100 Refutations | Mexico | Song lyrics (excerpt) | Spanish
May, 2018100 Refutations | Poetry | Spanish
May, 2018This poem is taken from the Cantares de Dzitbalché, discovered in 1942 in the Villa of Dzitbalché, Calkiní, Campeche, Mexico. The codex is composed of fifteen religious Mayan songs corresponding to the Cacicazgo de Ah Canul. It is believed to have been composed in 1440, and the poetry found therein is considered a treasure of the poetic cosmogenic vision of the Maya of the region.
For more information, see FAMSI, the Fundación para el Avance de los estudios Mesoamericanos, Inc.
100 Refutations | French | Haiti | Poetry
May, 2018Carl Brouard (1902-1965) was an influential figure in Haitian literature despite having published just one book in his lifetime, Écrit sur du ruban rose. Brouard practiced Vodou and belonged to Les Griots, a group whose goal was to reclaim the value of Haitian folklore.
100 Refutations | Argentina | Poetry | Spanish
May, 2018Carlos Guido y Spano (1827-1918) was a poet and political activist who strongly opposed Argentina’s war against Paraguay. During his lifetime he worked as the director of the General Archive of the Nation, served as a member of the National Council on Education, and co-founded the Human Society in Argentina.
100 Refutations | Poetry (excerpt) | Spanish
May, 2018Nezahualpilli (1464-1515) was an Aztec poet. Second in fame only to, perhaps, Nezahualcoyotl, his birth and death are shrouded in myth. It is said that when he was a child, Nezahualpilli’s nannies witnessed him taking many different animal forms in his cradle. Regarding his death, his own descendant, the historian Ixtlilxóchitl, wrote that “he gathered himself in the innermost room of the palace, where pensive, sad, and tired of the grief of life, he ended his own….” (Fernando de Alva, “Ixtlitlxótchitl,” Obras Historicas, t. II, p. 328).
The translator of the featured poem into Spanish is unknown.
100 Refutations | El Salvador | Poetry | Spanish
May, 2018Vicente Acosta (1867-1908) was a Salvadoran poet, professor, and politician. He was widely published in Salvadoran journals and magazines, and in 1904 founded La Quincena, a journal of scientific and cultural studies.
100 Refutations | Cuba | Poetry | Spanish
May, 2018José Martí (1853-1895) is a Cuban national hero and a towering figure in Latin American letters. A poet, essayist, journalist, revolutionary philosopher, translator, professor, publisher, and political theorist, he fought for Cuba's independence from Spain and against the threat of United States expansionism into Cuba. He is considered the father of Latin American modernism, and his best known works include the children's magazine Edad de oro (1889), the poetry collection Versos sencillos (1891), selections from which were adapted by composer Julián Orbón into the iconic Cuban song "Guantanamera," and the many crónicas he wrote for newspapers in the U.S. and Latin America.
100 Refutations | Essay | Poetry
May, 2018Welcome to the sixth week of 100 Refutations. For one hundred days, we’re publishing a daily poem from one of the countries recently denigrated by the president of the United States. Lina M. Ferreira C.-V., who conceived and compiled the series and translated many of its poems, has been working tirelessly on this enormous project, with the help of several collaborators, since the president’s comments in January.
This week, each poem is paired with music, and we've provided links to performances on YouTube.
We’re accompanying the daily poems with a weekly essay by Lina, and the sixth one is featured here.
– InTranslation editors
100 Refutations | Poetry | Spanish
May, 2018Lina M. Ferreira C.-V. translated this poem from “La Primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno,” which is a letter written by Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala to King Phillip III in an effort to describe the deplorable treatment of the indigenous people in the Americas by the Spaniards. The letter was lost in the journey, but found 300 years later in Denmark, in 1909.
100 Refutations | El Salvador | Poetry | Spanish
May, 2018Susana Reyes earned a master’s degree in Estudios de la Cultura Centroamericana with an emphasis in literature before working at several universities in El Salvador as a professor. She currently teaches at the Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas UCA. Reyes ran the now-defunct Escuela para Jóvenes Talento en Letras, a workshop for young writers; co-hosted the radio program La Bohemia on YSUK during the 1990s; and has participated in various theatrical productions, and led numerous theatrical workshops. She has also participated in investigations regarding the state of both literature at large and literature written by women in El Salvador. She is the literature editor of Índole Editores, belongs to the Grupo Literario Poesía y Más, serves as the current president of the Claribel Alegría Foundation, and directs the literary workshop Palabra y Obra.
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