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.

 

ISBN: 1-931948-97-6

2009

 

Dr. ALAIN SAINT-SAËNS

is a Professor of History and Literature,

Writer, Poet, Playwright,

Novelist, and Translator.

 

 

''I came to love Paraguay, a small country niched between

 Brazil, Bolivia and Argentina. People are gentle,

hard-workers, and dedicated. In spite of a

dictatorial past and an imperfect democracy that

 followed, Paraguayans are

eager to establishing a strong, real, and modern

democracy.'

 

'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

                                                                                                    Paraguay, between Bolivia, Argentina and Brasil.

                                                     

 

'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.'

 

Dr. Alain Saint-Saëns

published a four act play,

Ordeal at the Superdome. Escaping Katrina's Wrath,

in 2010.

'This compelling play will quickly and decisively establish the author as a presence in the rising generation of playwrights.'

 'Certainly it will be a long time before we have another memorable figure like Barbara Carter, ‘a spirited and noble human being, a tormented soul full of ardent faith and forgettable sins.’                                   

Dr. Gerald Monsman, Professor of English Literature, University of Arizona.

 

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 Prestigious Academic Presses.

 

Dr. Alain Saint-Saëns

translated from Spanish to French the novel written by

Paraguayan author, Juan Manuel Marcos,  

El invierno de Gunter.

It was published in 2011

by Editions L'Harmattan in Paris (France)

entitled,

L'hiver de Gunter.

'Le poète, dramaturge et historien francais Alain Saint-Saëns, en une remarquable traduction, a su allier élégance stylistique et richesse verbale tout en restant fidèle au texte qu'il transposait admirablement d'une culture à l'autre.'

Rubén Bareiro Saguier,
Ancien Ambassadeur du Paraguay en France,
Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur.

 

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' book of poems in French, France, terre lointaine. Poèmes de l'errance,

has been published in 2011 by Presses Universitaires du Nouveau Monde.

 

 

Alain Saint-Saëns is Agrégé d'Histoire, Docteur en Histoire et Docteur Habilité from the University of Toulouse-Le Mirail (France).

A former Scientific Fellow of the French School for Advanced Spanish Studies in Madrid, Spain (Casa Velázquez) for three years,

he is Professor of Modern History and History of Spain and the Mediterranean.  

He wrote and directed more than ten major books of History in French, English, and Spanish.

An admired poet, Alain Saint-Saëns published in Spanish, Cantos Paraguayos.  Poemas de Libertad (2009);

as bilingual French-Spanish editions: Curuguaty (2012), and Enfances sous les lapachos/Infancias bajo los lapachos (2014).

His
book of poems in French, was published

in 2011 under the title, France, terre lointaine.  Poèmes de l'errance.

A praised playwright, Alain Saint-Saëns recently published two plays: 

Ordeal at the Superdome. Escaping Katrina's Wrath in 2010; and Pecados de mi pueblo (2013) in Spanish. His new play in Spanish,

Romeo y Julieta en el Marzo Paraguayo will be launched in 2015.

As a translator, Alain Saint-Saëns recently translated:

Paraguayan Juan Manuel Marcos' famous novel, El invierno de Gunter, from Spanish to French;

The book was published in 2011 by Editions L'Harmattan in Paris, France, under the title, L'hiver de Gunter;

Brazilian poet Aleilton Fonseca's book of poetry, Um rio nos olhos, from Portuguese to Spanish,

published by University Press of the South in 2013, under the title, Un río en los ojos;

and Paraguayan poet Renée Ferrer's book of poetry, Ignominia, from Spanish to French.

The book will be published in 2015 under the title, Ignominie.

Alain Saint-Saëns has written a novel in French, Deux veuves et un ouragan, a story of desperation, love, suffering, and redemption,

based in New Orleans, a city the author has been living in for twenty years and that he passionately loves.

This novel will be published in France in 2015.

Alain Saint-Saëns is preparing a Nouvelle anthologie de la poésie française du Moyen Age à nos jours

in French, to be published in 2016.

 

A NEW NOVEL IN SPANISH

BY ALAIN SAINT-SAËNS

HIJOS DE LA PATRIA

'La novela de Alain Saint-Saëns, Hijos de la Patria, es una lección para hacernos pensar en lo que somos nosotros paraguayos como raza, para acercarnos a esos héroes, soldaditos desconocidos, muchos, de la batalla de Acosta Ñu del 16 de agosto de 1869. Esta novela es un precedente importante, desgarrador pero que golpea la puerta de la conciencia patriótica. Estoy tremendamente tocada en el alma por esta historia extraordinaria y espeluznante de comienzo a fin. Es una obra que arranca llanto, ira, amor y paz. Estamos frente a la novela de consagración del autor, Alain Saint-Saëns, como escritor de narrativa. Con un final impresionante, Hijos de la Patria, basada en nuestra historia, será sin duda una novela culta…grande, muy grande'.

Estela Franco

'Sobre el episodio histórico de la batalla de Acosta Ñu, Alain Saint-Saëns construye un relato que alcanza niveles de horror estremecedores. Los personajes en Hijos de la Patria giran como envueltos por un torbellino de sadismo salvaje. No se trata de que lo que cuenta el narrador haya sucedido o no en la realidad. La ficción narrativa tiene su propia lógica, su propia realidad imaginaria que agrega un significado profundo y universal al holocausto casi mítico de niños, ancianos y mujeres, profanado por una mente saturnina deshumanizada, en su pasión destructiva
de cualquier oposición a su voluntad omnímoda'.

Francisco Pérez-Maricevich
De la Academia Paraguaya de la Lengua Española

 

 

PRENSAS UNIVERSITARIAS
DE AMÉRICA LATINA

ISBN: 978-1-937030-47-6

    

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