The islands by Carlos Gamerro

The Islands by Carlos Gamerro

Argentinian fiction

Translated by Ian Barnett with Carlos Gamerro

source review copy

Carlos Gamerro  born in 1962 ,studied literature  in Buenos Aires .He then became a visiting fellow in Cambridge .He is also a translator of English into Spanish he has translated Auden and Harold Blooms works into Spanish,He has also lived in Gibraltar for a time so has a small insight into the british side of the story   .Although this is his  second book published in English ,this was actually  his début novel he has so far written five novel .This book is also now a play as well .

Now this is the second book by Carlos Gamerro I’ve read in the last twelve months the first was open secret a story about the dirty war and the aftermath on one village in Argentina .Now in this book ” The islands” (Las Isla )is another story set in Argentina recent past .This time it is set in 1992 but looking back at the Falklands war .For those of you outside the UK I explain The Fakland islands are archipelago  of  2 large islands and 700 small islands that over its history had swapped through many hands til in 1833 it came under British rule ,but it has been disputed with its nearest neighbour Argentina that state a claim on the islands or as the call them Las Malvinas .This book is timely with the 30th anniversary of the war and also a recent heightening of the tension between the UK government and Argentina government over the sovereignty  of the islandsthis year   .So this dispute reach a new height in 1982 when Argentina invade the islands .This is where The Islands starts in 1992 a Computer Hacker Felipe Felix  is summoned to the Headquarters of a large company and the boss Fausto Tamerlan .Fausto wants Felipe to find out who witness a crime committed by his son  .Another son was in the Falklands .Then add in a armadillo shell stuffed with treasure and we have the start of a novel of multiple strands and some dead ends .

He opened them to look at me .

” My son killed someone ” ; he said .” in this very room .Threw him out of that window “.He pointed to the one immediately behind me .”Five nights ago .To explain what your job will be .You’ve been allowed a privilege reserved for a happy few ;to penetrate to the heart of the diamond .

Sr Tamerlan tells Felipe why he summoned him to the office .

 

Now Felipe is a man scared by the war himself his is a sort hacker come private investigator ,he spent the last ten years since the war in drugs and the virtual on-line world trying to escape the horrors he saw and the time he spent in a freezing trench on the islands .Now Felipe still knows all the right people knowing some veterans from the conflict ,via this he knows some one in SIDE the Argentina’s secret services .He finds out via hacking the computer files at SIDE that a certain major may have been involved in the son’s crime via the majors wife .But this major was also a dark figure from dirty war that wrote his diary about his time on the island .we view his world via his diary

25TH May 1982 – A glorious national holiday .We celebrated with a barbecue ,which improved the morale of the rank and file ,in spite of the two sheep that we sacrifice barely satisfying our hunger . The scarcity of provisions is alarming .Later ,after handing round some steaming mugs of mate ,which the Kelpers eagerly drank .I made a sort speech declaring them full Argentinian citizens .

from the diary of Major x ,Kelpers is the nickname for the Faklander islanders .

Oh rather like open secret was The island is a complex piece of writing crossing genres part war novel,part crime story ,part spy novel ,part road trip ,part confessional ,part cyber thriller .The  list is endless .a stream of different styles that take you into a mad world of broken men ,dead men ,dreams of grandeur and nightmares of defeat all play a part .We see the reasons for the war and the outfall from the Argentinian  point of view .Now I was only ten when the war happened and my memories are of the British side of the war .But I found this interview with Carlos on line quite enlightening .The war was quite horrific for both sides and as much as my memories before reading this novel are of the union jack flying and some of our troops that suffered horrific injuries ,this book opened my eyes to the suffering and the broken dreams of the men that went to chase a dream of capturing what to them was a dream of a better future and Felipe is one of those men . And in that future men of power still try to cover the crimes that are going on in the present as well as the past.He said Burroughs and Pynchon were influences whilst writing this book and I can see it has a twisted style like Burroughs and the scope of Pynchon works .This another read for spanish lit month

Have you read Carlos Gamerro ?

 

Traveller of the century by Andres Neuman

Traveller of the century by Andres Neuman

Argentina fiction

Translators Nick Casitor and Lorenza Garcia

Now when you read on the front cover this quote from Roberto Bolano ,which came from a piece called Neuman ,touched by grace (available in Bolano’s between parentheses)

The literature of the twenty first century will belong to Neumann and a few other blodd brothers of his

So when your faced with that you know you arte in for something special .Andres Neuman is Argentina born in 1977 ,he grew up in Buenos Aires and now like many of his fellow Argentinian writers lives in Spain ,he has a degree in Spanish Philology and has taught spanish american literature .He published his first novel age 22 .He has won a number of big Spanish lit prize with this and his earlier books .,this one the prestigious national critic awards .It is his fourth novel and the first to be translated to English .

