The Seeds of Time: Poetry of Manuel Maples Arce, 1919–1980

The Seeds of Time: Poetry of Manuel Maples Arce, 1919–1980 is the first comprehensive bilingual Spanish–English edition of the complete poetry of Mexico’s leading Estridentista and one of the most original voices of the Latin American avant‑garde. Edited and translated by Diane J. Forbes, this volume follows Maples Arce from his teenage modernista beginnings through the explosive 1920s vanguard, into mid‑century philosophical meditations and late‑life reflections on memory, art, and mortality.

The early books Andamios Interiores, Urbe and Poemas Interdictos bring the Mexican Revolution into poetry: manifestos pasted on city walls, performance events, dynamic images of Mexico City, jazz, cars, radios and airplanes, alongside sharp critiques of post‑revolutionary politics and workers’ struggles. Later, in Memorial de la Sangre and the uncollected poems, written from diplomatic posts across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas, Maples Arce turns to ancient civilizations, war, art, and the continuity of generations—always returning to the tension between remembrance and oblivion.

Forbes’s introduction and notes trace Maples Arce’s role as founder of Estridentismo and collaborator with Mexico’s muralists, while her facing‑page translations carefully navigate his inventive vocabulary, rhythmic 7/14‑syllable lines, and complex imagery. Ideal for courses on Latin American modernism, the historical avant‑garde, Mexican cultural history, and translation studies, this edition offers students and scholars a rare opportunity to engage deeply with a major poet still too little known outside Mexico.