The Popol Vuh

Written by Michael Bazzett

Narrated by Michael Bazzett

A NEW YORK TIMES BEST POETRY BOOK OF THE YEAR

In the beginning, the world is spoken into existence with one word: “Earth.” There are no inhabitants, and no sun—only the broad sky, silent sea, and sovereign Framer and Shaper. Then come the twin heroes Hunahpu and Xbalanque. Wielding blowguns, they begin a journey to hell and back, ready to confront the folly of false deities as well as death itself, in service to the world and to humanity.

This is the story of the Mayan Popol Vuh, “the book of the woven mat,” one of the only epics indigenous to the Americas. Originally sung and chanted, before being translated into prose—and now, for the first time, translated back into verse by Michael Bazzett—this is a story of the generative power of language. A story that asks not only Where did you come from? but How might you live again? A story that, for the first time in English, lives fully as “the phonetic rendering of a living pulse.”

By turns poetic and lucid, sinuous and accessible, this striking new translation of The Popol Vuh—the first in the Seedbank series of world literature—breathes new life into an essential tale.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Milkweed Editions
• Release date: Apr 30, 2024
• ISBN: 9781639551453

Michael Bazzett

Michael Bazzett is the author of The Echo Chamber, as well as five other collections of poems, including The Interrogation and You Must Remember This, winner of the Lindquist & Vennum Prize for Poetry. He is also the translator of The Popol Vuh, which was long-listed for the National Translation Award and named one of the best books of poetry in 2018 by the New York Times. Bazzett is a poet, teacher, and 2017 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellow. His work has appeared in Ploughshares, Massachusetts Review, Pleiades, Guernica, Virginia Quarterly Review, Copper Nickel, The Rumpus, and Best New Poets. He lives in Minneapolis.

Reviews for The Popol Vuh

[greeniezona · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I had NO idea what I was getting into with this. My fifteen-year-old had read about this book when he was researching some project for school, so when he saw it at the bookstore he got excited and said we should read it for family story time. Obviously I said yes.So this is a verse translation of the Mayan epic origin story. Did I get absolutely stressed about probably mispronouncing ever single name in the story, despite how many times I looked them up? Yes. Did I have a surprising amount of fun reading mythic poetry out loud anyway? Absolutely yes! And the rest of the family enjoyed it, too!

[albertgoldfain · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Both biblical and atmospheric verse in a great creation/origin story. I now get the references to Xibalba in Aronofsky's underappreciated film "The Fountain".

[petroglyph_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Popol Vuh is a grand mytho-historical cycle, a reflection of an oral history, as told by the K’iche’, one branch of the Mayan peoples. The cycle starts with a creation myth and then continues with the Gods’ repeated failures to create humans, a series of Trickster Twins and their exploits among the Gods and in the underworld of Xibalba, the eventual creation of humans, and an increasingly historical listing of Mayan and allied communities and leaders, down to the eventual Conquest by the Spanish. For anyone familiar with other grand mythological cycles (Greek, Norse, Hebrew), these stories follow a familiar pattern: a deep time that is highly allegorical and full of symbolism and larger-than-life heroes, and that becomes progressively anchored in history as the material approaches the present. As such the Popol Vuh reads like a distinctively Native-American variation on a familiar theme: a standardized history of the people, whose cultural practices have roots in deep time and the forces that shape the universe. Good stuff! The edition I read was prepared and translated by Dennis Tedlock, and it is doubtlessly awe-inspiring. While the text is presented as a smooth, nicely-flowing narrative, the endnotes (whose pagecount surpasses that of the actual Popol Vuh) make apparent the translation difficulties and the cultural references, and provide insight in many of these items’ history in previous editions. Tedlock defends his editorial choices, compares editions and includes the necessary cultural background for an audience of laypeople and specialists. The whole thing must have been a massive undertaking, and Tedlock’s scrupulousness is admirable. An exemplary edition of a fascinating cultural narrative belonging to a civilization now conquered and largely erased.

[erinfanning · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in mythology or Mesoamerican literature.

[jasonsteven1212 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a wonderful read. Not only are these tales deeply allegorical, insightful and truthful but amusing and facinating. I read this three time and then transcribed the entire work.

[bayardus-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Popol Vuh-
The Mayan creation myths are not just entertaining to read, but provide a fascinating look at Mayan culture and history as well, through the dimly remembered prehistory of the people up until their conquest by the Spanish. Popol Vuh doesn’t merely sketch out a story of creation that occurred in the distant past, it links that creation all the way through the time of the European invasion of the Americas and the effective end of Mayan supremacy; it’s as if the Prose and Poetic Eddas were written while Ragnarok was happening, or if the Greek/Roman myth cycle lasted until the Pantheon was overthrown by the next generation of gods. These mythologies had a story to explain their end, but Popol Vuh is a mythology that lived to see its end.

Popol Vuh is especially interesting as a mythological text because it presents us with gods who are fallible from the beginning. It takes numerous attempts before they successfully make humanity, their failures sometimes surviving in other forms (animals) and other times just falling apart into dirt and mud (nicely illustrating the life lesson that sometimes mistakes can actually be productive, but sometimes they’re just a waste of your time and effort. Too many texts emphasize the first part while failing to grasp the second). If there’s a story where one of the Greek pantheon goes up to Hephaestus and says “please make me this thing” and Hephaestus answers “sorry, I have no idea how to do that” I’m not familiar with it. The Mayan gods are not all powerful either, and much of the first three parts of the text concern the efforts of the gods to outsmart the brutal lords of the underworld using their wits instead of overwhelming force. There is no Zeus equivalent here to thrash the enemies of the pantheon, instead creation and existence are a struggle even for the gods, who can lose contests and die when things don’t go their way. Man is presented as far closer to the divine in the Mayan myths than in most other myth systems, as man serves as the “knower” as well as the “recorder.” It is through man that the acts of the divine can be transcribed and the world understood.

There are numerous parallels in the Popol Vuh to other myths and religions- there’s a great flood, for instance, there’s a point where the divine saviors die and are reborn (though after five days, not three) and are more powerful than ever after death, there is a Babel-like segment where the gods fear the power of man and so they handicap them (though by reducing their sight, not by confusing their language), there’s even a Prometheus character here. The Mayan myths aren’t just lesser shadows of the Western myths, however, as throughout the text the Mayan myths feel alive and visceral in a way that I haven’t seen in a very long time. I read Ovid’s Metamorphoses earlier in the year, and though that is a masterfully constructed and excellently written text, it felt more like a literary endeavor than a work of passionate belief. Perhaps Ovid believed in the Roman gods, perhaps he believed in them quite strongly, but it is clear to me that he doesn’t see them in every sunrise, beneath every rock, living in every shadow and animal and house and ear of corn like the author of the Popol Vuh did. If you like reading mythology there are few if any books I would recommend more highly than the Popol Vuh, which is why I’m giving it five stars (only the second 5-star ranking I’ve given out of the 70 books I’ve read so far this year).

The Dennis Tedlock edition is wonderful. The extensive introduction summarizes the events of the main text, so you never have trouble understanding what’s going on. The extensive notes and glossary mean that not only will you be able to look up anything that you don’t understand or don’t remember, but you can also read about the linguistic nuances of the translation and see an analysis of how the Popol Vuh relates to the Mayan calendar. Finally the book is embellished by many pictures and images taken from Mayan artifacts and art, which help to make the story more vivid and the text feel more vital. I could not name a single way in which the text could be made better.

P.S. I have a theory that Tohil is a death god that somehow survived the earlier age and escaped the underworld slaughter done by Hunahpu and Xbalanque, given that Tohil is first introduced by a Xibalban messenger. Just an idea, but fun to think about.

[michael5rimmer · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The introduction and notes in the edition I read (ISBN 0671617710 ) were an excellent guide to a culture I am fairly ignorant of. Translator Dennis Tedlock did an great job at explaining the nuances of the cultural significance of the myths.I found it particularly interesting that most of the stories in the Popol Vuh can be linked to specific astronomical/calendrical events. An incredibly complex and sophisticated world-view.The journeys of the hero-gods into the underworld realm of Xibalba were both funny and horrifyingly grotesque at the same time. Though probably not as horrifying as the semi-historical section towards the end in which the mythic origins of human sacrifice are explained.Tedlock very generously acknowledges the help he received from contemporary Quiché Maya practitioners, particularly Andrés Xiloj who initiated him as Daykeeper, one who is able to perform divinations using the 260-day ritual calendar of the Maya.

[gregory_gwen · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

got me in the mood to see Chichen Itza. Didn't actually read it all, though.

[ltfl_jmls · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

got me in the mood to see Chichen Itza. Didn't actually read it all, though.

[imnotsatan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Despite what other reviewers have said, I would like to point out that this is the Christenson translation, not Tedlock (though it is based on his work). That being said, this is my preferred translation; it's clear and avoids too much translatorese. It's well annotated and generally well researched.

[simonmagus_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

this is the real thing, authentic pre-columbian mayan mythology. of course you already know that if you're reading this. if you don't know that already, get the book in any translation and check it out.