St John of the Cross: His Life and Poetry

by Gerald Brenan, John of the Cross, Lynda Nicholson (Translator)

The paperback edition of a very successful and in some ways remarkable book, first published in 1973. Gerald Brenan is well known for his 'expository' works on Spanish history and literature, and now in his eighties he has returned to an early interest in the Spanish mystics to produce an absorbing study of St John of the Cross, one of the foremost of Catholic mystics and poets. The book is perhaps the first in English to combine an objective - but sensitive and lively - account of St John's life with a fresh translation (by Mr Brenan's associate Lynda Nicholson) of his verse.

250 pages, Paperback

First published June 29, 1973

About the author

Edward FitzGerald "Gerald" Brenan, CBE was an Anglo-Irish writer and Hispanist who spent much of his life in Spain.

He is best known for The Spanish Labyrinth, a historical work on the background to the Spanish Civil War, and for South from Granada: Seven Years in an Andalusian Village.
He was awarded a CBE in the Diplomatic Service and Overseas List in 1982.


Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Rocío Torres · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buen estudio preliminar de este señor tan iconic.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somehow I have made it through years of Spanish study, a trip to Spain, and now years of being catholic without a comprehensive read of St. John of the Cross. That is a serious oversight! I checked this out from the library and now have to return it but I need to pick up a copy of his poems sometime. You can sit with a few lines and marinade in them for awhile--and better in Spanish than in the English translation (though having the English there does help me grasp the Spanish more quickly).

Also, the read of his life was interesting. He was persecuted--by those in his own order. He is truly a "little Christ" who's ways are not understood by those around him and who suffers at the hands of those who should embrace him.

[Rodrigo J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hope this is the one that I read, if so, it is a most. John is so much higher that Teresa de Jesus, as John went beyond Jesus into the essence of God himself, or spirituality: nada (no-thing), nada (no concepts), nada (no form).

He was attacked from rival orders, imprisoned, punished for his thoughts. He was so beautiful that he never suffer.

Compare him to Madre Teresa de Calcuta, who comes quite disconnected from God in her own words, and you come to realize that religiosity is not the same thing as spirituality. John was spiritual, Teresa was doing secular work for God. And while that is commendable, it was not spiritual for her.