wpe4E.jpg (4420 bytes)

CANTOS PARAGUAYOS

POEMAS DE LIBERTAD

           TABLE OF CONTENTS

-   Critical Introduction by Dr. Jack de Groot, University of Queensland, Brisbane (Australia):

''Cantos a un nuevo Paraguay.  Poesía y desafíos.''

Poemas:

-    Cecilia.

-    Niños de la calle.

-    Ycuá Bolaños.

-    Te moriste en Barcelona.

-    El nombre de su padre.

-    Ser Paraguayo mereciste.

-    Una Y.

-    El planillero.

-    Remansito.

-   Fernando.

Glosario.

Cantos Paraguayos.  Poemas de libertad.

,                                                                                                                                          

Check Out Now

ISBN: 1-931948-97-6

2009

Dr. Alain Saint-Saëns.

Dr. ALAIN SAINT-SAËNS

is Professor of History

and Director

of University Press of the South

and Presses Universitaires du Nouveau Monde

in New Orleans, Lousiana, USA.

 

Dr. Alain Saint-Saëns

knows Paraguay very well.

 

''I came to love this little country niched between

 Brazil, Bolivia and Argentina. People are gentle,

hard-workers, and dedicated. In spite of a

dictatorial past and a pseudo-democracy that

 followed, Paraguayans are

eager to establishing a strong, real, and modern

democracy.

 

Their new President, Fernando Lugo,

who is a former bishop of the poors, has the

charisma and the ability to guiding them thru

that challenging path

toward the ultimate goal of liberty.''

 

'These beautiful poems tell two stories,

that of the humanity that shapes Paraguay’s problems, hopes, and dreams,

and that of Alain Saint-Saëns’s personal and professional journeys to a new land.'

 

MAP OF

PARAGUAY

Dr. Alain Saint-Saëns with his Son, Zinedine.

                          Paraguay, between Bolivia, Argentina and Brasil.                                        Alain Saint-Saëns with his Son, Zinedine.

Dr. Alain Saint-Saens and his Wife.

Dr. Alain Saint-Saëns with his Son, Zinedine.

Alain Saint-Saëns and the Love of his Life.

                            Alain Saint-Saëns Playing with his Son, Zinedine.

'The narratives are gripping.'

 'The truth of the reality hits the reader hard, right in the face.'

                                        Street Children.

The Tragedy of Ycuá Bolaños.

                      

                     NIÑOS DE LA CALLE

¡Dame tu dinero!

Pero lo necesito,

Luis le dijo,

Asustado.

Ya te he dicho,

En esta calle

Soy el jefe.

El Grande

Es mi nombre,

Todo lo tuyo

Es mío.

Había mendigado

Luis muy duro

En el frío,

Era tan injusto

Robarle su dinero.

Bueno, mi guapo,

Dos mil guarda

Para tu comida.

Soy tu amigo,

Chico bonito,

Lo sabes,

No te lo olvides.

¡Acércate acá!

Temía lo que quería.

Cada noche lo pedía.

¡Abre la boca,

Y no me muerdas!

¿Por qué lloras?

De su vergüenza

Luis lloraba.

Quería morirse,

Y al cielo irse.

Por cierto ahora

Dado todo hubiera

Para vivir en Don Bosco.

Allá estaba Pedro,

Su mejor amigo.

Podría tener colchoneta,

Ir a la escuela,

Quizá encontrar familia

Con ayuda de los Padres.

¡Despierta!

¡No te pares,

Idiota!

Le dolía la boca.

Cuando acabó,

Al lado le echó

El Grande.

¡Lárgate!

Le dijo.

¡Qué malo!

Pensaba el pequeño.

Gritaba su estómago.

Tanto frío

Hacía

Con este viento

De invierno.

Temblando todo,

Sueño

No tenía.

De zapatero

Cola olía,

Olvidando

Al mundo.

Se prometió:

Mañana,

A Don Bosco

Sí, iré.

Nueva vida

Empezaré,

Mañana,

Mañana…

A las nueve,

El día siguiente,

Le encontraron

Muerto

En una cajita

De cartón.

¡Qué pobre!

Lamentó una madre,

Mirándole

En el suelo.

