Books

The Swallows Game (El juego de las golondrinas) by Zeina Abirached – A Review

~ bythefirelight ~ 3 Comments


El juego de las golondrinas
Zeina Abirached
Sinsentido, 2009

I have a rule about what I read in Spanish: no translations. It makes little sense to me to read something translated into Spanish if you can read it in English, especially if it was written in English in the first place. But I have one exception to the rule, too. If the book is not available in English then I will use Spanish as another means to read it. Lamentably, I had to invoke the second rule to read Zeina Abirached’s El juego de las golondrias (The Swallows Game). It is a shame that the English speaking world has to content itself with a few page at Words Without Borders, because The Swallows Game deserves an English edition.

The Swallows Game takes place on one day in 1984 as the war rages all around. The narrator, a girl of 8 at the time, but now an adult, is waiting for her parents to return from a visit to her grandparents. They have made the perilous journey that takes them just a few blocks away, but whose route is filled with snipers, barricades, barbed wire and sandbags. It is a dangerous visit and the girl, her brother and the an old servant who has been with the family for years are waiting nervously for them to return. When they are delayed, the tension mounts as the the family tries to call, which is nearly impossible, and neighbors come by to offer advice and suggestions. During the waiting Abirached adds back story to each of the characters, and explains the difficulties of living in a war zone. The interplay between the waiting and the characters make the story, at once funny and dark.

Abirached’s Beirut is not only a city amidst a war, but the passing of a way of life. The physical manifestations of the world they knew, of course, are the first to go. As the shelling and snipers slowly chip away at the buildings the family moves one by one from each of the rooms in their apartment until they inhabit the one inner room that offers the most protection. Naturally, their possessions also ebb away, until they are left a few keep sakes or precious heirlooms. She also describes the people who belong to a different time, such as Ernest, a dapper man who used to teach french. Always dressed impeccably, he looks like a gentleman from decades earlier. He is a charmer and when she describes him, it is not only the characters like him who have disappeared, but a Beirut that was more cosmopolitan and international. It is also the end of Francaphone Beirut and a man who can recite passages from Cyrano De Bergerac is probably a thing of the past.

Abirached avoids anything graphic or gory about the war. Instead, she focuses on the emptiness of it, accentuating the empty streets and deprivations. At its most stark she will draw empty streets in clear and repetitive detail, avoiding words, and letting the impersonality of peopleless streets say it all. Once in the apartments where the story takes place she describes the privations the residents have to go through, from saving bottles for water and gasoline, to enduring shelling, to at its most extreme having one’s father murdered by a militia at a check point. The brutality and hardship is ever present. And even though The Swallows Game is a child’s story, she never lets the war fade too far into the background.

Artistically, the book has some moments of visual brilliance. The opening sequence of empty streets with barricades, brick walls, and empty oil drums all marked with bullet holes is impressive visual story telling. Abirached likes to use subtle repetition to reinforce a moment or an idea. In addition to the the empty street scenes, she will draw a series of repetitive panels illustrating a conversation. At first it looks like they are the same, but she has made small changes to the eyes or the mouths of the characters. It takes a close read to see the changes, but in those subtle movements you can see the tension, boredom, and youthful energy of the characters come through. Through out the book, she has moments where the visual is as important to the story telling as the text. This isn’t always true in graphic novels and in The Swallows Game it is a welcome addition.

Obviously, the black white drawings are going to draw comparisons to Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. While there are certainly similarities, Abirached’s style is different and her art is more interesting and has a stronger visual style. Both are also coming of age stories set against a back drop of political troubles, and they both use humor to tell what could otherwise be dark books. Abirached’s book is not an autobiography since she was born in 1981 and it takes place in 1984, but it does have the feel of so many graphic novels that are autobiographies. While autobiographies can err on the light side, it is a mistake to confuse the reading time (always short with graphic novels) and to mistake a child’s perspective for lack of depth. The power in the story is the contrasting of the children against the war itself. Despite the deprivations going on, the children had a childhood, and it’s the dissipation of the world around them as they grow into the new one that is being formed that makes The Swallows Game interesting. Hopefully, someone will find it interesting enough to translate.

Mario Vargas Llosa wins Nobel literature prize

~ bythefirelight

Mario Vargas Llosa has won the Nobel literature prize. It has been a while since someone from Latin America has one the prize. I believe Octavio Paz in 1990 was the last. I should probably read more of his work, and maybe I will now. I have only read two of his books: In Praise of the Stepmother (not worth it); and another I can’t remember. I think I will finally get around to reading Coversation in the Cathedral soon.

