Mario Benedetti (Uruguay, 1920)

Mario Benedetti. Only in the Meantime and Office Poems. Harry Morales, tr. & intro. Austin, Texas. Host. 2006. 87 pages. $12. ISBN 0-924047-32-1

THE URUGUAYAN POET Mario Benedetti (b. 1920) has a great following throughout Latin America and Spain. Benedetti's literary output encompasses most literary genres, from playwriting, songwriting, and screenwriting to criticism, novels, essays, and journalism. However, Benedetti is most loved and known as a poet. This may be because of the easy rhythm of his words but also the subject matter: daily life in the big city, its anonymity, its relentless pace, and the romance of encounters (or memory of past ones) to the deeper philosophical musings that occasionally take hold of our psyches. In many ways, Benedetti's work is reminiscent of W. S. Merwin's confessional poems.

Harry Morales, a New Yorker and disciple of translator Gregory Rabassa, began his association with Benedetti almost twenty years ago. In many ways, Morales is a natural fit as a translator for this cosmopolitan yet street-smart Uruguayan writer. Rabassa has called Morales Benedetti's "champion," and, indeed, Morales has chipped away at the varied output of Benedetti's writings for decades, and it shows. Now, for the first time, two early poetry collections of Benedetti's, his Only in the Meantime Poems: 1948-1950 and Office Poems: 1953-1956 are here united in a bilingual Spanish-English edition published by Host Publications.

The poems in Only in the Meantime have a more philosophical bent than the second collection, and for this reason they are more abstract and sometimes harder to appreciate. Despite the seriousness of the tone and themes of this early collection--in which Benedetti explores topics like a belief in God, the afterlife, the meaning of life, and wishful projections--Benedetti, and likewise Morales, succeed in not trivializing or diminishing the validity and beauty of the thoughts expressed within those poems.

Benedetti's Office Poems never fail to strike a chord with readers regardless of their generation. They are humorous yet carry the dreaded underbelly of reality: the grimness of being duty bound, or needing that paycheck, or having to hold one's tongue and appear amenable to one's boss. Morales captures these poems' freshness with fluidity and flair. Even the mention of tangos and mate seems perfectly natural in the English, though of course, they are so utterly South American.

In his introduction, Morales writes about the responsibility of translating this poet's work: "I felt as if I were somehow being watched by Benedetti; naturally, it was the imagined weight I felt on my shoulders upon confronting this meritorious and isolating task." We can say that Harry Morales has done a fine job in bringing Mario Benedetti to us in English with the same charm, quirkiness, simplicity, and ironic language that the Uruguayan put down in the original Spanish. Only in the Meantime and Office Poems is a pleasure to dip into or spend hours reading. It is highly recommended to anyone who already knows Benedetti's work or wants to be introduced.

Catherine Rendon
Savannah, Georgia

COPYRIGHT 2007 University of Oklahoma

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HAIKUS

Translated by Carlos Reyes

I would like
to look at everything from a distance
but with you

*

since biblical times
the sky and the nude
have sinned together

*

unanimous obscurity
there remains only a lantern
that asks for help

*

after all
death is only a sign
that there was life

*

only the bat
understands the world
but in reverse

*

in reason
the only doubts that enter
are those with keys

*

when I gathered up
my complete insomnias
I fell asleep

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BIOGRAPHY:Born in Paso de los Toros, Uruguay on Sept. 14, 1920.
Mario Benedetti is an author of great literary variety who has produced over seventy works across all genres, including novels, poetry, essays, and prose. Through a generous gift of Robert O'Grady the Department of Special Collections owns a manuscript of several verses from Benedetti's poem, "Despistes y franquezas," which can be found in the book, Poemas de otros.


Benedetti possesses a strong sense of national identity despite spending a number of his early years in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His father's unstable employment resulted in numerous moves for the family, and before the age of twenty the future author began working wherever possible, eventually holding positions as a salesman, accountant, and public officer. In 1946 Benedetti married Luz López Alegre, and two years later became the director of the literary magazine, Marginalia. Quickly moving from editor to writer, Benedetti produced his first publication in 1949, a book of short stories titled Esta mañana. In addition to Benedetti's profuse literary output, his political activism against Uruguay's dictatorship resulted in his exile from 1973-1985. Benedetti used these years to travel extensively, living in Buenos Aires, Peru, Cuba, and Spain. It is often noted that his writings in exile reflect more concern for the social strife caused by the political situation than do his previous works. Since his return to Uruguay, Benedetti has continued to write, and currently divides his time between Montevideo and Madrid.