (1967)
28. Narrativa completa (2022)

Plays:


29. Lock-out [in French] (1930)
30. Entre las dos orillas corre el río [aka "Varona Polianova", "Moscú contra Moscú", "El juego del amor, del odio y de la muerte"] (c. 1930)
31. Colacho Hermanos o presidentes de América (1934)
32. La piedra cansada (1937)
33. Teatro completo. Ed. Enrique Ballón Aguirre & Georgette Vallejo (1979)

Prose:


34. Rusia en 1931. Reflexiones al pie del Kremlin (1931)
35. Rusia ante el segundo plan quinquenal (1932 / 1965)
36. Contra el secreto profesional [Essays & Articles 1923-1929] (1973)
37. El arte y la revolución [Essays & Articles 1929-1931] (1973)
38. Desde Europa - Crónicas y artículos (1923–1938). Ed. Jorge Puccinelli (1987)

Translations:


39. General Mangin
40. Henri Barbusse
41. Marcel Aymé

Works:


42. Obras completas. Introduction by Ricardo González Vigil (1992)
43. Obras completas. 14 vols. Lima: PUCP, 1997-2003:
    • Poesía completa. 4 vols. Introduced by Salomón Lerner Febres. Ed. Ricardo Silva-Santisteban & Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Rea (1997)
    • Narrativa completa. Introduced by Salomón Lerner Febres. Ed. Ricardo Silva-Santisteban & Cecilia Moreano (1999)
    • Teatro completo. 3 vols. Introduced by Salomón Lerner Febres. Ed. Ricardo Silva Santisteban y Cecilia Moreano (1999)
    • Artículos y crónicas completos: Desde Lima - Desde Europa, 1918-1938. 2 vols. Introduced by Salomón Lerner Febres. Ed. Jorge Puccinelli (2002)
    • Ensayos y reportajes. Ed. Manuel Miguel de Priego (2002)
    • Correspondencia. Edición y prólogo de Jesús Cabel (2002)
    • Traducciones. Ed. Rosario Valdivia Paz-Soldán (2003)
    • Autógrafos olvidados. [52 facsimile manuscripts]. Introduced by Juan Fló. Ed. Stephen M. Hart (2003)

Letters:


44. Cartas de César Vallejo a Pablo Abril de Vivero. Ed. Andrés Echevarría (2013)

César Vallejo: The Complete Posthumous Poetry (1979)

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https://ovidius-naso.blogspot.com/2010/05/theme-variations-2010.html

[Machu Picchu]


Spanish:

Trilce – XV


En el rincón aquel, donde dormimos juntos
tantas noches, ahora me he sentado
a caminar. La cuja de los novios difuntos
fue sacada, o talvéz qué habrá pasado.

Has venido temprano a otros asuntos
y ya no estás. Es el rincón
Donde a tu lado, leí una noche,
entre tus tiernos puntos
un cuento de Daudet. Es el rincón
amado. No lo equivoces.

Me he puesto a recordar los días
de verano idos, tu entrar y salir,
poca y harta y pálida por os cuartos.

En esta noche pluviosa,
ya lejos de ambos dos, salto de pronto …
Son dos puertas abriéndose cerrándose,
dos puertas que al viento van y vienen
sombra a sombra

- César Vallejo (1892-1938)

Literal translation:

Trilce
Trilce


En el rincón aquel, donde dormimos juntos
In that corner, where we slept joined
tantas noches, ahora me he sentado
so many nights, now I have sat down
a caminar. La cuja de los novios difuntos
to walk. The bedstead of the dead lovers
fue sacada, o talvéz qué habrá pasado.
was taken away, or perhaps what will have happened

Has venido temprano a otros asuntos
You’ve come early on other business
y ya no estás. Es el rincón
and already you’ve gone. It is the corner
Donde a tu lado, leí una noche,
where at your side, I read one night
entre tus tiernos puntos
between your tender points
un cuento de Daudet. Es el rincón
a story of Daudet’s. It is the corner
amado. No lo equivoces.
loved. Don’t mistake it.

