The Modern Spanish Sonnet

‘As the second part of Cervantes’s Don Quxiote proved, the commonplace that sequels invariably disappoint isn’t always true. Following on from the pedagogical and poetic exemplarity of The Spanish Golden Age Sonnet, John Rutherford covers latter centuries in elegant and erudite fashion. His enviable ability to navigate Castilian, Catalan and Galician comes in handy. A lifetime of teaching and translating allows him to curate canonical and less-canonical works, demonstrating the towering influence of the Golden Age on subsequent centuries, whilst remaining alive to the possibilities of innovation and change in even the least celebrated periods of Spanish letters.’

Professor Duncan Wheeler, Chair of Spanish Studies and Director of International Activities, University of Leeds

‘John Rutherford has created a landmark anthology of sonnets written in Spain from the eighteenth century to the present: fifty sonneteers he translates from Catalan, Galician and Spanish with great verve and imagination. His commentaries on the writers, his translations and the art of the sonnet are lucid, learned and pithy, and he also loves the awkward and the ambiguous. His selection will be a revelation to Anglophone readers. Lorca and Machado are here, of course, but so are the magnificent Rosa Chacel and J.V.Foix. A major literary event!’

Peter Bush, Former Director of the British Centre for Literary Translation