Zoom in

Memorias y Olvidos. Cintio Vitier

Zoom in

Paradiso. José Lezama Lima

Zoom in

Ensayos. Eliseo Diego

Memories and Oblivions Cintio Vitier Letras Cubanas Publishing House, Havana, 2006

Memories, anecdotes and remembrances are contained in these pages. In thirteen chapters, through a fluid and entertaining prose, the author rescues facts and characters linked to his longstanding and fruitful life. An outstanding poet, storyteller, essayist, critic and researcher, Cintio Vitier (Cayo Hueso, 1921), who nabbed the 1988 National Literature Prize, is considered an emblematic figure of Cuba’s contemporary literary realm. A sharp scholar of Jose Marti’s legacy, his many books include a poem collection entitled Visperas (1953), the 1980 novel De Peña Pobre and the 1958 essay Lo Cubano en la Poesía. Memories and Oblivions –illustrated by Jose Luis Fariñas- is a splendid and moving testimony of a man who’s been faithful to his time.

Essays Eliseo Diego (selection and foreword by Enrique Sainz) Ediciones Union Publisher, Havana, 2006

These pages, in the words of researcher and essayist Enrique Sainz, turn out “a genuine poetic style, a way of beholding and feeling life in its entire array of experiences.” With the rigor and lyric flair that characterize this author’s works, this book culls a number of texts whereby the writer comments, reflects and suggests things about poets Ruben Dario and Jose Coronel Urtecho, or mulls around the literary work of William Faulkner, and books for children and youngsters. Winner of the National Literature Prize and the “Juan Rulfo” Latin American and Caribbean Literary Prize, Eliseo Diego (Havana 1920 – Mexico City 1994) –a man who excelled as a poet, storyteller, essayist and translator- is no doubt one of the highest figures of the 20th century’s Spanish-speaking literature. Essays bears out once again the literary heftiness of this genuine master of the Cuban culture.

Paradiso Jose Lezama Lima Letras Cubanas Publishing House, Havana, 2006

Published for the first time back in 1966, this novel is a monumental piece of literature. Like a huge fresco, its characters and unfolding situations turn this narration into a lesson of experience and mastery. Poet, storyteller, essayist and founder of the Origenes Group, Jose Lezama Lima (Havana 1910 -1976) bequeathed an essential work. His books –both in prose and verse- include titles like Muerte de Narciso (1937), Enemigo Rumor (1941), La Fijeza (1949), Tratados en La Habana (1958) and Oppiano Licario (1977). Paradiso, this time around featuring an introductory study penned by poet and essayist Cintio Vitier, is no doubt his best-known piece on and out of the island nation, has been translated in several languages and still remains a source of never-ending research. This is a novel that, as storyteller, poet and playwright Virgilio Piñera once put it, “it’s a masterful blow that checkmates destiny.”