From the Forbidden Garden

The letters in this collection form a self-portrait of one of the greatest Latin American poets of the twentieth century. They display her insight, the forcefulness of her language, and humorous use of wordplay and puns, offering us a much more intimate portrait than any biographer could achieve. We see Pizarnik's process of self-discovery and artistic exploration in her literary life, as well as the development of her work in progress. This selection of thirty letters and two postcards, written between September 2, 1969, and September 12, 1972, includes most of Pizarnik's correspondence with Spanish writer-editor-artist Antonio Beneyto. From these informative letters we learn about her influences, the artists, poets, and writers she preferred, and her reactions to them. She collaborated on various projects and cultivated many literary and personal ties with writers of the stature of Julio Cortazar, Olga Orozco, Octavio Paz, Pieyre de Mandiargues, Silvina Ocampo, and Luisa Sofovich, among others. Although the corpus of Pizarnik's writing available in English has expanded in the last twelve years, it is still far from adequate. This is the first time that a selection of letters from Alejandra Pizarnik to Antonio Beneyto has been published in English. The translators hope that this volume will serve English-speaking audiences as a new bridge to her work.