You can read an AP story here. And the NY Times coverage here.

Without Borders Featuring Argentina and Granta Youngsters, Andres Nueman and Samanta Schweblin

~ bythefirelight

I’m looking forward to Words Without Borders issue on Argentinian literature. There look to be some interesting items and if you are one of those following the Granta en español best young writers you can put you can give a read to Andres Neuman and Samanta Schweblin. IF you are looking for a fresher take on Latin American literature this would be a good place to start.

This month we join the publishing world in celebrating Argentina, guest of honor at the Frankfurt Book Fair and a pulse point of the vibrant Latin American literary scene. As might be expected of the heirs of Borges and Cortázar, the writers featured here both reflect and extend the masters’ work, combining a touch of the fantastic with surprising turns of both plot and phrase. The prolific Ana María Shua sends an alien invader in a clever disguise.  Guillermo Martínez watches a couple struggle with chance and unimaginable loss.  Sergio Bizzio’s teens pull a disappearing act. Irish-Argentine Juan José Delaney considers mortality, while young star Samanta Schweblin practices unorthodox family planning. In two tales of the Dirty War, writer and journalist Mempo Giardinelli metes out a karmic revenge, and Edgar Brau finds the key to a prison break. Poet Maria Negroni stands at the mouth of hell. National Critics Prize-winner Andrés Neuman’s quarreling couple literally draws a line in the sand. The great Silvina Ocampo pens a gentle fable. And in contributions from other languages, Witold Gombrowicz’s widow collects tales of his time in Argentina, and Lúcia Bettencourt reveals the secrets of Borges’s muse.

Samanta Schweblin Discussing the Line Between Reality and the Fantastic (Spanish Only)

~ bythefirelight ~ 1 Comment

The Samanta Schweblin interview on Canal-L is definitely worth watching. From the way she talks she falls into the group of writers stemming from Cortazar who mix reality with the fantastic, but try to keep the two blurred, as if they were interchangeable. I’d be curious to read her book of stories as I am on a bit of a kick to read stories that blur the two.

Santiago Roncagliolo on Canal-L Kind of Explaining Why He is Being Sued (Spanish only)

~ bythefirelight ~ 1 Comment

In one of the stranger interviews I’ve seen in a while, Santiago Roncagliolo, one of Granta’s best young Spanish language writers evades questions on the pending law suit about his book Memorias de una dama at Canal-L. You can get a better sense of him by watching the first 10 minutes of El Publico Lee’s interview, which covers the same ground and more.

Gasoline by Quim Monzo – A Review

~ bythefirelight ~ 6 Comments

” target=”_blank”>Gasoline
Quim Monzon
Open Letter Press, 2010, 141 pg

I’m not sure if Gasoline is a funny book or an annoying one. Knowing that Quim Monzo is a bit of a joker (reading one of his weekly columns in La Vnguradia made that obvious), should help me conclude the former. But that is outside of the book and doesn’t really make me desire to conclude the later. Gasoline is a relatively brief read, both in pages and complexity, and the actual experience of reading it was not unpleasurable, but for much of the meandering obsessions and love affairs that fill the book I had one thought: who cares. Perhaps if I was a painter I would have enjoyed it, found a way to relate to the characters, that popular, though limiting, mechanism of evaluation. Yet after each episode where one or the other of the Catalan doppelgangers stalks someone, or drinks too much, or has an affair with someone, all the while the art world sings his praises, all I can think is, yes, artists can live messed up lives; point taken. If Monzo wanted to take down modern art he would have done better to follow Michel Houellebecq’s bit from Platform.

So what about the book? What was it that caused me such consternation? The story follows Heribert Julia as he tries to paint new paintings for an upcoming a new exhibition.  Caught in some sort of painter’s block he spends his time sleeping, drinking, and finding obsessions. He does everything except paint. For a while he stalks his wife, convinced she is having an affair. In perhaps the funnest part of the book he creates a disguise one store at a time as he follows her, eventually dressing as some sort of strange clown that makes him completely recognizable as he passes her. In one brief section he decides to buy collectible stamps, spending thousands on them. Then pages latter he changes to rare coins, spending even more, and then as he did with the stamps, he places them in the closet. Between the drinking and shopping he plots his next sexual conquest. His marriage is a disaster and it never seems like they are interested in being together or even care if one has disappeared for a few days, as if their lives have taken divergent paths and they live together out of habit. His undoing, though, is when he starts a new affair and in a moment of passion in a museum he knocks a bronze statue on his himself and ends up in the hospital days latter. He certainly will not be finishing the paintings for the shows, and one can only assume his role as the most important Catalan painter in New York is over.