Mierda era,

Dijo un policía,

Un ¡niño de la calle!

 

YCUÁ BOLAÑOS

En un supermercado,

A Primero

De Agosto

De dos mil cuatro,

Un grito

Se oyó.

¡Fuego!

¡Fuego!

Cierra las puertas,

Rápido,

Te digo.

Pero el fuego,

Señor Director.

¿Qué fuego?

¿Has perdido

El sentido?

No han pagado,

No van a salir.

Señor,

Se van a morir,

Si escapar

No pueden.

Favor

Abrir las puertas.

Robando mis cosas

Quieren,

Estos ladrones.

Pagar

Deben.

Sin concesiones.

Señor,

¡Qué horror!

Las llamas

A las puertas

                                Sí, corren,

¡Ya se mueren!

 

Ycuá Bolaños,

Doscientos

De nuestros niños,

Quemados.

Doscientos

                                Y pico más,

                                Abuelitas,

                                Mamitas,

                                Padres y tíos,

                               Yernos y cuñados,

                                Primos y sobrinos,

                                Cocidos

                                Todos

                                En un asado

Gigantesco

De carne y huesos.

 

Ycuá Bolaños,

Barbaridad

                                Monstruosa,

Paiva, Casaccia,

Mancha sucia

De la patria

Vergonzosa.

 

Ycuá Bolaños,

Tumba fea,

Guernica

Del Paraguay.

Justicia,

Humana,

No hay.

                                              © Alain Saint-Saëns 2009                                                  © Alain Saint-Saëns 2009

REVIEWS OF THE BOOK OF POETRY

 

'The poems, Cantos Paraguayos.  Poemas de libertad, are fascinating and provide deep insight into far-off, mysterious and trouble-afflicted Paraguay, a nation of great beauty and of continued violence, on which Alain Saint-Saëns so penetratingly comments, yet a country nonetheless imbued with great promise. 

This eloquent and moving volume captures so passionately and stirringly the complexity and paradox of modern Paraguay, which thus far has been an enigma for the Western World.  Alain Saint-Saëns concludes his beautiful book of poetry on a note of hope for the future, a hope for a peaceful and united Paraguay that can be extended to all Latin American countries.'

Lanin A. Gyurko                                                                                                  READ THE WHOLE REVIEW

Professor of Latin American Literatures,

University of Arizona (USA).

Winner of the 2002 Orden de los Descubridores Award from La Sociedad Nacional Hispánica.

 

 

'This is a remarkable collection of poetry from a distinguished historian who has revealed what must have been a long smoldering artistic passion.  These beautiful poems tell two stories, that of the humanity that shapes Paraguay’s problems, hopes, and dreams, and that of Alain Saint-Saëns’s personal and professional journeys to a new land.  These poems are a moving insight into the author’s own life changes, and how they have been touched and often shaped by Paraguay’s turbulent, troubled, but profoundly human recent past.  Saint-Saëns’s poems reflect the knowledge of and sensitivity to domestic and international Paraguayan affairs of somebody who has lived in that country all his life. 

There is no better introduction to Paraguay than these short works of art (...)

Cantos Paraguayos.  Poemas de libertad is a joy to read and heralds the emergence of a powerful new poetic voice.'

David Sheinin                                                                                                  READ THE WHOLE REVIEW

Professor of Latin American History, Trent University, Canada,

Académico Correspondiente,

Academia Nacional de la Historia de la República Argentina.

 

 

'Alain Saint-Saëns’s Cantos Paraguayos.  Poemas de libertad depict all the domestic problems that Paraguay is facing: escalating crime-wave, kidnapping, violence, poverty, social inequalities, and exploitation. Successive poems enable the reader to have a deep insight into the Paraguayan society (...)

Alain Saint-Saëns has opened the door of a garden, both cruel and hopeful, in which devils and angels are struggling against one another (...)

With Alain Saint-Saëns’s poems, we enter into a turbulent Paraguay,

where hopes and dreams of a better life pave the way

 to the young democracy.'

Marie Laure Rosita De Shazer                                                                                              READ THE WHOLE REVIEW

Writer, Poet, and Professor of Spanish and Chinese, Illinois.

