After-Dinner Declarations

Poetry. Latin American Studies. Bilingual edition. Translated from the Spanish by Dave Oliphant. Renowned Chilean "antipoet" Nicanor Parra has delivered as a series of five "verse speeches" poems that eschew literary ostentation in favor of playful, conversational musings. In a language steeped in colloquialisms, Parra's declarations employ a range of discourses in order to expose the hypocrisy of human institutions and challenge those who remain satisfied with the status quo. Parra uses his linguistic brilliance to confront the most serious problems of our day: ecology, human rights, and the limits of scientific knowledge. The antipoet moves from one topic to another with inventiveness, discovers for us a wealth of political, philosophical, and literary insights, as well as connections between ideas that shape our lives.