Poet in New York

''There has been no more terribly acute critic of America than this steel-conscious and death-conscious Spaniard, with his curious passion for the modernities of nickel and tinfoil and nitre . . .'' So wrote Conrad Aiken of Lorca''s violent response to the New York he encountered as a student at Columbia University in 1929 and 1930. Born and brought up in Andalusia, Lorca''s reaction to the brutality and loneliness of the vast city was one of amazement and indignation. His poetry moved away from the lyricism of the early Romanceros and became a vehicle for experimental techniques through which he expressed tortured feelings of alienation and dislocation. Based on a new edition of the original text, Greg Simon''s and Steven White''s new translation brings to life Lorca''s arresting imagery. Christopher Maurer, a leading authority on Lorca''s work, provides an enlightening introduction placing Poet in New York in context, and there are translations of Lorca''s letters as well as a