Asturias' Clearvigil in Spring: A Mayan Myth - Authorized English Translation

This is the first authorized English translation of Nobel laureate Miguel Angel Asturias’ Clarivigilia Primaveral. The translator is Robert W. Lebling. The work is Asturias' creative reworking of Mayan mythology in his native Guatemala. The Nobel Committee called this mythic poetic cycle an "impressive" work that “deals with the very genesis of the arts and of poetic creation, in a language which seems to have assumed the bright splendor of the magical queztal's feathers and the glimmering of phosphorescent insects."

Professor Gerald M. Martin of the University of Pittsburgh, one of the world's top Asturias scholars, has called this translation "truly excellent," adding: "I would not have imagined it could look so good in English." Robert W. Lebling, the translator, is a writer, editor and communication specialist based in Saudi Arabia. Born in Bethesda, Maryland, he studied politics and anthropology at Princeton University and Middle East studies and Arabic at the University of Chicago. He has worked as a journalist in Cairo, Beirut, Jiddah, London and Washington, DC. He is author of Legends of the Fire Spirits: Jinn and Genies from Arabia to Zanzibar and co-author with Donna Pepperdine of Natural Remedies of Arabia.