SELECTED POEMS OF GABRIELA

Very impressed with the poetry as she was unknown to me before.

I like the book very much because it is exactly what I`ve expected. It arrived in a very good condition. I did not give 5 * because I was waiting for it a long time. However, the company responsible for sending were helpful and always answered my emails.

i decided to spend more and get the le guin translation, thinking that it would make justice to mistral's fierceness, but it is really disappointing, it smooths the angles out, sometimes changing the very meaning of a sentence, the literal meaning, that is, in favor of a sweetness that i think is in disservice to the work. it makes me not like mistral's poetry, when i know i do

I always enjoy bilingual poetry translations. I found this translation of Mistral's poems interesting, to be sure. Some of the phrasing was inventive as opposed to literal. However, the tone of each poem was captured very well. I wish Le Guin had tried just a little harder to translate some of the passages she designated as being unable to be adequately translated. I have visited the "shrine" to Mistral in Santiago and viewed her Nobel medal and the news articles celebrating her award. I have also been to the Chilean geographical areas she celebrates in her poetry. The poems do justice to those locales and the people who reside there today. This book was an intriguing read for me as a poetry lover, but it should appeal to the general reader as well.

I am a first language English speaker who can get by in Spanish. Often when I read translations either way I'm struck by how much the translator misses out or simplifies. That wasn't the case here, I felt the English and Spanish works complemented each other. Reading Mistral is always going to be a rewarding experience, but after reading LeGuin's interpretation it felt like I was discussing Mistral's work with a friend.