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

Alain Saint-Saëns and the Love of his Life.

'The narratives are gripping.'

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

Street Children.

The Tragedy of Ycuá Bolaños.

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.''

Dr. Alain Saint-Saëns

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

by University Press of the South:

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.