Juan Gelman

El juego en que andamos

Si me dieran a elegir, yo elegiría
esta salud de saber que estamos muy enfermos,
esta dicha de andar tan infelices.

Si me dieran a elegir, yo elegiría
esta inocencia de no ser un inocente,
esta pureza en que ando por impuro.

Si me dieran a elegir, yo elegiría
este amor con que odio,
esta esperanza que come panes desesperados.

Aquí pasa, señores,
que me juego la muerte.
de "El juego en que andamos"

www.sololiteratura.com/gel/gelpoecertezas.htm

The game we're playing

If they were to give me the choice, I would choose
this health of knowing that we are very ill,
this happiness of being so unhappy.

If they were to give me the choice, I would choose
this innocence of not being innocent,
this purity in which I go impure.

If they were to give me the choice, I would choose
this love with which I hate,
this hope that eats desperate breads.

Here it happens, gentlemen,
that I risk (gamble) my death.
of "The game that we're playing"

I found the poem that I had been thinking of in class that reminded me of Martí's irony and paradoxicalness.  Though my translation is off, I feel Gelman, born in 1930 in Buenos Aires, still reflects some sense of realism with which he views life, similar to Martí's poetry.

Two essays on Avellaneda's purposes in writing Sab:
Symbiosis Between Slavery and Feminism - Brigida Pastor
Stranger in a Strange Land - Stacey Schlau


As I was searching the internet for some valid articles that would hopefully contextualize the novel with Cuban society and Avellaneda's biography and agenda, these two articles presented themselves with distinctive arguments about similar concepts.  As I had been wondering, the articles addressed the issue of labeling Sab as guided by Feminist or Abolitionist principles. Both authors seem to assert that both notions go hand-in-hand since both are, essentially, reactions to oppression. However, Pastor's article seems to suggest that Avellaneda uses slavery to communicate her objection to the restrictiveness embodied in the, "existing male tradition" (Pastor 195). Schlau appears with a different perspective and instead discusses Avellaneda's estrangement from the contemporary world, which, as Schlau argues, led to Avellaneda's expression of all types of equal oppression through her characters. Whether or not Avellaneda's acknowledgment of her Spanish audience added confusion is still a concern. Regardless, both articles are a good read, though toilsome, and will definitely help in the process of materializing a starting point for a paper.

Very much a Romantic

After reading some of Simón Bolívar's most historically substantial writings, I wondered why his opinions, visions, and accounts were included under the general term of Romanticism; why I read his works in the context of "The Romantic Century." As a child of Enlightenment, Bolívar should, theoretically, have a proclivity to lead with reason, control, and empirical truths. He does embrace the models and ideals of eminent Enlightenment thinkers such as Montesquieu, when he quotes Montesquieu's notion that slavery is more easily implemented than it is abolished as a truth evident in, "every period in history" (p.23 "The Jamaica Letter"). "The Jamaica Letter," written by Bolívar was an attempt to disillusion the receiver and inform him of the honest conditions of the lands that made up Latin America. Bolívar uses truthful cases, sharp reason, and articulate arguments to recommend the freedom and human rights of the peoples of Latin America and the creation of a large nation state. He focuses on the superior potential of South American resources whose range is hampered by Spanish control and lack of participation by natives. However, what is included in Bolívar's letter are inflections of sound passion and fervor, which are sometimes manifested in hyperbolic accounts and sermonic metaphors showing Bolívar's untrammeled vehemence. He suggests that,

"That wicked stepmother is the source of all our suffering. The veil has been rent, and now we can see the light; now she wants to return us to darkness. The chains have been broken, we've been liberated, and now our enemies want to make us slaves" (p.13 "The Jamaica Letter").

Moreover, Bolívar authenticates his ardor and strong emotion when he writes "Mi Delirio sobre el Chimborazo." Not only are his compulsive feelings redolent with Romanticism, but Bolívar is prophesizing from the tallest peak in Ecuador. A sublime image in itself, Chimborazo is the setting of Bolívar's confused discourse with celestial powers. He writes, "Wrapped in this mantle...I have traversed the infernal regions, crossed river and seas, climbed the shoulders of the Andes. Under the feet of Colombia, the Earth has flattened itself," but goes on to write, "...as I touched with my head the pinnacle of the firmament and saw at my feet a yawing abyss, I fell in a swoon" ("Mi Delirio sobre el Chimborazo"). Though Bolívar confronts Earth's natural elements, he also clearly demonstrates his mere mortality. The structure of this piece is one of disorder and excitement. Uncommon in pieces of the Enlightenment, "Mi Delirio sobre el Chimborazo" is written as an uncontrolled and compulsive stream of Bolívar's experiences and thoughts, which differs greatly from Bolívar's tight political statements in his Jamaica Letter.

Image from Wikipedia