Nostalgia for Death is the sole book of Villaurrutia, who was one of the few openly homosexual Latin American writers and one of Mexico's most important authors of the early twentieth century. "The latest of Eliot Weinberger's brilliant translations of Latin American poets brings to English the major volume of an impeccable Mexican modernist."-- Booklist Although Mexican author Villaurrutia (1903-50) wrote relatively little poetry (not all of which is here), his complete works include accomplished drama and criticism. From his homosexuality, he gleaned the subtle insights of his master poem, "L.A. Nocturne," where angels named Dick or John or Marvin "come down to earth/ on visible ladders" and "fall into beds, sink into pillows/ that make them think they're still in the clouds." But it is the timeless metaphor of night as death that fascinates this poet, and the death that he craves is perceived as a distant and forgotten country, "secretly deformed/ by exile in this land." These poems, free of local color and ideological harangue, are accompanied by Paz's scholarly essay, written in 1977, which tantalizes as much as it enlightens because it discusses works unavailable in English. Perhaps this book will arouse interest in an author underappreciated in both our hemispheres. For academic collections. - Jack Shreve, Allegany Community Coll., Cumberland, Md. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. Cemetery In The Snow by Xavier Villaurrutia Death In Decimas by Xavier Villaurrutia Death In The Cold by Xavier Villaurrutia L.a. Nocturne: The Angels by Xavier Villaurrutia L.a. Nocturne: The Rose by Xavier Villaurrutia Nocturnal Stanzas by Xavier Villaurrutia Nocturne by Xavier Villaurrutia Nocturne by Xavier Villaurrutia Nocturne: Alone by Xavier Villaurrutia Nocturne: Death Speaks by Xavier Villaurrutia Nocturne: Dream by Xavier Villaurrutia Nocturne: Fear by Xavier Villaurrutia Nocturne: Imprisoned by Xavier Villaurrutia Nocturne: Love by Xavier Villaurrutia Nocturne: Nothing Is Heard by Xavier Villaurrutia Nocturne: The Bedroom by Xavier Villaurrutia Nocturne: The Dead by Xavier Villaurrutia Nocturne: The Eternal by Xavier Villaurrutia Nocturne: The Scream by Xavier Villaurrutia Nocturne: The Sea by Xavier Villaurrutia Nocturne: The Statue by Xavier Villaurrutia North Carolina Blues by Xavier Villaurrutia Nostalgia For Snow by Xavier Villaurrutia The Paradox Of Fear by Xavier Villaurrutia To Go Back by Xavier Villaurrutia When Evening by Xavier Villaurrutia -- Table of Poems from Poem Finder® Used Book in Good Condition