Marosa di Giorgio, Jasmine for Clementina Médici

Translated by Peter Boyle, with an introduction by Roberto Echavarren.

In this extraordinary last book by Uruguayan poet Marosa di Giorgio poetic fragmentation, memories, nightmares and brief surreal sequences create a portrait of a mother, her daughter and the relationship between them stretching over a lifetime. Simultaneously evoking childhood and old age, tenderness and horror, di Giorgio gathers the sense of an entire life in its sadness and dignity. One of the great renovators of Uruguayan literature, through her bold experimentalism di Giorgio blurs lines between genres to deliver the raw immediacy of experience. 

Marosa di Giorgio (1932-2004) was born in Salto, Uruguay. The child of first and second generation Italian immigrants, di Giorgio grew up on a small farm on the city’s outskirts. As a child she developed a passion for theatre and poetry. She was an actress with a professional theatre company during the 1950’s and 60’s as well as briefly a journalist but later worked in the Civil Registry Office in Salto. In 1978 she moved to Montevideo. In 1953 her first book of poems appeared followed regularly by many others. From 1971 onwards her poetic work has been gathered into one continuously-expanding, thematically-interrelated book Los papeles salvajes.- some 650 pages in its 2008 edition. Marosa di Giorgio is also the author of five volumes of short stories. Through the 1980’s and 90’s she received a range of major awards and presented her poetry at Festivals and Universities in Latin America, Spain and the United States.

Peter Boyle is an Australian poet and translator of poetry from Spanish and French. In 2013 he was awarded the New South Wales Premier’s Prize for Literary Translation. He is particularly noted for his translations of Cuban poet José Kozer and Venezuelan poet Eugenio Montejo.

Roberto Echavarren is a distinguished Uruguayan poet and critic. He is also the co-editor of two very significant anthologies: Medusario and Hotel Lautréamont – Contemporary Poetry from Uruguay.

Marosa di Giorgio, Jasmine for Clementina Médici
2016. 110pp. 203mm x 133mm. ISBN 978-1-922181-79-4.
Release date: February 2017.