Paz, Octavio; Rukeyser, Muriel

Sun Stone

New York, NY, USA: New Directions, 1962. First Bilingual Edition. Softcover. "...The poetry of Octavio Paz denies no experience in one life; it makes its music out of the acknowledgment of all experience in all lives..." (excerpt, Foreword by Muriel Rukeyser). Originally published in Spanish in 1957, Sun Stone ( Piedra de Sol ) is a poem written by Mexican poet, philosopher & diplomat Octavio Paz (1914-1998) that helped launch his international reputation, translated by American poet, biographer & political activist Muriel Rukeyser (1913-1980). Sun Stone is a circular poem based on the circular Aztec calendar, and consists of a single cyclical sentence reflecting the synodic period of the planet Venus. The first six lines of the poem repeat themselves again at the end of the poem in a movement that doubles back, and comes full circle. The poem was welcomed in Mexico as an abandonment of Paz's European surrealistic style and a return to the "sensible inner voice" of his earlier preoccupations. Instead of imposing his interpretation of history upon the poem, Paz submits himself to the historical calendar and finds his own interpretation within it. Paz writes about his loneliness, seeks understanding of human existence, and discovers solace and companionship in loving other people. The gods, distinctly Aztec in their bloodthirsty characterization, are omnipresent but, as the narrator of the poem learns, do not give human beings salvation. In 1990, Paz won the Nobel Prize in literature “for impassioned writing with wide horizons, characterized by sensuous intelligence and humanistic integrity.” and the Swedish Academy declared "Sun Stone" to be "one of the high points of Paz's poetry." Outside of translating, Rukeyser is best known for The Book of the Dead, a long narrative poem that deals with the Hawks Nest Tunnel disaster (also known as the Gauley Tunnel Tragedy) in which predominantly poor, migrant mine workers in Gauley Bridge, West Virginia, were afflicted by the occupational mining disease silicosis. It is a key example of the 1930s and 1940s tradition of documentary poetry and poetics. From the collection of scholar, poet and our dear friend Robin Eichele (b. 1941), noted Mimeograph Revolutionary & co-founder of the Detroit Artists' Workshop with the late, great John Sinclair (1941-2024). At title page, near top right corner, Eichele has handwritten his ownership signature in a carbon black ink: "Robin Eichele." Softcover: First bilingual edition, first printing though not explicated as such at copyright page. A most collectible edition of Paz's most well-known poem, in one of its rarest contemporary forms & with very distinguished provenance. In relatively fine condition with mild-to-moderate rubbing & age-toning mostly to fine edges of front, back covers & spine; an occasion of spot-staining occurring at top left corner of back cover; mild-to-moderate age-toning to text block. Interior fine with mild age-toning to pages leaves; occasions of spot-staining to pages 13-21, 31, & 38-44; marginalia to pages 25, 27, 29, 33 & 35. Fine. [Item #8660]

Price: $75.00