by Felipe Alfau
First published 1992
Felipe Alfau nearly vanished from literary memory before his novels Locos and Chromos brought him back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Sentimental Songs completes his published works with poetry written across six decades, from 1923 to 1987. These verses bracket his fiction in time and reveal a different side of his artistic vision. Alfau composed them in his native Spanish, drawing on the classical traditions of late nineteenth century Spanish poetry. Yet his characteristic mockery surfaces throughout, creating a paradoxical relationship with Romanticism. Translator Ilan Stavans describes the collection as challenging Romantic ideals while emerging from Romantic sensibilities. This bilingual edition presents Alfau's Spanish originals alongside Stavans's English translations, developed through direct collaboration with the author. Stavans provides extensive commentary that connects these poems to Alfau's novels and situates them within the broader landscape of Spanish literary tradition.
Genres: 20th-century, spanish-literature, poetry, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, lyrical
Tropes: mockery, paradoxical
Setting: LA
Period: 1923-1987
55 pages · Paperback · Dalkey Archive Press