Me he puesto a recordar los días
I have got down to remembering the days
de verano idos, tu entrar y salir,
gone-by of summer, your entrance and exit,
poca y harta y pálida por os cuartos.
few and fed-up and pale through the rooms.

En esta noche pluviosa,
In this rainy night
ya lejos de ambos dos, salto de pronto …
already far from both of us, I start up suddenly …
Son dos puertas abriéndose cerrándose,
There are two doors opening and shutting themselves
dos puertas que al viento van y vienen
two doors which come and go in the wind
sombra a sombra
shadow to shadow

[César Vallejo]

•

Versions:

1.

Trilce – XV


Horn, while we sleep together
Other victims were sent to fans, or may not happen.
Dead Lovers Holiday
adopted, or it can be.

Emprano you on other things and you do not know.
Where you sat up late reading point in your story
ernments Daudet. This is a favorite corner. Not in order.
I remember those days

Summer Street, come and go,
Others with less fatigue, and you have a chance.

OK, the rain and the two quickly split ... errándose
has two doors, two doors, coming and going of
the shadow of the shadow of the wind

2.

Trilce – XV


corner to the UN, about the length of sleep
Many nits and is now Sat
Walk. The rest of the dead lovers
Then Adopted, or perhaps He Who could succeed

You come to a beginning of other questions
No longer. This is the angle
On my part is that red One night
Among the items on auction
The story of Daudet. This angle is
I like. Nothing wrong.

Remember that some dies
Summer gold were sold
A bright little weary and His rooms...

On this rainy night
One of the two Countries and break soon ...
Open rates are a close
2 ports, which come and go in the vent
Shadow shadow.

- Bronwyn, Sabrina & Jon

[Siege of Teruel (1938)]


Spanish:

Alba última


Tendida en los confines
Tus cabellos se pierden en el bosque,
Tus pies tocan los míos.
Dormida eres más grande que la noche
Pero tu sueño cabe en este cuarto.
¡Cuanto somos qué poco somos tánto!
Afuera pasa un taxi
Con su carga de espectros.

El río que se va

Siempre

Está de regreso.

¿Mañana será otro día?

- Octavio Paz (1914-1998)

Literal translation:

Alba última
Last dawn


Tendida en los confines
Stretched out within the confines
Tus cabellos se pierden en el bosque,
Your hair is lost in the forest,
Tus pies tocan los míos.
Your feet touch mine.
Dormida eres más grande que la noche
Asleep you are greater than the night
Pero tu sueño cabe en este cuarto.
But your dream fits into this room.
¡Cuanto somos qué poco somos tánto!
How much [many] we are to be so little [few]!
Afuera pasa un taxi
Outside a taxi passes
Con su carga de espectros.
With its cargo of ghosts.
El río que se va
The river which flows away

Siempre
Forever

Está de regreso.
Is on its way back.

¿Mañana será otro día?
Will tomorrow be another day?

[Octavio Paz]

•

Versions:

1.

Lie on the beach
your hair is lost in the woods,
your feet touching mine.
Dormida're
Bigger than the night
but your dream fit in the room.
The how little we have so much!
Outdoor
Passes a taxi with its mass spectrum.
The river that is always going back.

Tomorrow is another day?

2.

Most Houaerba


The edge is
Your hair is lost forest
I am for your feet.
Sleeping're night
However, the dream was to meet in this room.
Small, we are!
Outside, passing taxi
Range.

River
Always
Returned.

Tomorrow a new day?

3.

ყველაზე Houaerba


პირას არის
თქვენი თმის დაკარგულია ტყის
მე შეეხება თქვენს ფეხზე.
Sleeping're ღამეს
თუმცა, ოცნება შეხვდეს ამ ოთახში.
მცირე, ჩვენ ვართ!
გარეთ, ჩაბარების ტაქსის
ასორტიმენტს.

მდინარე
ყოველთვის
დაბრუნდა.

ხვალ ახალი დღე?

- Kristen, Chloe & Zarah