After-Dinner Declarations

At 94, Chilean poet Parra is one of the most familiar names in Latin American verse. In these 235 poems, the author places himself as historian, literary critic, political observer, and commentator more than poet. He mixes in a few nonstandard items, such as ""+"" for m\xE1s [""more""] or ""x"" for por [""per,"" ""by""], includes numbers as opposed to their word equivalents, and alters capitals and lower-case letters. Parra has a predilection for wordplay, double entendres, neologisms, many of which cannot be squeezed into another language. The translator's solutions are agile and his efforts to re-create or bring across Parra's style are enormously successful. Parra's poetry is always rooted in Chile, with its references to individuals, places, and groups such as the Mapuches. Some of the specific references have the author's own brief footnotes; others are clarified by the translator. Highly recommended for academic libraries with collections on contemporary Latin American poetry.-Kathleen March, Univ. of Maine, Orono