{"id":10013,"date":"2016-08-25T18:17:25","date_gmt":"2016-08-25T22:17:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/?p=10013"},"modified":"2018-08-03T09:37:57","modified_gmt":"2018-08-03T13:37:57","slug":"poetry-in-spanish-borges-and-cortazar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/poetry-in-spanish-borges-and-cortazar\/","title":{"rendered":"Poetry in Spanish: Borges and Cort\u00e1zar"},"content":{"rendered":"

These days we celebrate the anniversary of Jorge Luis Borges’s and Julio Cort\u00e1zar’s birthdays, in 1899 and 1914, respectively. If you are not familiar with these names, you should run to the closest\u00a0bookstore and grab any of their books (personally, I recommend El aleph<\/em> and Historias de cronopios y de famas<\/em>). They are the most famous Argentine writers of the twentieth century. Borges is one of the main representatives of postmodern literature, albeit with a Baroque twist, while Cort\u00e1zar is rather difficult to categorize but could also fit under the same label.<\/p>\n

They both wrote short stories and have changed the genre in Spanish. Borges wrote as if literature was a branch of philosophy, while Cort\u00e1zar, as translator of Edgar Alan Poe, respected a classic structure in the realm of the fantastic. Cort\u00e1zar also wrote novels, which Borges never tried, and both wrote poetry in very different fashions. Both writers worked on purpose on making the Argentine variant of Spanish a literary language.<\/p>\n

There has always been a kind of rivalry between readers of Borges and readers of Cort\u00e1zar.\u00a0Here you have a couple of poems by them to check out their styles and decide which suits your taste better.<\/p>\n

El enamorado \/ The Lover (The admirer)<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Lunas<\/strong>, marfiles<\/strong>, instrumentos<\/strong>, rosas<\/strong>,
\nl\u00e1mparas<\/strong> y la l\u00ednea de Durero<\/strong>,
\nlas nueve cifras<\/strong> y el cambiante cero<\/strong>,
\ndebo fingir que existen esas cosas.<\/p>\n

Debo fingir que en el pasado fueron
\nPers\u00e9polis<\/strong> y Roma<\/strong> y que una arena<\/strong>
\nsutil<\/strong> midi\u00f3 la suerte de la almena
\nque los siglos de hierro deshicieron.<\/p>\n

Debo fingir las armas y la pira
\nde la epopeya<\/strong> y los pesados mares
\nque roen de la tierra los pilares<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Debo fingir que hay otros. Es mentira.
\nS\u00f3lo t\u00fa eres<\/strong>. T\u00fa, mi desventura<\/strong>
\ny mi ventura<\/strong>, inagotable y pura.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

Moons<\/strong>, ivories<\/strong>, instruments<\/strong>, roses<\/strong>,
\nlamps<\/strong> and the line of D\u00fcrer<\/strong>,
\nthe nine figures<\/strong> and the variable zero<\/strong>,
\nI shall pretend that these things exist.<\/p>\n

I shall pretend that in the past they were
\nPersepolis<\/strong> and Rome<\/strong> and that fine<\/strong>
\nsand<\/strong> measured the fate of the crenel
\nthat the centuries of iron undid.<\/p>\n

I shall pretend the arms and the pyre
\nof the epic<\/strong> and the heavy seas
\nthat gnaw from the pillars<\/strong> of the Earth.<\/p>\n

I shall pretend there are others. It\u2019s a lie.
\nOnly you are<\/strong>. You, my misfortune<\/strong>
\nand my fortune<\/strong>, inexhaustible and pure.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

Una carta de amor \/ A Love Letter<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Todo lo que de vos<\/strong> quisiera
\nes tan poco en el fondo
\nporque en el fondo es todo como un perro<\/strong> que pasa, una colina<\/strong>,esas cosas de nada, cotidianas,
\nespiga<\/strong> y cabellera<\/strong> y dos terrones<\/strong>,el olor de tu cuerpo,
\nlo que dec\u00eds de cualquier cosa,
\nconmigo o contra m\u00eda,<\/p>\n

todo eso es tan poco
\nyo lo quiero de vos porque te quiero.<\/p>\n

Que mires m\u00e1s all\u00e1 de m\u00ed,
\nque me ames con violenta prescindencia
\ndel ma\u00f1ana, que el grito
\nde tu entrega se estrelle
\nen la cara de un jefe de oficina,<\/p>\n

y que el placer<\/strong> que juntos inventamos
\nsea otro signo de la libertad<\/strong>.<\/td>\n

Everything I\u2019d want from you<\/strong>
\nis finally so little
\nbecause finally it\u2019s everything\u00a0like a dog<\/strong> going by,
\nor a hill<\/strong>,
\nthose meaningless things, mundane,
\nwheat ear<\/strong> and long hair<\/strong> and two lumps of sugar<\/strong>,
\nthe smell of your body,
\nwhatever you say about anything
\nwith or against me,all that which is so little
\nI want from you because I love youMay you look beyond me,
\nmay you love me with violent disregard
\nfor tomorrow, let the cry
\nof your coming explode
\nin the boss\u2019s face in some office,<\/p>\n

and let the pleasure<\/strong> we invent together
\nbe one more sign of freedom<\/strong>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

These days we celebrate the anniversary of Jorge Luis Borges’s and Julio Cort\u00e1zar’s birthdays, in 1899 and 1914, respectively. If you are not familiar with these names, you should run to the closest\u00a0bookstore and grab any of their books (personally, I recommend El aleph and Historias de cronopios y de famas). They are the most…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":129,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,13],"tags":[227285,358367,464109,2401,358369],"class_list":["post-10013","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-culture","category-vocabulary","tag-literatura","tag-literature","tag-poesia","tag-poetry","tag-vocabulary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/129"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10013"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11588,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10013\/revisions\/11588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}