Translation Review - The University of Texas at Dallas

BOOK REVIEWTHE RETURN OF THE RIVER, by Roberto Sosa.Translated by Jo Anne Engelbert. Willimantic,Connecticut: Curbstone, 2002Steven F. White, ReviewerThe Return of the River, winner of the 2003 NationalTranslation Award, contains some of the most strikingcontemporary poems being written in the Spanish languageand has been translated here in resoundingly effectiveand innovative ways by Jo Anne Engelbert, who hasdedicated many years to the task of presenting the workof Honduran Roberto Sosa to readers in English. It ishard to believe that this remarkable poet will soon turn75, yet still is not very well known outside LatinAmerica. This volume of his selected poems, composedover some forty years, presented in a bilingual edition byCurbstone Press, and now recognized by the AmericanLiterary Translators Association, should be the perfectway to begin to rectify this situation.A close look at the trajectory of Sosa’s writingreveals that the poet experienced tremendous stylisticand thematic breakthroughs in the late 1960s and early1970s with the publication of the two volumes Lospobres (The Poor) and Un mundo para todos dividido (AWorld for All, Divided). For once, there was justice:respectively, the books received Spain’s prestigiousAdonais Prize and Cuba’s Casa de las Américas Prize. Infact, I would suggest that readers dive into The Return ofthe River and begin with these powerful poems that constitutepp. 61–155. This is the heart of Sosa’s mostaccomplished work, such as the tour de force “Mipadre”/ “My Father” (from Los pobres), which movesaudiences to tears and enthusiastic applause:Caminaba— doy mi testimonio —del brazo de fantasmasque lo llevaron a ninguna parte.Caíaabandono abajo, cada vez más abajo,más abajocon ayes sin sonidorepitiendo ruidos no aprendidos,buscando continuamenteel encuentro con los arrullos dentro de la apariencia.He was walking —I swear it —Arm in arm with ghostsleading him nowhere.He was fallinginto abandonment, deeper and deeper,deeper still,uttering silent moans,repeating unlearned soundstrying to find a lullabywithin appearances.“La hora baja” / “Qualms” (from Un mundo para todosdividido) contains chilling, engaged enigmas that enablethe poem simultaneously to live in the Honduras of thepoet’s lifetime and to inhabit other geographic and temporalboundaries:Dando vueltas y cambios crecimos duramente.De nosotrosse levantaronlos jueces de dos caras; los perseguidoresde cien ojos, veloces en la bruma y alegresconsumidores de distancias; los delatores fáciles;los verdugos sedientos de púrpura; los falsos testigoscreadores de la gráfica del humo; los pacienteshacedores de nocturnos cuchillos.Algunos dijeron: es el destinoque nos fue asignado y huyerondejando la noche enterrada. Otrosprefirieron encerrarse entre cuatro paredes sin principioni fin.Pero todos nosotros — a cierta hora — recorremosla callejuela de nuestro pasadode donde volvemoscon los cabellos tintos en sangre.72 Translation Review