Description

Óscar Hahn

Translated by G. J. Racz

The Subtle Folds of Shadows

ISBN:978-1-956921-24-3

(pbk., 120 pages)

(April, 2024) 

The Subtle Folds of Shadows is a bilingual selection of poems from ten collections of verse by the Chilean writer Óscar Hahn. Spanning the author’s more than six-decade career, these works, selected and translated by G. J. Racz, reflect Hahn’s signature themes: the sometimes adversarial nature of love, meditations on existence, fantasias on historical figures, the poetic tradition, the folly of humankind, and the horrors of political oppression. Hahn handles these often ontic, even fantastic subjects in a variety of poetic styles, from rhyming sonnets to free verse, showcasing a formal versatility that has made his voice one of the most compelling and enduring in Latin American literature to this day.

The understated mastery of Óscar Hahn’s latest collection reflects the confidence of a poet who has been honing his craft for decades.  

—Don Bogen, translator of Europa: Selected Poems of Julio Martínez Mesanza

A wonderful selection spanning fifty years of poetry, this book highlights the poetic verve of Chilean poet Óscar Hahn in a remarkable bilingual edition with G. J. Racz’s excellent rendering into English.

—Lisa Rose Bradford, translator of Between Words: Juan Gelman’s Public Letter, winner of the National Translation Award

G. J. Racz re-creates in English the stunning poetry of Óscar Hahn with great aplomb and flair. Highly skilled as a translator of both free verse and traditional verse forms, Racz gives Anglophone readers the chance to appreciate the full artistry of Hahn’s work. 

—Jonathan Cohen, translator of Ernesto Cardenal’s With Walker in Nicaragua   

…Racz’s mastery of rhythm and rhyme seems effortless. His poems possess an unflinching drive and tight sound pattern weave. However, what is most striking and pleasurable is how Racz is never stingy in his delivery of the English language, which here gives the sense of a chalice he himself brims with red wine.

—Anna Deeny Morales, National Endowment for the Arts Translation Fellow 

Óscar Hahn creates a poetic chiaroscuro wielding love, memories, works of art, sex, and pretty much any other traditional talisman or ritual you can find against the pervasive powers of death. In his more somber moments, he serves as witness to state violence and predations. G. J. Racz, bringing extensive experience in the translation of poetry, navigates the challenges of rhythm, rhyme, and tone in the English with energies matching Hahn’s own.

—Kristin Dykstra, winner of the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation