Recital of the Dark Verses

(Paperback)

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A masterful undertaking of historical literature, following 16th century religious fervor in a picaresque novel about Saint John of the Cross. In August 1592, a bailiff and his two assistants arrive at the monastery of beda, with the secret task of transferring the body of Saint John of the Cross, the great Carmelite poet and mystic who had died the previous year, to his final abode in Segovia. When they exhume him, they find a body incorrupted and as fresh as when he died.

Thus commences a series of adventures and misfortunes, with characters that seem to be drawn from mythology. The story written by Luis Felipe Fabre masterfully intertwines with the verses of the friar, as if in them he had prophesied the delirium that would surround his own posthumous transfer. Fabre's text is a highly entertaining novel, full of a sense of humor that manages to honor the mystical poetry of the Carmelite while inviting the reader to reflect on issues such as the sacred and the profane, the body and the soul, and spiritual (and carnal) ecstasy.

Author Bio

Luis Felipe Fabre (Mexico City) is a poet and critic. He has published a volume of essays, Leyendo agujeros, the poetry collections Cabaret Provenza, La sodoma en la Nueva Espaa, Poemas de terror y de misterio, and the book Escribir con caca. He is the editor of two anthologies of contemporary Mexican Divino Tesoro and La Edad de Oro, and Arte & Basura, an anthology of Mario Santiago Papasquiaro's poetry. He has been curator of the Poesa en Voz Alta Festival and Todos los originales sern destrudos, an exhibition of contemporary art made by poets. His chapbook Sor Juana and Other Monsters was also translated by John Pluecker and published in a bilingual edition as part of the UDP Seal Series. Novo en el Mictln (Holy Shit) was on stage by the direction of Benjamin Lazar and Thomas Gonzalez in 2016.

Heather Cleary is a translator and writer based in New York and Mexico City. Her essays and literary criticism have appeared in Two Lines, Lit Hub, and Words Without Borders, among other publications. Her translations include Betina Gonzlez' American Delirium, Mara Ospina's Variations on the Body, Mario Bellatin's Mrs. Murakami's Garden (Deep Vellum, 2020), and more.