
The Serpent and the Fire
Poetries of the Americas from Origins to Present
University of California Press
1st Edition
Published on 22. October 2024
Book
Hardback
816 pages
978-0-520-30354-6 (ISBN)
Description
Jerome Rothenberg's final anthology-an experiment in omnipoetics with Javier Taboada-reaches into the deepest origins of the Americas, north and south, to redefine America and its poetries
The Serpent and the Fire breaks out of deeply entrenched models that limit "American" literature to work written in English within the present boundaries of the United States. Editors Jerome Rothenberg and Javier Taboada gather vital pieces from all parts of the Western Hemisphere and the breadth of European and Indigenous languages within: a unique range of cultures and languages going back several millennia, an experiment in what the editors call an American "omnipoetics."
The Serpent and the Fire is divided into four chronological sections-from early pre-Columbian times to the immediately contemporary-and five thematic sections that move freely across languages and shifting geographical boundaries to underscore the complexities, conflicts, contradictions, and continuities of the poetry of the Americas. The book also boasts contextualizing commentaries to connect the poets and poems in dialogue across time and space.
The Serpent and the Fire breaks out of deeply entrenched models that limit "American" literature to work written in English within the present boundaries of the United States. Editors Jerome Rothenberg and Javier Taboada gather vital pieces from all parts of the Western Hemisphere and the breadth of European and Indigenous languages within: a unique range of cultures and languages going back several millennia, an experiment in what the editors call an American "omnipoetics."
The Serpent and the Fire is divided into four chronological sections-from early pre-Columbian times to the immediately contemporary-and five thematic sections that move freely across languages and shifting geographical boundaries to underscore the complexities, conflicts, contradictions, and continuities of the poetry of the Americas. The book also boasts contextualizing commentaries to connect the poets and poems in dialogue across time and space.
Reviews / Votes
"This seminal effort redefines what it means to write and read poetry in the Americas. It's a must-read." * Publishers Weekly *More details
Edition
First Edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Berkerley
United States
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
49 b-w figures
Dimensions
Height: 231 mm
Width: 168 mm
Thickness: 52 mm
Weight
1275 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-520-30354-6 (9780520303546)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
10/2024
1st Edition
Naval Institute Press
€34.49
Available for download
Persons
Jerome Rothenberg (1931-2024) was an internationally celebrated poet, translator, anthologist, and performer, with over ninety books of poetry and twelve assemblages of traditional and avant-garde poetry such as Technicians of the Sacred, Shaking the Pumpkin, and the five-volume Poems for the Millennium. He was a founding figure of ethnopoetics as a combination of poetic practice and theory, and was a longtime practitioner and theorist of poetry performance.
Javier Taboada is a Mexican poet, translator, and anthologist currently working as Editorial Director of the Press at the Popular Autonomous University of the State of Puebla.
Javier Taboada is a Mexican poet, translator, and anthologist currently working as Editorial Director of the Press at the Popular Autonomous University of the State of Puebla.
Content
Contents
Pre-face
Thanks & Acknowledgments
PRELUDIUM
America before America
(Patagonia, Argentina)
from Cueva de las Manos
(Lower Pecos River, Texas)
from The White Shaman Mural: Narrative & Vision
Emilio Adolfo Westphalen: from The Amber Goddess
Is Back
(Epi-Olmec)
The Tuxtla Statuette
(Adams, Ohio)
American Earthworks: The Great Serpent Mound
(Inuit)
Inuksuk (Helper)
(Mayan, Palenque, Mexico)
from Temple of the Tree of Yellow Corn
(Quechua)
A Narrative Quipu
(K'iche' [Quiche] Mayan)
from Popol Vuh
Jerome Rothenberg: An Academic Proposal
(Mbya-Guarani)
from The Ayvu Rapyta: The Origins of Human Language
Jorge Elias Adoum: "In the Beginning ..."
See excerpt for complete Table of Contents
Pre-face
Thanks & Acknowledgments
PRELUDIUM
America before America
(Patagonia, Argentina)
from Cueva de las Manos
(Lower Pecos River, Texas)
from The White Shaman Mural: Narrative & Vision
Emilio Adolfo Westphalen: from The Amber Goddess
Is Back
(Epi-Olmec)
The Tuxtla Statuette
(Adams, Ohio)
American Earthworks: The Great Serpent Mound
(Inuit)
Inuksuk (Helper)
(Mayan, Palenque, Mexico)
from Temple of the Tree of Yellow Corn
(Quechua)
A Narrative Quipu
(K'iche' [Quiche] Mayan)
from Popol Vuh
Jerome Rothenberg: An Academic Proposal
(Mbya-Guarani)
from The Ayvu Rapyta: The Origins of Human Language
Jorge Elias Adoum: "In the Beginning ..."
See excerpt for complete Table of Contents