Jose B. González Interviews Francisco Aragón at Latino Stories

As part of a series of interviews with Latinx authors at Latino Stories, Jose B. González interviews Francisco Aragón, asking how he got his start and what new poetry collections by Latinx writers are inspiring him these days. "What advice would you give to aspiring Latinx poets who might be considering writing about a subject or figure with which audiences in the U.S. may not be entirely familiar?" González asks. Aragón responds: 

My advice stems from an analogous experience with another Spanish-language poet: Gerardo Diego (1896- 1987)—specifically, translating his book Manual de espumas/Handbook of Foams. The collection consists of thirty poems. I translated twenty of them as part of my thesis for my M.A. in Hispanic Civilization from NYU. But when I decided, as a longer-term project, to finish translating the book, I challenged myself to dig deeper into the archive: to read, and learn about, the various isms that flourished in the first quarter of the 20th century. For example, because Diego’s book emerged from a movement known as creacionismo,  I set out to read the Chilean poet Vicente Huidobro and the work of Basque poet Juan Larrea, who were both considered creacionistas. I set out to read the work of French “cubist” poet Pierre Reverdy. I set out to read the French poets Guillaume Apollinaire, Paul Éluard and, yes, Louis Aragon, among others. I fell in love with this avant garde work and relished immersing myself in their worlds. And I fell in love with the cubist visual art of Juan Gris, who Diego met and had extensive conversations with, during his stint in Paris in 1922. This work with Gerardo Diego occupied a good portion of my time in Madrid. I would eventually go on to place quite a few of my Diego translations in various journals over the years. Here’s a generous sampling:

http://jacketmagazine.com/40/diego-by-aragon.shtml

But the book project with Diego remains in limbo, though I hope to change that in the coming few years. The advice, then, to get back to your question, is to thoroughly document and internalize the context of the work and period of the subject or figure you want to bring to a U.S. audience. It will make for a more enriching experience and nourish you as an artist. 

Continue at Latino Stories.