 

 

'Alain Saint-Saëns's poems, Cantos Paraguayos.  Poemas de libertad, are admirable and effective,

 with their stark, short lines and vivid feeling. I very much enjoyed reading them.'

Carl Good                                                                                            

Assistant Professor of Spanish, Indiana University (USA),

Co-Editor of the journal Discourse.

 

 

'Cantos Paraguayos. Poemas de libertad, a beautiful book of poems written by Alain Saint-Saëns, who evidently knows very well and loves very much Paraguay, perfectly reflects, thru poetry, the various challenges the Paraguayan society is currently facing. (...)

No Paraguayan president will easily be able to combat the issues with which Alain Saint-Saëns deals in his poetry. Poverty, crime, corruption, prostitution and murder: the reader who resides in the (rich) northern hemisphere will place life in Latin America in a different perspective after reading this book of poems. (...)

The memories of the many decades of oppression shine through very vividly in Alain Saint-Saëns’ Cantos paraguayos. Poemas de libertad. Through an a prima vista simple use of vocabulary – even taking on the vernacular and at times a deliberate free use of grammar - Alain Saint-Saëns masterly paints the tragedy which continues to surround the vast majority of the Paraguayan people. However, the moment this a prima vista dissolves, the truth of the reality hits the reader hard, right in the face. (...)

            Cantos Paraguayos narration of Paraguayan life reminds of the tremendismo of Spanish author and Nobel Prize winner Camilo José Cela in the La familia de Pascual Duarte. Alain Saint-Saëns’ personal variant on this tremendismo definitely succeeds in awakening the reader.'

                                                                                                                              

Jack de Groot                                                                                                                     READ THE WHOLE REVIEW

University of Queensland, Brisbane (Australia).

Writer, Poet and Professor,

Author of, Intertextuality through Obscurity.  The Poetry of Federico García Lorca and Luis de Góngora.

Winner of the 1995 Australian Literary Prize for his poem, 'Homenaje a Luis de Góngora.'

 

Fernando Lugo,

President of Paraguay.

(2008-   )

''Hoy nace un nuevo Paraguay.''

 Fernando Lugo, President of Paraguay.

Dr. Alain Saint-Saëns

is preparing two academic books about Paraguay politics to be published in 2009

by University Press of the South:

President Nicanor Duarte Frutos (2003-2008).

Photo: © ABC Digital.

 

Nicanor Duarte Frutos,

Presidente del Paraguay,

(2003-2008).

 

Y el pueblo se levantó. 

El retorno a la democracia

 en Paraguay,

(2004-2008).

 

Photo: © ABC Digital

 

Dr. Alain Saint-Saëns

co-authored with Ms. Lourdes Rios

a Children's Book,  

Fabián, el Brutito de Remansito,

the story of the life of a little boy in a very poor neighborhood

of Asunción, Paraguay,

published in 2008

by University Press of the South.

 

Dr. Alain Saint-Saëns is the Praised Author and Editor of Several Books

Already Published by University Press of the South, Presses Universitaires du Nouveau Monde,

and Other Presses.

Lesbianism and Homosexuality in Early Modern Spain

Sex and Love in Golden Age Spain

Young Charles V, 1500-1531

Art and Faith in Tridentine Spain (1545-1690)

Loin, très loin de la maison de ma mère

Dr. Alain Saint-Saëns

translated from English and Spanish a book of short stories,  

Far From My Mother´s House,

written by the famous American author, Barbara Mujica,

and entitled:

  Loin, très loin de la maison de ma mère

(Presses Universitaires du Nouveau Monde:  New Orleans, 2005).

 

Dr. Alain Saint-Saëns

is finishing a novel in French to be published in 2009:

Les deux veuves. 

 

    HOME      OUR CURRENT CATALOG    

                                                                                                             NEW TITLES BY SERIES    FICTION PROPOSAL    

                                                                                                                                    NEW TITLES BY COVERS

 WELCOME TO OUR ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT

 WELCOME TO OUR CHILDREN'S BOOKS DEPARTMENT

 WELCOME TO OUR FICTION DEPARTMENT

 WELCOME TO OUR CD-ROMS DEPARTMENT

 PICK AND CLICK BUY ONLINE CATALOG

 

wpe4E.jpg (4420 bytes)