Poem of the Cid: A modern translation with notes by Paul Blackburn

Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 175). Publisher Marketing: Few works have shaped a national literature as thoroughly as the Poem of the Cid has shaped the Spanish literary tradition. Tracing the life of the eleventh-century military commander Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, called the Cid (from the Arabic Sayyidi, "My Lord"), this medieval epic describes a series of events surrounding his exile. The text of the poem survives in only one early thirteenth-century manuscript copied by a single scribe, yet centuries later the figure of the Cid still was celebrated in the Spanish popular ballad tradition. Today almost every theme that characterizes Spanish literature - honor, justice, loyalty, treachery, and jealousy - derives from the Poem of the Cid. Restored by poet and medievalist George Economou, this elegant and spirited translation by Paul Blackburn is judged by many the finest English translation of a great medieval poem. Review Citations: Wilson Public Library Catalog 01/01/1998 pg. 666 (EAN 9780806130224, Paperback) Kirkus Reviews 04/01/1998 pg. 444 (EAN 9780806130217, Hardcover) Wilson Public Library Catalog 01/01/1998 pg. 666 (EAN 9780806130217, Hardcover) Contributor Bio:  Blackburn, Paul Julio Cortazar (1914-1984), Argentine novelist, poet, essayist, and short-story writer, was born in Brussels, and moved permanently to France in 1951. Cortazar is now recognized as one of the century's major experimental writers, reflecting the influence of French surrealism, psychoanalysis, and his love of both photography and jazz, along with his strong commitment to revolutionary Latin American politics. Contributor Bio:  Economou, George George Economou was born in Great Falls, Montana, and was educated at Colgate and Columbia Universities. Named twice as Fellow in Poetry by the National Endowment for the Humanities, he has also held fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies. He retired as Professor Emeritus of English after forty-one years of teaching, the last seventeen of which were at the University of Oklahoma. He lives in Philadelphia and Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Contributor Bio:  Cortest, Luis Luis Cortest is Professor of Modern Languages and Literature at the University of Oklahoma.