The second part of the book follows Humbert (most of the characters have first names that start with H), a younger Catalan painter who has taken the New York art world by storm. Humbert is also married to Heribert’s wife. Obviously, the two painters are meant to be opposites and reflect different creative processes. Humbert keeps  six or seven note books with different ideas and is constantly writing them down. Often they can be pretty pedantic: “Still life of different types of glasses and mugs;”or “The city, by night, as seen from the air: millions of tiny white, blue, and yellow dots.” Humbert is always working or going to the gym. He is obsessed with movement and avoiding the traps of Heribert. Eventually, though, he begins to have an affair with his wife’s friend’s daughter. They travel around, staying in hotels, drinking, all the while Humbert worries that he isn’t going to keep up the pace of work. The book ends with Humbert getting into bed with his lover on New Years Eve.

The book feels unfinished, a collection of incidents put together, but without any good reason for writing them. Sure the art world can be messy, but the book doesn’t really help me understand that. At the same time Monzo eschews psychological insights, which is fine, watching a collection of actions is not a bad approach and too much pschologizing can get tedious. But the insights the book itself leaves you with are just as flat as the character’s lives: I do this, then I do that, and then I might get obsessed about this; who knows, life is just one long collection of unconnected events. Unfortunately, it is not so much a tedious assemblage, for some how the book wasn’t painful to read, but it seems to want to dispense with something that isn’t that important to begin with, the art world. And Monzo is dispensing, too, with the idea of psychological insight, but his replacement, a light, episodic comedy falls flat. Monzo makes me long for Bernhard, where nothing really happens, but at least you know there is something behind it all. In Gasoline Monzo is just the class clown who has to be funny by compulsion, not because he has something fascinating to say.

If someone can point me to another work of his to convince me otherwise I will give him another try, but for now Quim Monzo’s Gasoline is the end of the line.

Gasoline
Quim Monzon
Open Letter Press, 2010, 141 pg

I’m not sure if Gasoline is a funny book or an annoying one. Knowing that Quim Monzo is a bit of a joker (reading one of his weekly columns in La Vnguradia made that obvious), should help me conclude the former. But that is outside of the book and doesn’t really make desire to conclude the later. Gasoline is a relatively brief read, both in pages and complexity, and the actual experience of reading it was not unpleasurable, but for much of the meandering obsessions and love affairs that fill the book I had one thought: who cares. Perhaps if I was an a painter I would have enjoyed it, found a way to relate to the characters, that popular, though limiting, mechanism of evaluation. Yet after each episode where one or the other of the Catalan doppelgangers stalks someone, or drinks too much, or has an affair with someone, all the while the art world sings his praises, all I can think is, yes, artists can live messed up lives; point taken. If Monzo wanted to take down modern art he would have done better to follow Michel Houellebecq’s bit from Platform.

So what about the book? What was it that caused me such consternation? The story follows Heribert Julia as he tries to paint new paintings for an upcoming a new exhibition.  Caught in some sort of painter’s block he spends his time sleeping, drinking, and finding obsessions. He does everything except paint. For a while he stalks his wife, convinced she is having an affair. In perhaps the funnest part of the book he creates a disguise one store at a time as he follows her, eventually dressing as some sort of strange clown that makes him completely recognizable as he passes her. In one brief section he decides to buy collectible stamps, spending thousands on them. Then pages latter he changes to rare coins, spending even more and then as he did with the stamps, he places them in the closet. Between the drinking and shopping he plots the next affair he can have. His marriage is a disaster and it never seems like they are interested in being together or even care if one has disappeared for a few days, as if their lives have take divergent paths and they live together out of habit. His undoing, though, is when he starts a new affair and in a moment of passion in a museum he knocks a bronze statue on his himself and ends up in the hospital days latter. He certainly will not be finishing the paintings for the shows and one can only assume his role as the most important Catalan painter in New York is over.

BabeliAmérica Spain-Latin America On-line Literary Conference Starts Monday

~ bythefirelight

Babelia y El Pais have created an on-line conference that will from Monday October 4 to 10. It will feature authors and artists from Latin America. Babelia will have interviews, profiles, conversations, and other digital means of getting to know the invited artists from Latin America as they discuss the different paths of culture in Latin America. Those participating are the film makers Claudia Llosa (Perú), Marcelo Piñeyro (Argentina), Paz Fábrega (Costa Rica) y Óscar Ruiz (Colombia); the folk singer Jorge Drexler (Uruguay);  the writers Martín Caparrós (Argentina), William Ospina y Héctor Abad Faciolince (Colombia), Iván Thays (Perú), Élmer Mendoza y Jorge Volpi (México); Wendy Guerra (Cuba); the artists Carlos Garaicoa (Cuba) y Miguel Calderón (México); the historian Felipe Pigna (Argentina) and the Puerto Rican Band Calle 13. Carlos Fuentes will open the proceedings.

