Description
Poetry. Translated from the Spanish by Elizabeth Zuba. Argentine poet Arnaldo Calveyra's first book of poetry, Cartas para que la alegría, tells the story of the author's one-way journey as a young man from his home in the northern pampas to Buenos Aires in 1950. It was the first leg of a journey that would end in exile. In this gentle, diffuse text in which time and place radiate and recede and spring up many and green, Cartas strikingly anticipates the collusive forces that would shape the rest of his life—dissolution and preservation. The author of over 25 books of literature and theater, Calveyra went on to become a national treasure in his adopted country of France, winning the prestigious award of Commander of the French Order of Arts and Letters in 1999, and eventually, after the fall of the military dictatorship in 1983, equally in his native Argentina. LETTERS SO THAT HAPPINESS is the first of his works to be translated and published in English.
Author Bio
Argentine poet, novelist and playwright, Arnaldo Calveyra attracted critical attention with his first book of poetry, Cartas para que la alegria; Julio Cortázar, Carlos Mastronardi and Victoria Ocampo were early champions of his work. In 1961, Calveyra accepted a research fellowship in Paris where he would meet his wife Monique Tur and remain for the rest of his life—an exile that was both sweet and bitter in accordance with Argentina's political landscape. The author of over 25 works of literature and theater, Calveyra was the recipient of numerous honors in his lifetime including France's highest award for contributions to the arts Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres in 1999.
Author City: PARIS ARG