Dreams of Waking: An Anthology of Iberian Lyric Poetry, 1400–1700 ed. and trans. by Vincent Barletta, Mark L. Bajus, and Cici Malik (review)

The Stanford-based team behind Dreams of Waking composes a crisp collection of page-facing translations, uniquely curated around three principal sentiments of antiquity. In this anthology, retranslated oft-circulated poems from Luis Vas de Camoes and St. Teresa of Avila are set alongside Iberian poems making their debut appearance in modern English. The three parts of this anthology—Janus, Venus, and Bacchus—intimate poetic topoi not distinctive of Iberian poetry from the late medieval and early modern period but representative of lyric as a loosely defined mode. Although the classical demarcations suggest groupings that gravitate toward transition, desire and ecstasy, respectively, each section hosts a little bit of each, as these categorical labels operate decrease the importance of the overbearing and problematic boundaries of periodization, language, sovereignty, etc. That being said, the partitions are arranged more or less by order of chronology, and the issue of periodization is both gracefully set aside and left uncontested; the poems are allowed to speak for themselves, unchaperoned, on uncertain ground. Indeed, this effect seems to reflect the editor’s expressed purpose, to “serve as an echo by which readers might gain deeper access not only to the originals but also to the deep network of cross-linguistic and cross-cultural exchange that underlies them” (20).

The lyrics’ annotations, which leave nothing to assumption, suggest that the reader approaching the poems will have been trained in a more compartmentalized, less cross-cultural canon. For those lacking a Western classical background, fundamental Greek and Roman mythological figures as well as their concomitant lore (Zeus and Leda, Orpheus in Hades) are explained; Hebrew and Christian biblical verses are spelled out (1 Corinthians 13); and the perhaps lesser-known tales about the life of Muhammad are elucidated with encyclopedic concision. The editors have supplied a 300 to 500 word biographical head-note for each of the thirty-three poets, most of which include a list of additional works, verse or otherwise, by the poet and at least one literary superlative, which provides an important distinction between the relationship of the selected poetry to the medieval and early modern Iberian literary world at large. For example, Antonio Ferreira is “best known for his theatrical works, the most acclaimed of these being his tragedy A Castro” (143), and San Juan de la Cruz is “best known for three mystical poems” (177), the first of which, “Cantico espiritual,” is not included in the anthology. On a broader scale, the editors recognize the chaotic book and manuscript history in the region, fraught with misattributions, and the generally underplayed role of readership in shaping these lyrics. Twenty pages of a select bibliography at the anthology’s conclusion provide not only timely and comprehensive research entry points for not only each individual poet, but also general information on Iberian anthology craft, as well as seven titles specifically on Aljamiado literature.

Although the editors engage briefly with critics from Terentianus to Emmanuel Levinas in their statement about their translation practice, they cite Walter Benjamin as providing a primary framework, since for Benjamin, a translation is “a reverberation that shakes the translated text and the target language both, moving them from their established roots, shifting them on their axes” (18). But because the translation is so clean—that is, lacking in unnecessary ornament or description—a few moments may unintentionally communicate a more sterile message than the original exudes. For instance, in lines 189–190 of Garcilaso de la Vega’s “Aquella voluntad honesta y pura” (“That Honest and Pure Will”), “boca con boca coge la postera / parte del aire” (131) is translated as “Mouth to mouth, she catches the late / bit of aire” (132). This translation echoes a modern idiom that suggests Venus’s attempt to revivify Adonis, rather than portray this moment of grief as possessive and all-consuming in the way...