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Distributed for Swan Isle Press

The Complete Perfectionist

A Poetics of Work

New edition, and Enlarged

Edited and Translated by Christopher Maurer

Distributed for Swan Isle Press

The Complete Perfectionist

A Poetics of Work

New edition, and Enlarged

Edited and Translated by Christopher Maurer

Few have written more memorably about the work of poetry and the poetics of work than Juan Ramón Jiménez, winner of a Nobel Prize and discerning teacher of an entire generation of Spanish poets. In this series of aphorisms, Jiménez brings together the elements of perfect work, both in writing and in other realms. Among these elements—the wellsprings of any kind of creation—are instinct and inspiration, memory and forgetting, silence and noise, love and regret.

A treasure for poets and writers, The Complete Perfectionist includes helpful commentary by noted translator Christopher Maurer and shows perfection as a process of “becoming” rather than an end product. In these insightful pages, a poet haunted by perfection reveals his methods of writing and revision, and measures the social and ethical dimensions of el trabajo gustoso, or pleasurable work. This revised and expanded edition includes many aphorisms recently published in Spanish and not previously included.

161 pages | 6 x 9 | © 2011

Poetry


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Reviews

“This is a gorgeous little book.”

Robert Bly

“Maurer provides ample context for Jiménez’s maxims, so that we begin to know Jiménez as a person and a poet as well as a philosopher. The aphorisms are marvelous nuggets of wisdom.”

Booklist

"Maurer has fashioned a gem of a book, a fertile source of insights for perfection-seekers in many fields."

Publishers Weekly

Table of Contents

Introduction

Self
Rhythm
Silence
The Present
Memory
Ideals
Nature
Instinct
Dream
Death
Writing
Revision
Perfection

Afterword
Sources and Acknowledgements

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