Jordi Larios

Catalan Poetry in Translation Collection
Review of the Fum d'Estampa paperback (July 2023) selected and translated from the Catalan language originals Home sol (1984) through to En vespres grocs (2020).

What I especially enjoyed about this collection of poetry by Jordi Larios what that it was a bilingual edition with the original Catalan texts facing the translations by Ronald Puppo. This allowed one to better appreciate the musicality of the originals. The translations all look to be quite faithful but I had the sense they couldn't fully capture the spirit of the originals. Only on occasion did I get the sense the musicality of the original came through.

I thought the collection would have benefited from an essay giving further background on the poet and his work, as there seems to be little written about him in English otherwise. He is a Professor of Spanish at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and that website appears to be the single major English language source of information.

I read On Yellow Evenings thanks to my subscription to Fum d'Estampa Press. Subscribers receive Fum d'Estampa books weeks in advance of the official publication dates.… (more)