Except for the time zone issue, it looks like a good conference:

BabeliAmérica. Maloca cultural-virtual es un escenario digital multimedia e interactivo a través del cual invitamos a todos los internautas a disfrutar y vivir, del 4 al 10 de octubre, dos eventos clave en la capital española: VivAmérica, organizado por Casa de América, y Ágora. América Latina, 100 voces diferentes. Un compromiso común, organizado por la Fiiapp (Fundación Internacional y para Iberoamérica de Administración y Políticas Públicas).

Con una programación propia y variada, por BabeliAmérica pasarán más de veinte personajes que están marcando los derroteros culturales y artísticos de América Latina. Entre ellos los cineastas Claudia Llosa (Perú), Marcelo Piñeyro (Argentina), Paz Fábrega (Costa Rica) y Óscar Ruiz (Colombia); el cantautor Jorge Drexler (Uruguay); los escritores Martín Caparrós (Argentina), William Ospina y Héctor Abad Faciolince (Colombia), Iván Thays (Perú), Élmer Mendoza y Jorge Volpi (México); Wendy Guerra (Cuba); los artistas Carlos Garaicoa (Cuba) y Miguel Calderón (México); el historiador y experto en el bicentenario Felipe Pigna (Argentina) y la banda de música puertorriqueña Calle 13.

BabeliAmérica te acercará a todos estos y más personajes y a sus obras a través de vídeos, entrevistas, conversaciones, encuentros digitales, crónicas, diarios de la jornada, álbumes fotográficos, reportajes y una mesa redonda basada en las preguntas que ustedes formulen a los invitados, en la sede madrileña de EL PAÍS, y que podrán seguir desde sus computadores en vivo y en directo; o en el lenguaje del medio: en streaming. Será el viernes 8 de octubre y el nombre de los tres invitados lo revelaré mañana.

Como ya he dicho, la inauguración de esta fiesta en la Maloca cultural-virtual corre por cuenta de Carlos Fuentes desde Nueva York. Un día antes de que el casi centenar de creadores y otras tantas actividades entre exposiciones, foros y mesas redondas invadan Madrid. Pero antes, a las 11 de la mañana, ELPAIS.com lanzará en la Red ese escenario cultural y digital, donde se presentará toda la programación propia que llevaremos hasta sus computadores, basados en la oferta de los eventos madrileños. También se explicará en que consiste cada una de las seis secciones o salas previstas cada día, con sus respectivos horarios, que se irán llenando de contenido a medida que avance la semana, y que usted podrá consultar cuando quieran. Esas secciones son Autorretrato, Protagonistas, La cita, Diario del anfitrión, Encuentro digital y Sesión Eskup América.

Sólo basta entrar en ELPAIS.com o en este blog de Babelia, Papeles perdidos, a partir de mañana, para conocer las diferentes actividades y vivirlas desde cualquier lugar del mundo.

Granta en español Announces Its Best Young Novelists in Spanish

~ bythefirelight

Grant en español has announced their take on the best young novelists in Spanish. You can see a complete list plus links to interviews and other information at El Pais’s blog, Papeles Perdidos. Here is the list of names:

Andrés Barba (España), Oliverio Coelho (Argentina), Federico Falco (Argentina), Pablo Gutiérrez (España), Rodrigo Hasbun (Bolivia), Sonia Hernández (España), Carlos Labbé (Chile), Javier Montes (España), Elvira Navarro (España), Matías Néspolo (Argentina), Andrés Neuman (Argentina), Alberto Olmos (España) Pola Oloixarac (Argentina), Antonio Ortuño (México), Patricio Pron (Argentina), Lucía Puenzo (Argentina), Andrés Ressia Colino (Uruguay), Santiago Roncagliolo (Perú), Samanta Schweblin (Argentina), Andrés Felipe Solano (Colombia), Carlos Yushimito del Valle (Perú) y Alejandro Zambra (Chile).

I have heard of several of these writers and some are in English. I know I have read a story by Samanta Schweblin and I think I liked it. She had something in the Latin American issue of Zoetrope. I haven’t read Andres Nueman yet, and I’m a little disappointed I didn’t buy one of his books when I was in Barcelona; he was on my list. Alejandro Zambra has been translated into English. You can read both Bonsai and the Private Lives of Trees. Santiago Roncagliolo has one book in English and as I noted earlier this week he will be on El Publico Lee. Jorge Volpi has noted his writings as a way forward with the political novel. I don’t know about the rest of the authors, but I guess that will give me an excuse to read the issue.

