Selected Writings (Penguin Classics)

Introduction -- Know the ways -- Struggles for independence -- The sibyl of the Rhine -- In praise of creation -- Allegories of justice and love -- Hildegard's life and influence -- Glossary. From the Publisher: Born in Nicaragua, Ruben Dario is known as the consummate leader of the Modernista movement, an esthetic trend that swept the Americas from Mexico to Argentina at the end of the nineteenth century. Seeking a language and a style that would distinguish the newly emergent nations from the old imperial power of Spain, Dario's writing offered a refreshingly new vision of the world-an artistic sensibility at once cosmopolitan and connected to the rhythms of nature. The first part of this collection presents Dario's most significant poems in a bilingual format and organized thematically in the way Dario himself envisioned them. The second part is devoted to Dario's prose, including short stories, fables, profiles, travel writing, reportage, opinion pieces, and letters. A sweeping biographical introduction by distinguished critic Ilan Stavans places Dario in historical and artistic context, not only in Latin America but in world literature Benedictine nun, poet and musician, Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) was one of the most remarkable figures of the Middle Ages. She undertook preaching tours throughout the German empire at the age of sixty, and was consulted not only by her religious contemporaries but also by kings and emperors, yet it is largely for her apocalyptic and mystical writings that she is remembered. This volume includes selections from her three visionary works, her treatises on medicine and the natural world, her devotional songs, and fascinating letters to prominent figures of her time. Dealing with such eternal subjects as the relationship between humans and nature, and men and women, Hildegard's works show her to be a wide-ranging thinker who created such fresh, startling images and ideas that her writings have been compared to Dante and Blake. Hildegard, the Sybil of the Rhine," was a Benedictine nun and one of the most prolific and original women writers of the Middle Ages. Arranged thematically, this new edition of her work brings together selections from her visionary trilogy, her treatise on medicine and the natural world, and her songs and correspondence. This unique volume includes a chronology of her life and times, bibliography, select discography, explanatory notes, glossary, and connecting commentary. It shows Hildegard as a wide-ranging thinker who touched on many themes that concern us today, including: the relationship between human beings and the natural world, mutuality between men and women, and the importance of a holistic approach to life. Hildegard was a 12th century Cistercian nun, prophet and writer. This thematically arranged selection contains extracts from her trilogy of visionary writings, her treatise on medicine and the natural world (Causes and Cures), her choral music, and documents relating to her life and work.