Collete Inez
Levitin gives us the brilliance of Andrade's poetry in rich and musical language.

C. W. Truesdale
It is a sheer delight to come across the poems of de Andrade in Levitin's sensitive and lyrical translations.

Booksweek, David Biespiel, 4 May 2003
A poet grounded in the fundamental emotions of human existence....Thriving on sensual imagery and metaphor, they climb the 'highest boughs.'

Bloomsbury Review, Ray Gonzalez, September/October 2003
Portugal's best-known and best-selling poet...a rare glimpse at a different approach to the poetry.

Translation Review, 1 June 2003
Sensual, clear, concise, lyric, luminous, and earthy....Levitin's brilliant translations seem to echo the nature of the originals.

George Monteiro, World Literature Today, Summer 2004
The most fetching lyrics in modern Portuguese poetry....excellent versions in English.

Book Description
Award-winning poetry in a bilingual edition, by Portugal's best-known living poet. Eugénio de Andrade is the author of twenty-nine volumes of poetry as well as numerous children's books, collections of prose writings, and translations into Portuguese of Sappho, Federico García Lorca, and Yannis Ritsos. Forbidden Words: Selected Poetry of Eugénio de Andrade, is based on the poet's own retrospective Antologia Breve ("Brief Anthology") of 1998, expanded and edited for English-speaking readers by his longtime translator, Alexis Levitin. Marguerite Yourcenar spoke of "the well-tempered clavier" of Andrade's poems, Gregory Rabassa of his "succint lyricism...summing things up in a moment, much like haiku." His verse, deeply rooted in the rural landscapes of his childhood and in the ancient Greek lyric, have the clarity of light on sand, radiating pagan intimations of immortality.

About the Author
Eugénio de Andrade was born in 1923 in Povoa de Atalaia, a small village in Portugal close to the Spanish border. He published his first poem at the age of sixteen, his first book three years later. He has received every literary prize his country offers, as well as several international ones, including, by acclaim, the Portuguese language's most prestigious award, the Camoes Prize (2000), among whose previous winners are Jorge Amado and José Saramago. Alexis Levitin, a professor of English at the State University of New York-Plattsburgh, has translated nine previous books of Andrade's poetry. His translation of Soulstorm, stories by Clarice Lispector, was published by New Directions in 1988.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Award-winning poetry in a bilingual edition, by Portugal's best-known living poet.

Eugénio de Andrade is the author of twenty-nine volumes of poetry as well as numerous children's books, collections of prose writings, and translations into Portuguese of Sappho, Federico García Lorca, and Yannis Ritsos. Forbidden Words: Selected Poetry of Eugénio de Andrade, is based on the poet's own retrospective Antologia Breve ("Brief Anthology") of 1998, expanded and edited for English-speaking readers by his longtime translator, Alexis Levitin.

Marguerite Yourcenar spoke of "the well-tempered clavier" of Andrade's poems, Gregory Rabassa of his "succint lyricism...summing things up in a moment, much like haiku." His verse, deeply rooted in the rural landscapes of his childhood and in the ancient Greek lyric, have the clarity of light on sand, radiating pagan intimations of immortality.

Author Biography: Eugénio de Andrade was born in 1923 in Povoa de Atalaia, a small village in Portugal close to the Spanish border. He published his first poem at the age of sixteen, his first book three years later. He has received every literary prize his country offers, as well as several international ones, including, by acclaim, the Portuguese language's most prestigious award, the Camoes Prize (2000), among whose previous winners are Jorge Amado and José Saramago. Alexis Levitin, a professor of English at the State University of New York-Plattsburgh, has translated nine previous books of Andrade's poetry. His translation of Soulstorm, stories by Clarice Lispector, was published by New Directions in 1988.

FROM THE CRITICS

Collete Inez

Levitin gives us the brilliance of Andrade's poetry in rich and musical language.

C. W. Truesdale