Update:

Read about some of them in English.

Granta to Publish the Best Spanish Language Novelists Firday 10/1

~ bythefirelight

El Pais is reporting that Granta en Espanol is going to publish its volume of the best Spanish Language Novelists on Friday 10/1/10. I’ve been waiting for this edition for sometime although I always find the best under issues a little contrived. At the same time I can’t wait to see if there is someone I haven’t heard of and, as the writer of the El Pais article said, play the game. Also of note is El Pais’ literary magazine Babelia is going to have its own coverage of the authors, so if you can’t or won’t buy the Granta, you’ll have a chance to read about the writers at El Pais.

La revista británica Granta elegirá mañana, por primera vez, a los 22 mejores escritores hispanohablantes menores de 35 años en cuyas manos, según ellos, estaría parte del futuro de las letras en castellano. Es un juego, una apuesta y una propuesta. Y como todos esos juegos de listas despierta interés y curiosidad. Por eso Babelia, desde este blog y ELPAÍS.com, hará una cobertura especial sobre esa selección, acorde a este soporte de la red: una pieza bio-bibliográfica de cada escritor con fotografías, vídeos, declaraciones al instante, enlaces con las mejores entrevistas, críticas o artículos de los autores, enlaces a chats que haya tenido este diario con algunos de ellos; e intentará conseguir algunos textos inéditos y un encuentro digital con varios de ellos para que ustedes pregunten lo que quieran.

Santiago Roncagliolo Opens the New Season of El Publico Lee

~ bythefirelight

El Publico Lee is opening its new season with an interview with Santiago Roncagliolo. Roncagliolo is a younger Peruvian writer who has written political thrillers and who Jorge Volpi has pointed to as a one of the younger authors who are showing a different approach to writing from Latin America. He has at least one book in English Red April.

Santiago Roncagliolo nos presenta una novela que combina el thriller psicológico con la ciencia ficción. Una historia donde los afectos, el sexo y la amistad marcan a personajes que no logran comunicarse en un mundo de alta tecnología. Un escenario subyugante y misterioso para una historia en la que lo imposible y lo tangible se encuentran.

Santiago Roncagliolo (Lima, 1975) es uno de los escritores más versátiles e impredecibles en español. Cada novela suya juega con distintos géneros y explora distintos países. Su historia íntima Pudor (Alfaguara, 2004) fue llevada al cine. Su thriller político Abril rojo ganó el Premio Alfaguara de novela 2006. Su libro de no ficción La cuarta espada penetró en la mente del terrorista más peligroso de la historia americana. Su último libro fue Memorias de una dama (Alfaguara, 2009). Su trabajo ha vendido más de 150.000 ejemplares y se ha traducido a trece idiomas.

Mario Benedetti’s The Rest is Jungle and Other Stories – A Super Brief Review

~ bythefirelight

I just finished reading the short stories of Mario Benedetti in The Rest is Jungle and Other Short Stories which is now available from Host Publications. I don’t want to say to much because I’m writing a review for the Quarterly Conversation, but it is a shame that his stories didn’t come out in an English volume earlier. They are all excellent and some are quite memorable and funny. It makes me want to read some of his other works, especially La Tregua which I’ve heard so much about.

Results of Book Shopping in Barcelona: Sada, Moya, Palma, Abirached, Munoz, Ndongo, Letelier

~ bythefirelight ~ 3 Comments

I had the luck to have a couple of days to do some book shopping in Barcelona and came back with 7 books. It was hard to limit myself because I recognized so many authors that I’d seen on El Publico Lee. And when I found the display of books from Paginas de Espuma on my last day I was tempted to buy a couple more books. In the end I settled on the following, a mix of Latin American, Spanish, African and Lebanese books. I normally don’t buy books translated into Sanish but Zeina Abrached’s books are unavailable in English so I could justify it.

  • Felix J Palma -El menor espectaculo del mundo
  • Miguel Angel Munoz – Quedate donde estas
  • Zeina Abrached – El juego de las golondrinas
  • Zeina Abrached – Me acuerdo Beruit
  • Daniel Sada – Ese modo que colma
  • Horacio Castellanos Moya – Con la congoja de la pasada tormenta
  • Hernan River Letelier – El arte de la resurrecction
  • Donato Ndongo – Las Tinieblas de tu memoria negra


Ilan Stavans and The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature at Huffington Post

~ bythefirelight

The Huffington Post has an interesting interview with Ilan Stavans about the publication of The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature, one of those massive door stops that only students in literature classes seem to read. While I find the Huffington Post trashy, this interview has merit. Ilan Stavans also makes it sound more interesting than Rolando Hinojosa when I saw him give a presentation on this at the University of Washington.

