Craft: Amanda Berenguer

Amanda Berenguer (1921-2010) was a major Uruguayan poet. First published in 1940 in Montevideo, Berenguer isn’t well known among readers of English. She was part of a literary movement in Uruguay called Generación del 45.

Berenguer is “beyond category,” especially in terms of American poetics, and her range over six decades is challenging to summarize. She could be radical and experimental in terms of form (including color and shape), metaphor reach (the Klein bottle and the Möbius strip), and subject matter (“The Asses of Bosch” or “The Lady of Elche”).

Berenguer: “Reality sheathed within the tube of / reality, I quietly consider / the slight error of transparency”