A Perambulatory Novella
Pedro Espinosa / William Carlos Williams, Raquel Hélène Williams, translators
Jonathan Cohen, editor / Paul Mariani, foreword
Welcome to our online companion for careful readers and teachers of William Carlos Williams’s translation of The Dog and the Fever by Pedro Espinosa. You will find various documents related to this book, including the original Spanish text (modern spelling), the 1625 and 1736 Spanish editions, the 1707 English translation, and the uncut version of Williams’s commentary on the novella.
Williams described The Dog and the Fever as “far more ‘modern’ than ever Hemingway or even Gertie ever thought of being” and “hot as hell besides.” He translated this Spanish novella, originally published in 1625, with the help of Raquel Hélène Williams, his Puerto Rican mother. Williams recalled that its biting satire targeting the corruption of the court, the church, and society and driven by comic double entendre made them laugh out loud and amused them tremendously as they worked on the translation. In Williams’s hands, the novella becomes a daring modernist experiment with the poetry of prose and the American idiom. This edition includes the first publication of Williams’s running commentary, and an illuminating introduction from editor Jonathan Cohen that contextualizes the work in Williams’s canon.
Links to resources are below.
To order a copy of The Dog and the Fever, visit the book page, here.
If you have any questions or experience problems with our site, please contact Stephanie Elliott Prieto at [email protected].