Don’t expect to pick it up with one hand. The anthology is over 2,600 pages long, a treasure trove of stories, poems, song lyrics and various detours along unexplored paths of American history. Stavans says he had no interest in producing a standard collection of tales from celebrated Latino writers. His anthology does contain pieces from a few modern masters — Isabel Allende, William Carlos Williams, Octavio Paz — but the scope of his vision is far greater than them. The collection begins in the year 1539, with a letter written by Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto, continuing on through César Chávez’s rousing political speeches, Junot Díaz’s biography of a sci-fi-obsessed dork, the cartoons of Gus Arriola, Broadway-style hip hop from Lin-Manuel Miranda, even club lyrics from Ricky Martin and the Spanglish rap of Cypress Hill.

That breathtaking span is one reason the Norton Anthology feels less like a book and more like a magic carpet ride through time and space, with Stavans’ hand on the rutter, introducing every author with a crisply written biography, explaining every political and cultural reference with an ongoing series of footnotes. Through it all, you can almost hear the happy bounce of Stavans’ fingers on the keyboard, a joy I first noticed 14 years ago as his student at Amherst College, where he is the Lewis-Sebring Professor of Latin American and Latino Culture.

Stavans and I reconnected recently to discuss his new anthology, the clash of high and low culture in the collection, how his father shaped his literary outlook, and what exactly makes him qualified to decide who is in and who is out of the Latino literary canon.

More About Bioy Casares Brazilian Journal

~ bythefirelight

El País has a short and positive review of Adolfo Bioy Casares´journal of his trip to Brazil in 1960. Essentially, if you like his diary/biography of Borges, which hasn´t come out in English yet, you will probably like this book because it is filled with the same humor and wry observations that fill borges.

Si el posible lector de esta reseña tuvo el privilegio de leer Borges, parte del diario de Bioy Casares (Destino, 2006), recordará que entre el 21 de julio de 1960 y el 31 del mismo mes, hay un vacío. (Recuérdese que este diario sólo habla de la relación de Bioy con Borges). Pues bien, Unos días en el Brasil llena ese vacío. El autor de La guerra del cerdo fue invitado a un congreso del PEN Club celebrado en Brasilia en aquellos días. Bioy Casares suspende su diario, pero abre otro de pequeño formato para comentar solo sus impresiones del congreso (editado en una tirada no venal de 300 ejemplares, en 1991, para ser obsequiado a los amigos del escritor). El sucinto diario mantiene vivo el tono irónico de su autor. Durante el congreso conoce a Moravia (de quien escucha palabras nada amables de la obra de Giorgio Bassani), conoce a su mujer (a la que llama señora Moravia, porque no se acordaba que era Elsa Morante). Como está en Brasil, Bioy Casares elabora una teoría del patriotismo muy interesante: hay patriotas negativos (a los que se les eriza la piel cuando alguien critica a su país) y los patriotas positivos (los que hacen algo útil por su patria). Si uno recuerda su Borges, tendrá presente el constante aliento irreverente de sus páginas, su humor devastador. En Unos días en el Brasil, se mantiene constante esa característica, guardando siempre una educación exquisita ante quien se hace merecedor de algunos gramos de su sarcasmo. Escucha con suma atención a quienes tienen algo interesante que comunicarle sobre el modo de ser de los brasileños. Oye decir que hay un racismo muy soterrado extendido en todo el país, sobre todo respecto a los negros. Y luego no puede disimular su condición de seductor irrefrenable, sus tentaciones enamoradizas que no oculta. No tienen desperdicio sus opiniones sobre Brasilia, sobre la injustificada necesidad de crear una nueva capitalidad. En fin, ha sido un inmenso placer volver a leerlo señor Adolfo Bioy Casares.

New Adolfo Bioy Casares Book Apearing in Spain

~ bythefirelight

For the Adolfo Bioy Casares completists Spain’s Páginas de Espuma is publishing a book of photos and a diary he kept during a 1960 trip to Brazil. I don’t know what the photos are like, but you can read the publisher’s press release.

