Alliance and Condemnation / Alianza y Condena [Paperback]

A splash of sea foam. A sly sparrow. A man dodging the rain. From such mundane, unexpected moments, Spanish poet Claudio Rodríguez crafted his 1965Alliance and Condemnation, a collection of poems that temper the joy of existence—the “bounty that turns my flawed breath into prayer”—with a questioning of empirical reality. In these pages are poems of love and hate, contrition and forgiveness, and the joys of sorrow and existence. Many of the poems are essentially parables that seem to address the immediacy of the world yet point beyond it toward philosophical and eternal values. The result is a conjoining of the real and the ideal, a frequent theme in Spanish literature. Many of these poems bridge the distance between the Spanish mystics, among them Saint John of the Cross and Saint Teresa, and the nature poetry of romanticism.

Of all his creations, the radiant poems inAlliance and Condemnationoffer the best imaginable introduction to his extraordinary life and work.

Claudio Rodríguez(1934–99) was a critically acclaimed Spanish poet of the latter half of the twentieth century.Philip W. Silveris distinguished professor emeritus at Columbia University and the author of several books, includingRuin and Restitution: Reinterpreting Romanticism in Spain.

“Abstract yet colloquial, Claudio Rodríguez’s poetry is not easily rendered into English. Philip W. Silver’s splendid translations, as precise as they are idiomatic, not only do full justice to the originals but demonstrate why Rodríguez is one of modern Spain’s greatest poets."—Gustavo Pérez-Firmat, Columbia University

“Ever since I first readRain and Gracein Philip W. Silver’s deft translation, I have valued the humanity, vision, and quirky expression of Claudio Rodríguez, a poet who leads us, again and again, lS‹