Almost All the Music

Overview

Devoted to musical themes, this new facing-page English and Spanish translated collection from one of the 20th-century's major Spanish poets makes evident the author's encyclopedic musical knowledge, as well as his deep empathy for the forgotten and downtrodden. Wary of empty abstractions and political ideologies, concern for the the concrete personal and social experience of ordinary people shines throughout these works, which are complemented by a fine lyricism that endows these poems with literary excellence.

Reviews

"Reading the poems Gonzalez published from 1956 through the early 1960s, it is easy to understand the critical acclaim he received in his native Spain . . .these short poems vie with their harsh subject matter to achieve a hard-won lyricism." —Publishers Weekly

"Writes with simplicity, restraint, and occasional humor about social injustice and the contradictions and trivialities of daily life." —Library Journal

"Highly recommended for music lovers, libraries, and bookstores." —Críticas, starred review

Author Biography

Ángel González is the author of Astonishing World and he has won many awards for his poetry, including the Queen Sofia Prize for Ibero-American Poetry in 1996, the Prince of Asturias Literary Prize in 1985, the Premio Internacional Son Latinos in 2004, the Federico García Lorca International Prize for Poetry, and he is a member of the Spanish Royal Academy for literary excellence. E. A. Mares is a poet, translator, essayist, playwright, fiction writer, journalist, and historian. He is the author of There Are Four Wounds, Miguel, The Unicorn Poem, and The Unicorn Poem & Flowers and Songs of Sorrow. They both live in Albuquerque, New Mexico.