> Skip to content
  • Published: 12 September 2023
  • ISBN: 9781644211762
  • Imprint: Seven Stories Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 248
  • RRP: $49.99
Categories:

Historias y poemas de una lucha de clases / Stories and Poems of a Class Struggle





Poems of revolution by one of Latin America’s most beloved poets
 

“His prolific artistic production, cut off at the age of forty, remains a monumental artifact . . . illustrating his profound conviction that the poet can and must, in his life as well as in his work, serve as the finely-honed scalpel of change, both in word and deed.” —Claribel Alegría
 
“The most daring and innovative Salvadoran writer and intellectual of the twentieth century.” —Jaime Barba

Poems of revolution by one of Latin America’s most beloved poets

Born in San Salvador in 1935, Roque Dalton dedicated his life to armed struggle while writing fierce, tender poems about his country and its people. In Historias y poemas de una lucha de clases / Stories and Poems of a Class Struggle, Dalton offers a road map for a liberated El Salvador, writing through the lens of five poetic personas, each with their own imagined history and distinct voice. This collection shows a country caught in the crosshairs of American imperialism, where the few rule the many and the many fight to survive—and yet there is love and humor and self-mockery to be found here on every page, in every verse, as well as an abiding faith in humanity. “I believe the world is beautiful,” Dalton writes, “and that poetry, like bread, is for everyone.”

  • Published: 12 September 2023
  • ISBN: 9781644211762
  • Imprint: Seven Stories Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 248
  • RRP: $49.99
Categories:

Praise for Historias y poemas de una lucha de clases / Stories and Poems of a Class Struggle

“This collection comprises five diverse personalities, all poets and each an aspect of the intricate consciousness of one man, Roque Dalton, a Salvadoran writer who sought justice through verse as well as action and whose work is timeless. Dalton became an avid participant in the guerrilla army called the People’s Revolutionary Army and at the same time began publishing poetry with political and sarcastic undertones that make his work so identifiable. . . . A great addition to any collection; recommended for all students and lovers of poetry.” —Criticas
“For those who aren’t sure where El Salvador is, this book will locate it for them . . . in the heart of blood and bravery.”—Lawrence Ferlinghetti
“The Salvadoran guerrilla poet Roque Dalton is one of the greatest poets of Latin America. And one of the most original. In one thing he is unsurpassed: poetic humor, humor even when he wrote about something as tragic as his beloved El Salvador, for which he gave his life.” —Ernesto Cardenal
“Roque had a sense of life and struggle that enabled him to laugh at himself, dig beneath the surface and bring up the most difficult areas of human experience . . . touching them deeply, exploring them, and projecting them in a way both useful and beautiful.” —Margaret Randall
 

penguin pop image
penguin pop image