This week, our editors bring us news from their respective literary horizons and the many exciting publications being released to the delight of readers. In Spain, Romanian literature hits the spotlight as a the first text of a new series is released, covering the nineteenth century through to World War II. In Nicaragua, the lauded poet and author Gioconda Belli has announced her latest work. Read on to find out more!
MARGENTO, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Spain
Within international contexts, the most important literary event of the past few months is the release of Grandes escritores rumanos (Great Romanian Writers), a collection edited by Alba Diz Villanueva and past Asymptote contributor Felix Nicolau, and published by Huerga & Fierro (Madrid, Spain). The anthology is the first instalment of a series projected to cover Romanian literature chronologically, and samples the second half of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century, through to World War II. Numbering over three hundred pages, it starts off with both the original and the Spanish translation of the “great [three] Romanian classics”: the eruditely eclectic, formally exhaustive Renaissance man and “national poet,” Eminescu; the proverbially language-bending, comedic, and politically sarcastic playwright and short-story writer Caragiale (whom Eugène Ionesco referred to as his master, making him the true forerunner of the theatre of the absurd); and the linguistically-Gargantuan, (faux-)folkloric raconteur, Creangă. Among the featured twentieth century writers are the paradoxically modernist-traditionalist poet Tudor Arghezi, modernist-expressionist poet and philosopher Lucian Blaga, iconic Symbolist George Bacovia, landmark novelists Mihail Sadoveanu and Liviu Rebreanu, alongside significant women poets and fiction writers including Magda Isanos, Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu, Henriette Yvonne Stahl, and Cella Serghi.
An impressive number of translators contributed to this literary tour de force—no less than sixteen—and the editors have structured the collection in a quite complex and polyvalent way. The subtitle reads Antología didáctica (course reference book), and indeed, in a Norton-anthology style, every section comes with a short introduction presenting each writer’s main stylistic features and contextualizing their contribution to the evolution of Romanian letters. Even more distinctively, at the back are quizzes addressing the writers’ style and language, as well as a rich “Further Reading” section providing more detailed bios, aesthetic commentary, and relevant historical background—plus comprehensive annotated bibliographies which act as a great resource for students but also scholars and literati, as they highlight the richness of relevant translations and criticism in both Romanian and Spanish (in Spain and Ibero-America).
The anthology is thus a compilation of translations as well, as quite a number of the featured poems, fiction, and drama excerpts have previously appeared in collections or periodicals published in Madrid, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, and elsewhere. An obscure if prodigious long-standing dialogue thus emerges between the two languages and their multiple literatures. Beyond this, the endeavor actually has an even wider international scope. By featuring a fiction writer like Mircea Eliade—also a global luminary in the philosophy of religion—the series indicates that future instalments will include other world-class literary stars, whose early work still awaits an introduction to international audiences. A few names come to mind: Tristan Tzara, Paul Celan, the above-mentioned Ionesco, and the writer and diplomat Alexandru Busuioceanu, who has already been extensively studied by the editor, Felix Nicolau.
José García Escobar, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Central America
Recently, famed Nicaraguan novelist and poet Gioconda Belli shared news of her latest novel on social media, which will be published next October. Titled Un silencio lleno de murmullos (published by Seix Barral), it tells the story of a mother and daughter. In the narrative, Valeria is an activist who sacrificed her personal life and familial ties to serve Nicaragua and achieve political and social change; as a result of this, she died alone in Madrid, leaving her daughter Penélope to go and sort out her mother’s belongings. In this process, Penélope learns about her mother’s life, her triumphs and defeats. Belli is the author of The Inhabited Woman and Infinity in the Palm of Her Hand, and has won the Anna Seghers Award and the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Award.
Additionally, Belli received an honorary degree from the University of Edinburgh in July, and her acceptance speech can be watched in English. Previously, she received an honorary degree from Universidad de Costa Rica.
Finally, we’re only days away from the latest version of Central America’s most renowned literary festival: Centroamérica Cuenta. This time, the festival will include the likes of Carlos Fonseca (Costa Rica, Puerto Rico), Nona Fernández (Chile), Gioconda Belli (Nicaragua), Sergio Ramírez (Nicaragua), William González Guevara (Nicaragua), and more. Centroamérica Cuenta will take place this September in Madrid.
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