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'Some verses flow on out of men
like headstreams course through a canal.
The same holds true for mine, old pal-
though I can't say they're worth a lick,
they still pour out of me real quick,
like sheep escapin' a corral.'
José Hernández's long narrative poems The Gaucho Martín Fierro (1872) and Martín Fierro's Return (1879) relate the often harrowing story of a gaucho's misfortunes against the backdrop of Argentina's nation-building a few decades after its independence from Spain. The first poem relates Martín Fierro's forced conscription, the hardships of irregular military service, and his desertion, followed by the discovery of his home and family gone upon his return, murder, and life as a fugitive from the law among the same tribe he was earlier drafted to exterminate. The second continues the narrative, taking in an epic singing contest against an itinerant musician, and culminating in Fierro and his sons going their separate ways in an attempt to live out lives of peace under assumed names.
G. J. Racz provides the first metrical, rhyming translation into English in almost a century. Considered classics of Latin American literature, the works embrace the psychology of their oppressed 'common man' protagonist while depicting the larger sociopolitical forces slowly marginalizing his once vibrant cohort of skilled horsemen, itinerant cowhands, and modest livestock ranchers.
