Collected poems

Life in the shadow of death, desire frustrated at every turn, and speech overtaken by the unknown are the concerns of this charismatic Spanish poet and dramatist. In the past decade, Lorca (1898-1936) has become an icon, and because so many new manuscripts, translations, and commentaries have surfaced, the previous edition of his collected poems (LJ 3/15/92) has been expanded and revised. It now incorporates Poet in New York (LJ 2/1/88), a volume of poems he composed during the nine months in 1929-30 that he spent in the city, which he deemed "one of the most useful experiences" of his life. Also included is a more "reliably ordered" version of one of the poet's most ambitious early sequences, "In the Garden of the Lunar Grapefruits," and some new translations by Angela Jaffray, Robert Nasatir, Jerome Rothenberg, and Galway Kinnell. All in all, the revised edition has about 100 more pages of text and about seven more pages of notes. The original edition should suffice for general collections, but for collections specializing in poetry or Spanish literature, this revised version should not be missed. Jack Shreve, Allegany Coll. of Maryland, Cumberland (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.