"Nueva Escritura de las Américas * New Writing from the Americas"--a door between two languages that swings both ways. A sumptuous collection of writing, mostly new and mostly translated from it's mother-tongue into it's sister's, or neighbor's. Beyond just translation, however, MANDORLA helps put the work into context--so, for instance, the Spanish translation from Gertrude Stein's Tender Buttons is followed by Michael Davidson's short "Lecture on Stein", again translated into Spanish. Or, to illuminate Clayton Eshleman's translations of César Vallejo, we get an essay by Eshleman on the translation process, and another essay (in Spanish) on Vallejo's writings about art. Other treats for English-monolinguals: Xavier Villaurrutia's poetry (again with an essay by the translator, as well as a further essay by Octavio Paz), and Salvador Elizondo's story "Coprophagia"; Spanish speakers get Paul Metcalf's "John Wilkes Booth," and an essay by Guy Davenport on Louis Zukovsky's "A"--and there's more. Multi-culturism that is neither condescending nor exotic, this magazine models a kind of respect that truly enriches all of the culture(s) it touches.--luigi
This review originally appeared in TapRoot Reviews #3,
Contact the editor, luigi-bob drake, at Burning Press
Copyright Burning Press 1993, 1995.