His Hands Were Gentle brings together, for the first time in both Spanish and English, the best of Víctor Jara’s lyrics, from early songs like ‘El arado’ (‘The Plow’) to ‘Estadio Chile’ (‘In the Stadium’), written in the hours before his execution.
They reveal Jara as an ardent political poet, an eloquent advocate for the peasantry from which he arose, a socialist visionary and a poetic balladeer of the highest order.
Translations by Martín Espada, Eduardo Embry, John Green, Joan Jara and Adrian Mitchell.
Foreword by Joan Jara, Preface by Emma Thompson, Introduction by Martín Espada.
Víctor Jara (1932-73) was a legendary Chilean singer, songwriter, guitarist and theatre director. A leader of the New Song Movement, in the aftermath of the military coup of 1973, Jara was arrested, imprisoned and executed.
Martín Espada has published more than fifteen books as a poet, editor, essayist and translator, including the poetry collection Crucifixion in the Plaza de Armas (Smokestack, 2008).