Traveller of century is one of those hefty book that you know is going to be deep and meaningful before you open the cover and like a lot of very long books is hard to describe without writing a super long post and giving away too much . So I ll just be giving a flavour of the book .We meet the traveller of the title in a mystical nineteenth century Europe ,well what is modern Germany now , the strange city of Dessau .So Hans the traveller arrives he is on a long journey and this is a stop for him so armed with a huge case of books as he is a reader and translator himself , he enters the city.But this city is all that it seems ?So he goes to stay in the Inn in the town and over the next few day we see this strange town open up through the eyes of Hans .I decide to do some research on the town mention in the book I came to a work by the Asturian composer called Winterreise (winter journey) which sees a man on a journey stop at the town of Dessau songs include one about a Inn and one about a hurdy gurdy man who also appears in the book by Neuman .So it seems in part that is one influence for the book .Back to the story Hans falls for a pretty young girl in the village Sophie Gottlieb but she is with another man .We see Hans slowly woo Sophie and interact with the towns folk innkeeper Herr Zeit (zeit german for time ) .Hans is a translator and a philosophical type guy so there is much discussion of the philosophical movements of the time and writers like Goethe are mention .

This is the heterogenous basis of our thoughts,feelings and writings .In order to avoid getting lost in metaphor and upsetting you ,I shall try to give you a concrete example professor ,Does Goethe feel German on the one hand and the other speak in six languages ? or rather ,as an individual who speaks and reads several different languages,does Goethe feel in a specific way that is peculiar to him and which is this case expressed itself in the german language ?

So as you see deep stuff at times .

Well if you want to know Hans gets on does he get the women ,does he ever leave Dessau ? this and many other answers you will find out by reading the book .So how to place the book it is hard as it is epic in scale and due to that I ve struggled to cover it and feel I ll need to reread it at some point .But it has flavours of all those epic European writers Thomas Mann is the one that cropped up in the reviews and his Magic mountain a classic in the bildungsroman style (this will be another one day I feel) and is mention in a quote from a review in the back cover ,but I also felt bits of Calvino something of “if on a winter’s night ..2 expanded out to wide-screen ,also the early books of Orhan Pamuk sprung to my mind the books where things like thought ,philosophy and being are all brought together in a wonderful stew .I like Neuman’s little touches like the clever surnames zeit – time ,Gottlieb – god’s love and others just seems a clever wordplay .The way the city of Dessau seems to drift ,this in particular remind me of Calvino’s invisible cities a city that every time we see Hans in it seems to be different yet the same ,like Calvino managed in Invisible cities .SO what we get is book that on the surface seems like a European book but I feel at the heart of it is something very Argentina and that maybe is the struggle for identity the way writers like Neumann span continents and in a way manage to bring the best of europe and Latin american writing together ,so yes I agree with Bolano the twenty-first century does belong to Neuman and his blood brothers .This is another book for Spanish language lit month .

Have you read this book ?

Do you have a favourite Argentinian writer ?

Open secret by Carlos Gamerro

An open secret by Carlos Gamerro

Argentina Fiction

Translator – Ian Barnett

Carlos Gamerro is an argentina writer and literary critic ,born in 1962 he was broguth up speaking both spanish and english ,he has published six novels so far this is the first out in english and another the island due out next year .He has also translated shakespeare and Harold Bloom into spanish .

An open secret was the third novel I’d read from Argentina last year that dealt with the Dirty war period  .Yet again it took another twist on the time ,the other two Purgatory took a wife who’s  husband disappeared ,Kamchatka was told from a young sons point of view at the time .Now An open secret set in the present and uses a young man called Fefe as he  returns to the town where his grandfather was Mayor and he spent summers as a boy ,he arrives at the small town of Malihuel ,he has a agenda and that is to get to the bottom of what happened to Dario Ezcurra who disappear in the dirty war time of 1976 to 1983.But tells them he is researching a piece on a fictional murder in a small town .As the action unfold the fact that only one man in a town of three thousand has become symbolic for the country as a whole as the futher Fefe goes the more people where there or knew what had happened ,you feel the  danger as the locals try to close ranks and Fefe feels he might be in danager himself from the locals .

“So why did you choose us ? I mean there are so many towns in the province ” Don Leon wants to kno now .