La mirada de un viajero, Adolfo Bioy Casares en Brasil
El 6 de septiembre se realizará su lanzamiento mundial y se inagurará en Madrid una exposición que recoge las fotografías del libro

Madrid.- El próximo 6 de septiembre se realizará el lanzamiento mundial del libro Unos días en el Brasil (Diario de viaje), del escritor argentino Adolfo Bioy Casares, y con posfacio del editor y traductor Michel Lafon. El libro será publicado simultáneamente desde Argentina y España por las editoriales La Compañía y Páginas de Espuma, que suman de este modo un título más a su labor en común. Fruto de esta colaboración, en septiembre títulos como Lady Susan, de Jane Austen, o Nabokov y su Lolita, de Nina Berberova estarán disponibles en las libreráis españolas, mientras en las argentinas lo estarán El último minuto, de Andrés Neuman o Tres por cinco, de Luisa Valenzuela.

Las páginas prácticamente inéditas de Unos días en el Brasil (Diario de viaje) recogen el diario de un viaje en 1960, motivado por la invitación que Bioy Casares recibe de la organización del congreso del PEN Club en Brasil. Unos días en el Brasil recorre aquellos días de 1960 que Bioy estuvo entre las ciudades de Río de Janeiro, São Paulo y una incipiente Brasilia, de la que se celebra su 50º Aniversario como capital de Brasil. Testimonio de uno de los autores claves de la literatura en castellano del siglo XX, este diario se completa con una serie de fotos inéditas de este viaje. Coincidiendo con el lanzamiento, se celebrará una exposición titulada Basilia 1960. Fotografías inéditas de Adolfo Bioy Casares en la Galería Guayasamín de Casa de América en Madrid del lunes 6 de septiembre al domingo 19. La construcción de la ciudad comenzó en 1956, siendo Ludo Costa el principal urbanista y Oscar Niemeyer el principal arquitecto. En 1960, se convirtió oficialmente en la capital de Brasil. Junto con Putrajaya (la capital administrativa de Malasia) y Naypydaw (la nueva capital de Birmania) es una de las ciudades capitales de más reciente construcción en el mundo. El 8 de septiembre a las 20 horas será la presentación del libro en Casa de América. El acto contará con la presencia de Eduardo Berti, Juan Casamayor y muy especialmente del editor, traductor y ensayista francés Michel Lafon, que esos días concederá entrevistas. Según palabras recogidas en su posfacio, el diario tiene un cometido íntimo y personal del autor “para seguir transformando cualquier día de su vida en un viaje y una aventura, cualquier lugar del mundo en una isla encantada, donde todo se vuelve posible, e incluso deseable”. Lafon mantiene que Bioy ” no sabe por qué aceptó la invitación, no tiene nada que decirles a los otros invitados, rechaza las amistades obligadas y los ejercicios impuestos, odia la retórica vacía, no quiere hablar en público”. Aun así, Lafon acaba preguntándose: “Viajar para escribir, escribir para olvidarse de que uno está viajando, y para recordarlo después. ¿Y si Bioy fuera el mayor diarista del continente?”.

Lit Podcasts: 9/2/10: John Williams, Adam Langer, James Mauro, Ayelet Waldman

~ bythefirelight

Leonard Lopate and Morris Dickstein, Distinguished Professor of English and Theatre at the CUNY Graduate Center, discusses John Williams: author of the 1965 novel, Stoner.

Novelist Adam Langer talks about his latest work, The Thieves of Manhattan, which serves as: a comical literary caper, an exploration of authenticity and fakery, and a tribute to books.

James Mauro discusses the 1939 World’s Fair, which took place at an important turning point for America—the window of time between the Great Depression and World War II (at Leonard Lopate).

Ayelet Waldman talks about her latest novel, Red Hook Road. (at Leonard Lopate)

This is a little old, but interesting. Colin Marshall (mp3) talks to Chris Wickham, Chichele Professor of Medieval History at Oxford University, Fellow of All Souls College and author of The Inheritance of Rome: A History of Europe from 400 to 1000, the latest in Penguin’s sprawling History of Europe series.

Ricardo Piglia, Almudena Grandes, Mario Vargas Llosa and Others on Their New Books

~ bythefirelight

El Pais has an article about the new books that are coming out from Spanish language authors this fall. Among works by Ricardo Piglia, Almudena Grandes, Mario Vargas Llosa there will also be a book by Adolfo Bioy Casares that compiles his photos from a trip to Brazil in 1960. Mostly the article is authors talkinga bout their works, but interesting none the less.

1. ¿Por qué ha elegido ese tema o argumento para el nuevo libro?

2. ¿Cuándo y cómo fue el momento de inspiración para escribir sobre eso?

