The Great Zoo: A Bilingual Edition (Phoenix Poets) cover image

The Great Zoo: A Bilingual Edition

Translated by Aaron Coleman

A fantastical collection of poems by revolutionary Afro-Cuban poet Nicolás Guillén presented in a Spanish-English bilingual edition.

Born in Cuba to parents of African and European ancestry, Nicolás Guillén worked in printing presses and studied law before moving into Havana’s literary scene. A virtuosic maker and breaker of forms, Guillén rose to fame by transforming a popular form of Cuban music into poetry that called attention to the experience of Afro-Cuban people, and he continued to interweave his artistic and political commitments as he traveled the world.

Originally published in Spanish in 1967, The Great Zoo is a humorous and biting collection of poems that presents a fantastical bestiary of ideas, social concerns, landscapes, phenomena, and more. The “animals” on view in this menagerie include the Mississippi and Amazon Rivers, clouds from different countries, a singing guitar, a temperamental atomic bomb, blue-pelted police, a hurricane, the KKK, and the North Star, among many others.

Translated by Aaron Coleman with a keen understanding of the contexts of colonial racialization, oppression, and exoticism, this bilingual edition stands as a testament to Guillén’s carnivalesque vision.

See more less
Rendering loop-subscriptions
Add to Wishlist
Additional Information
Book Categories:
  • Political & Protest Poetry
  • Caribbean & Latin American Poetry
| Book Publication Date: | Book Publication Year: 1,967 | Book Binding: Paperback | Book Language: en | Book Authors:
  • Nicolás Guillén
  • Aaron Coleman
| Book Pages: 96 | Book Dimensions: 16.51 cm, 0.61 cm, 24.13 cm | Book Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Reviews

Customer Reviews

Be the first to write a review
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)