“I used to come here as a boy ,”I reply”every summer.That’s how Gudio and I know each other “

“He’s Echerzarrea,your grandfather ? ” Gudio chimes in.”poli’s son”

Fefe says why he came to Malihuel

I felt Gamerro caught a nation looking towards its self and fefe was in some ways a nations concious looking at what happened at that time ,and malihuel is a typical villages as Gamerro describes it intersped in the chapters the every day argentina place and I think this is him symbolising the place as thou it was any where in the country they all have petrol stations cafes  etc .The book is paced  very in the thriller esque mode that constant turning of the screw this is help as the speech has little or no punctuation thus give the effect of speed as thou the words can’t come quick enough ,  as Fefe moves towards the truth ,what was once a friendly place becomes dark and unfriendly as we see what the effect of one mans death had on this small town of three thousand yet even thou the town is small we get to meet a host of strange and wonderful characters almost like a cross section of the country as a whole  .Yet again I’m amazed with the openness Argentina writers are now approach this time in there history .I look forward to Gamerro new novel I enjoted Ian Barnett translation he is based in Argentina and translated other writers from there and you get a feel he has a sense of the rhythm of the language .

Purgatory by Tomas Eloy Martinez

Purgatory by Tomas Eloy Martinez

Argentina fiction

Translator – Frank Wynne

I read his Santa Evita a mythical magic realism tale based around the life of Eva Peron early on in the blog and have Tango singer sat on my shelves so when this arrived from Bloomsbury I was excited even more so when I saw it was one of Frank Wynne’s translation ,for me one of the best translators  in the world and certainly when in comes to complex fiction like this .

So Purgatory was Tomas last novel and the fact that in part it is narrated by a north american based Argentina writer as Tomas Eloy himself .The story is centre on Simon and Emilia these where husband and wife, when thirty years earlier in the seventies at the height of the disappearances in Argentina by the Junta .Simon disappear whilst doing his job as a cartographer .Now thirty years later his wife Emilia walks in a bar and sitting there is Simon ,but he hasn’t aged a day ,is it him or a ghost that never really gets answered but as the story progress Martinez jumps from the events leading up to Simon disappearance there married life ,their work as cartographers ,also what was going on around them .We also her Emilia talking to the writer in the modern day about her life and Simon .Also the outside world of the world cup of 78 which was held in Argentina ,Orson Welles    and UFO  all crop up along the way .

Simon disappeared in Tucuman at the beginning of July .The days were mild and the nights frosty .He and Emilia had been sent to the Tucuman by the automobile club on an easy mission , virtually a holiday .They were to map a ten kilometre stretch of an invisible route – nothing more than a dotted line on the map to the south of the province .

in this quote it seems ok til you read it closer .

 

Now this story is layered the title is a give away to the subject Purgatory and even this has many faces ,Emilia unable to properly move on with her life after Simons disappearance as she has been in limbo like many wifes of the disappeared  ,has maybe by see him purged this feeling  from her life .Argentina its self maybe after a time of not looking at what happened during the time of disappearances and now is maybe  just recently is able to face what happened during that time of the junta .I ve seen this in a number of recent Argentina novels I ve read Kamchatka and open secret to name two  .Also Martinez who at time he wrote book had cancer and maybe this book is his way of purging what happened at the time as well he saw many thinks at first hand and at a distance as he was a journalist at the time .The story mixes what happened with fiction so well and also how it affect everyday Argentina’s .Again Martinez shows his ability to use magic realism to make reality even bolder than before .A fitting testament to his writing life and a great job as ever by Frank bring it to English.

Have you read Martinez ?

Kamachatka by Mareclo Figueras

Source – Frank Wynne the translator of this book .

Translator  - Frank Wynne

Marcelo Figueras is an Argentina writer and film maker born in the early sixties he has written four novels and wrote for various spanish magazines ,This is his first book to be translated into english

The last thing papa said to me ,the last word from his lips ,was “Kamchatka ” .

He kissed me ,his stubble scratching my cheek ,then climbed into the Citroen .The car moved of along the undulating ribbon of road ,a green bubble bobbing into view with every hill,getting smaller and smaller until I couldn’t see it any More .

The open ,what did his father mean !

