MANDORLA. This is one of the most...

MANDORLA. This is one of the most appealingly different of the new literary reviews I’ve come across in a while. The subtitle is “ Nueva Escritura de las Americas/ New Writing from the Americas,” and, yes, it’s bilingual. But it’s a richer and more complicated interaction of languages than one might expect: In no case are we given two versions of the same piece. William Carlos Williams, Langston Hughes, Charles Olson and Jack Spicer appear in Spanish and English, appear only in their original tongue.

Several of the writers translated are known also for their own translations in the opposite direction. A discovery for me was the work and cult of the mysterious Calvert Casey--decorous and death-obsessed, he’s never before been translated into English (and is out of print even in Spanish). Mandorla’s declaration of faith in a living multilingualism is a brave one, and I wish them well.

Mandorla, 142 South Arden Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90004; $5 per issue, $10 for two issues.