Ricardo Piglia

Blanco nocturno (Anagrama)

1. En el origen estuvo la figura de Luca y la leyenda familiar; pensé la novela centrada en un héroe enfrentado al destino y trabajé una trama con muchos personajes secundarios y varios conflictos. Traté de buscar un registro digamos épico. ¿Cómo sería hoy escribir una historia épica? Ese fue para mí el desafío del libro.

2. Imaginé la historia hace mucho tiempo, antes de publicar Prisión perpetua. Escribí una primera versión y la dejé, luego la retomé y la reescribí y la volví a dejar… Me gusta -aunque no lo recomiendo- ese modo de escribir porque las historias cambian, como si -al decantarse- encontraran su propia inspiración.

Almudena Grandes

Inés y la alegría (Tusquets)

1 y 2. No estoy muy segura de haber escogido el tema de Inés y la alegría. Más bien, la invasión de Arán me escogió a mí. Cuando leí que un ejército de cuatro mil hombres había invadido el valle en otoño de 1944, y que lo había ocupado durante nueve días a la espera de un apoyo aliado que nunca llegó, me costó trabajo aceptar que semejante episodio permaneciera en el olvido. Averigüé algo más sobre el origen y las características de aquella aventura, y descubrí a un personaje irresistible, Jesús Monzón, moviendo los hilos de una trama más fascinante que cualquiera que yo hubiera podido inventar.

Short Stories From Ines Mendoza, Ronaldo Menendez, Javier Saez de Ibarra (Spanish Only)

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A few more short stories from Spanish authors (in Spanish only) . Javier Saez de Ibarra won the first International Prize for Short Stories Ribera del Duero in March of 2009.

Debutantes, Javier Saez de Ibarra

Mohr, la que huye de la luz, Ines Mendoza

Paralelamente, Ronaldo Menendez

Writing the Spanish Civil War: Field of Honor by Max Aub – a Review

~ bythefirelight ~ 3 Comments

Field of Honour
Max Aub
Verso ( 2009), pg 253

Political novels, especially those written in the heat of the moment, can suffer from didacticism, that need to explain, justify, or apologize which when read latter makes conversation that was once so important seem stiff, bereft of context. At best it can read as a time capsule, but often the need to explain over powers complexity. Moreover, as history progresses those ideas that were so worth devoting pages to are no longer that important. Sure, they are relevant to a specialist, but they cannot go beyond their moment because the ideas no longer inform the current moment.

Written in 1939, the year of the Republican defeat, Max Aub’s Field of Honor falls into this trap and despite moments of brilliance the book is mired in conversations about the need for communist, anarchist, flangeest (a mix of Catholicism and fascism) and Carlist (a form of monarchism)  solutions to the problems of Spain. The conversations are more fragments of ideas than cogent argument, which is perhaps fitting its timeliness, and they do show a certain side of the coming troubles, but they neither make an interesting argument, or really convey the experience of the times. He is effective in showing the different ideas that were being discussed, but in of themselves they are not particularly compelling.

It is unfortunate the weakness of the political arguments distract so much, because the other elements are very well written. The book follows Rafael Lopez Serrador a poor youth from a small village in Spain as he goes from young man to revolutionary, struggling against industrialists, switching to fascist side, and ultimately finding what he really is. In one way it is a coming of age story as Serrador learns about sex, the avarice of man kind, and confronts violence. As a coming of age story, even one of political awakening, Aub captures a world, an impression that out lasts the times. Aub’s strength is to capture a communal experience and he can convey what a town or a battle is like in a way that goes beyond just a historical description, and gives one the sense of the times. His description of the fire bull (a bull with burning pitch on its horns) is not only an effective symbol of Spain on the edge of war, but an excellent depiction of small town life. His quick, imagistic sentences serve his expansive, summary approach, and the result is a sweeping view of the end of Republican Spain.

Ultimately, Field of Honor has moments of brilliance but is slowed by the political discussions. Since it is part of a cycle it would be interesting to see if he is able to use more of the good parts and avoid the conversational fragments.

Lit Podcasts 8/27/10: David Mitchell, John Brandon, Louis Couperus, Yasunari Kawabata, Martin Amis

~ bythefirelight

A short list this week. It seems like I listened to more than these.

David Mitchell on Bookworm from KCRW. This is one of his best interviews in the recent past.

A little old but interesting: Todd Shimoda on the Marketplace of Ideas.

John Brandon on his novel Citrus Country at the Leonard Lopate Show

Leonard Lopate discusses Louis Couperus

Leonard Lopate discusses Yasunari Kawabata

Martin Amis talks with Leonard Lopate