Equatorial and other poems

Poetry. Latinx Studies. Translated by Eliot Weinberger. This volume presents the four chapbooks published by Huidobro in 1917-18 and offers, at first glance, an odd mixture. Chronologically, we have El espejo de agua , written in Spanish in 1914-16, first published in 1916, but, to all intents and purposes not distributed until 1918; Ecuatorial (written in Spanish, although the author also made a French version, Equatoriale , which is believed to be later), Hallali and Tour Eiffel . These last two publications, composed in French, were both marked by textual experimentation and were important influences on the nascent wave of the Spanish avant-garde. The four chapbooks were bookended, so to speak, by the French-language volume HORIZON CARRÉ (2017) and the Spanish-language collection, POEMAS ÁRTICOS (2018), both of which have already appeared in translation in this series of Huidobro volumes from Shearsman Books. This is a vital collection for understanding the early 20th century Latin-American and Spanish avant-gardes in poetry.