The Eternal Dice

“The greatest universal poet since Dante.” – Thomas Merton
“Vallejo created a wrenching poetic language for Spanish that radically altered the shape of its imagery and the nature of its rhythms. Vallejo forged a new discourse in order to express his own visceral compassion for human suffering.” – Edith Grossman - Los Angeles Times Book Review
“Vallejo has emerged for us as the greatest of the great South American poets–a crucial figure in the making of the total body of twentieth-century world poetry.” – Jerome Rothenberg, co-editor of Poems for the Millennium
“Vallejo never hoarded his suffering, never saw it as a privilege, as something that fell only on him.” – Michael Wood - New York Review of Books
“The Eternal Dice introduces English readers to the work that helped solidify Vallejo’s elusive mythology and exemplifies his sardonic style. Through radical experimentation with language in an even more directly avant-garde gesture, Vallejo tried to conceive the earth from scratch—now denying not only his former Gods, but the structures of language itself.” – Julia Kornberg - The Poetry Foundation
“The Eternal Dice by César Vallejo, translated by Margaret Jull Costa provides a concise and thoughtfully arranged volume that honors the important Peruvian poet.” – Poetry Northwest
“Vallejo is one of the great poets of suffering, if not the greatest. I know of no other poet who descends to such depths of human anguish. And yet, one gets the sense that Vallejo suffers with us, on behalf of us, for us. His passion and compassion feel limitless. ” – Dean Rader - Los Angeles Review of Books
“Fifty-two new and lucid renderings of César Vallejo’s poems…Costa’s translations bring a needed light to Vallejo.” – Spencer Hupp - Threepenny Review

César Vallejo (1892 – 1938) was a Peruvian poet, who, although he published just two books during his lifetime, is considered one of the great poetic innovators of the 20th century.

Margaret Jull Costa has won countless prizes for her translations from Portuguese and Spanish.

Patricio Ferrari is a poet, translator, and editor, and has translated the works of Pessoa and Alejandra Pizarnik among others.

Jerónimo Pizarro is Professor at the Universidad de los Andes and holds the Camões Institute Chair of Portuguese Studies in Colombia.

Jorge Uribe has edited several editions of Pessoa’s works and translated various Portuguese authors into Spanish.

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