This book illustrates why City Lights Books is the most important tourist stop in San Francisco - they are the publishers of this excellent book. The Andalusian poet is a contemporary of Lorca, Dali etc. In his brief autobiographic note, he states that these poems were written at night in a frenzy. I believe him. At least three-quarters of the poems have a sense of being inspired rather than crafted i.e. as if they came as whole to the poet, i.e. as if they came directly from within as an expression of state-of-being rather than being created consciously by the artistic intellect.

Within the poems there is a significant variety in structure and tone although most share a sense of disorientation. There are very inventive images which absolutely fit in the poem although standing alone, that seems impossible. Throughout the poems there was only one image that jarred, one (to my mind) misplaced "piano". Some examples: "Ah yes. A suit of clothes went by / uninhabited, hollow" or "The earth was an enemy, / because it fled. / The sky an enemy, / because it never stopped."

This volume is bilingual - something I appreciate (or demand) in translations of poetry. It is a volume that bears reading and rereading in either or both languages.

Este libro es una magnífica memoria de la infancia y juventud de Rafael Alberti, uno de los poetas más importantes de la literatura española. Su prosa es excelente, y en mi opinión, la trama no decae en ningún momento. Mis capítulos favoritos son su infancia en El Puerto de Santa María (algunos miembros de su familia, reales, son dignos de novela), y su conexión con los otros miembros de la Generación del 27. Una obra muy valiosa desde un punto de vista histórico y literario.

Este libro es una magnífica memoria de la infancia y juventud de Rafael Alberti, uno de los poetas más importantes de la literatura española. Su prosa es excelente, y en mi opinión, la trama no decae en ningún momento. Mis capítulos favoritos son su infancia en El Puerto de Santa María (algunos miembros de su familia, reales, son dignos de novela), y su conexión con los otros miembros de la Generación del 27. Una obra muy valiosa desde un punto de vista histórico y literario.