Time and Space: A Poetic Autobiography

by Juan Ramón Jiménez

The original Spanish text accompanies the translation of the Nobel prize-winning author's long poems about his life, his personal philosophy, and the joy of discovery

Genres: Poetry

183 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Platero y Yo (1914) ranks as most famous work of Spanish poet Juan Ramón Jiménez, who introduced modernism to Spanish verse and won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1956.

He won this prize "for his lyrical poetry, which in Spanish language constitutes an example of high spirit and artistical purity."

See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Ram...

Reviews

[Maria Hammon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had read this profound continuous poem by J.R.J. several years ago, but this time I read it in this lovely bilingual edition (translation by Antonio T. De Nicolas), which I found extremely well translated. As far as the poem itself, what else can I add to what Octavio Paz has perfectly stated about it, "The greatest poem in this Century..."

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Described by Jiménez as not being a memoir, a stream-of-consciousness narrative, or poetry per se, it is really all three. Those accustomed to his verse style – brief, short, direct images – will find these long, rambling sentences to be a change of pace. While interesting for Jiménez’s insight into contemporaries and his descriptions of time in Florida, as well as occasional flourishes of poetic philosophizing, this is not an essential book, unless one wants to read everything by the poet translated into English.

[Benino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Time and Space is not an autobiography in the generic sense. It does not tell the life of Jiménez according to his historical life. Its two halves, composed of discrete fragments, demonstrate different approaches to voicing the mortal position of the poet in the world. This dual language edition includes the separate works in their previous forms, particularly Space in verse form, and unites the two halves as was originally intended.

Time defends Jiménez's writing against misappropriation and misperception in political circumstance, eulogises about his homelands to focus on the voice of the poet, and questions the figure of the child about the existence of God. It is in Space, however, where Jiménez's lyric imagery is released from this contingency, and the questions of self in the world are resolved in diaphanous expression of the poet's immortal love of consciousness in the cosmos. The beauty of Space elevates this poetic autobiography's appeal to its most universal, making this meditation an illuminating personal experience, too.