When I found a reference to this book in an article abut Hispanic writers who live in the US and write in Spanish, I was thrilled. I love any type of literature inspired by Anne Frank and thought, "I need to have this book!"
Fast forward two days, I happily received the package from Amazon. That night, I embarked in yet another reading journey with high expectations. Expectations fail, what a disappointment!
I would really like to know who was in charge of editing the Spanish texts of this work. Brandeis University Press, shame on you!
Evidently this work was just meant for Anglo readers. I have not found one review in Spanish. Of course, the ones who just read the English version of the poems, rave about Agosín's work. Now, I won't even go into the quality of the poetry in itself (I really don't think it is the best I have read but I am not an expert so let's just leave it at that) but I am a Spanish instructor and English - Spanish translator, Spanish is my native language and this book insults me both personally and professionally.
What I find mesmerizing (well, more so than the rest of the issues with this publication) is that from what I understand, the pieces were originally written in Spanish. So, I would think the most logical turnout would be for there to be errors in translation in the English version of the poems. But that is not the case. The English version of the texts look fine to me. But the Spanish... what a disaster!
So, what happened here? I would love for someone to explain to me how this book was published with horrible mistakes in its original version. This is a serious case of "vergüenza ajena" as we say in Spanish.
You can see how the above photos support my comments. They were taken from two of the first poems I encountered in this travesty.
Evidently this work was just meant for Anglo readers. I have not found one review in Spanish. Of course, the ones who just read the English version of the poems, rave about Agosín's work. Now, I won't even go into the quality of the poetry in itself (I really don't think it is the best I have read but I am not an expert so let's just leave it at that) but I am a Spanish instructor and English - Spanish translator, Spanish is my native language and this book insults me both personally and professionally.
What I find mesmerizing (well, more so than the rest of the issues with this publication) is that from what I understand, the pieces were originally written in Spanish. So, I would think the most logical turnout would be for there to be errors in translation in the English version of the poems. But that is not the case. The English version of the texts look fine to me. But the Spanish... what a disaster!
So, what happened here? I would love for someone to explain to me how this book was published with horrible mistakes in its original version. This is a serious case of "vergüenza ajena" as we say in Spanish.
You can see how the above photos support my comments. They were taken from two of the first poems I encountered in this travesty.
On the first one, you can see how instead of the word "espesas" for "thick" (the author is referring to Anne's eyebrows) they have used the word "esposas" which makes no sense at all in this context.
On the second photo you can see how there's a switch in the form of address of the "YOU". It starts with "Usted", then goes to "Ustedes", and then, horror of horrors you can find this brilliant sentence: "¿Alguien de USTEDES HAS visto...? Ustedes HAS visto? This is a mistake a first year student of one of my Spanish courses would make.
I found a lot of more mistakes in the use of the Spanish language and I did not even get through half of this book. I don't think I will be able to because it hurts my eyes and my heart. Shame, shame, shame. ¡Qué vergüenza!
I found a lot of more mistakes in the use of the Spanish language and I did not even get through half of this book. I don't think I will be able to because it hurts my eyes and my heart. Shame, shame, shame. ¡Qué vergüenza!
