Plagios/Plagiarisms, Volume 3

Ulalume Gonzalez de Leon's poetry explores the ephemeral nature of identity and its dependence on the ever-shifting ground of language. In the 1970s in Latin America, Gonzalez de Leon was part of a generation of women writers challenging the traditional identities of women, marriage, and relationships. This third of three bilingual volumes presents the culmination of the poet's achievement from 1970-79: her experimentation with unconventional syntax and borrowed texts, her masterful blend of anatomical, scientific, and philosophical vocabulary with richly erotic imagery, and her penetrating questions about identity and intimacy. Never before has the body of this poet's work been available in dual-language text, delivered with extraordinary precision and care by translators clearly attuned to Gonzalez de Leon's intelligence and lyrical sensitivity. Hers is an art of wordplay and mystery, what Octavio Paz called an "aerial geometry," and earned her many awards, including the Xavier Villaurrutia Prize, the Flower of Laura Poetry Prize, and the Alfonso X Prize.