Right the book ,it is set in seventies just after a coup and the period called the dirty war  ,the book is narrated by a ten-year old boy ,for most of the book called Harry a name chosen by the young boy as his hero is the legendary escape artist Harry Houdini ,as he parts Left wingers are forced to flee their home in Buenos Aires to head to a safe house in the back and beyond of Argentine .the book is divide into parts each relating to a school day ,This book is from Harry’s point of view and a bit like Wil Wheaton says in stand by me the days when you’re the age before you discover girls are the best and this is Harry ,yes there is Danger but Harry is more interest in Tv and drinking Nesquik .he talks about the Midget it took me a couple mentions to realised this was his younger brother a close relationship beautifully portrayed  .Harry compares people he meets to the characters he sees on tv mainly from his favourite show Invaders ,which I vaguely remember seeing as a Kid myself .also the saint which I loved myself as a kid .Childhood is a large chunk of this book ,I would imagine a lot of the likes and worries of Harry are from Marcelo’s own childhood although he is a few years older than Harry when the book is set .Marcelo also is a wonderful visual writer ,bring the  places the family visit along the way to Life so much .This is a refreshing change to other Latin American  books based round coups which on whole have been dark and more political ,here we get a reflection on how these events effect a family ,we ‘ve all heard about people going on the run ,now here is a book that shows it through a child’s eyes. The book has been made into a successful Film in Argentina which was Argentina choice for the foreign Oscar in 2002 .The book was translated by Frank terrible-man Wynne  with real lightness the story flows and sometimes you forget this wasn’t written in English .This is on this years Independent foreign fiction prize long list and hopefully shortlist .so what did his fathers last words mean ? well you’ll have to read the book to find out !!

Have you a favourite Argentina Novel ?

The library at night by Alberto Manguel

OR LAST NIGHT A BOOK SAVED MY BLOG

SOURCE – PERSONNEL COPY

what can I say about Alberto Mauguel ,he is such an iconic figure to my self ,he is a Canadian /Argentina writer ,he publishes mainly non fiction books on reading the art of reading why ,how and what reading means .He was one of the figures that read to the late Jorge Luis Borges .When he lived in Buenos  Aires  in the german book shop .

The book revolves about what a library is ? it means so many things through time ,howe they came about how they inspired saved and enthralled readers and writers alike .He does all this as he build his huge library in his current home in France a barn contain thirty thousand volumes .I grew up with book my father is a huge reader and has shelves full of escapist fiction which is my fathers taste thrillers ,westerns but a prized collection of turn of the century Dickens in black leather always was loved by me as a youngster .mt gran was same with Trollope Saki etc on her shelves and my grandfathers antique guides and books on all matter of bizarre subjects .As I read through library at night I was gripped with passion like a young boy opening his first Dinky toy .I wish I had posted my quit post and just have read this and all would be well with Winstonsdad I needed inspiration and this was a lifeboat in a sea of doubt in myself .

The library in which I have at long last collected my books began life as a barn sometime in the fifteenth century ,perched on a small hill south of Loire ,here in the last years before the Christian era ,the romans erected a temple to Dionysus to honour the god of this wine-producing area ;twelve centuries later ,a christian church replaced the god of drunken ecstasy with the god who turned his blood to wine .

the opening of The library at night ,howe can you  not carry on after that salvo !

So if you wonder who Dewey was of the Dewey decimal system ,or what came before him .Then again what books meant in Auschwitz during the war well dear readers the answers lie with the cover of this wonderful book .I Have read a number of his earlier books and now will get another to put behind emergency glass for when I wobble as this book and Manguel as a writer is a shining beacon on  a foggy mind . I know want my own barn or large space for the ever-expanding Winstonsdad collection of books as a book lover I just can’t stop rooting round book sales for my next fix of cover art or feel of leather from an aged volume .

Have you read this book or any of his books ?

a funny dirty little war by Osvaldo Soriano

Osvaldo Soriano was a jornalist and writer he worked for the la opinon in the early seventies ,he wrote his first novel in 1973 ,this his fifth novel was published in 1986 and was translated by Nick Caistor.he died in 1997 at the young age of 54 ,his books have been translated in to 15 different languages and inspired films .

 

The book is set in a small fictional Argentina town Colonia vela ,we see what starts as a small argument escalate to a huge conflict .This story has a strong Parable element to it ,we see through the Humour of Soriano writings the effect the Juan Peron had on his country men .we met Suprino the local Peronist boss ,he along with the town’s mayor and others plots to get rid of the assistance of the  deputy mayor Fuentes and his assistant Mateo who has leftist leaning as sympathies .but Fuentes doesn’t want to this leads to a huge stand-off and the local students which have leftist sympathies get involved ,thus the situation ends at near civil war .

Suprino said that the mayor and the party tribunal would take responsibility .

yes ,but not for the shambles.If we get them out ,all well and good :if not ,we’re screwed

let’s go in shooting then .

Hang on let the others do the shooting ,then clear off you’ve got keep your hands clean .Suprino said you’re going to be made police chief in Tandil

There must be thousands of commies there

the place is crawling with them .in the university ,in the steelworks ,you’ll have lots of fun .

Suprino and the local inspector talking .

The action is constant throughout the book and also the laughs as the situations lead from on disaster to another ,This is latin American writing at its best facing the distant past face on and with out rose-coloured glasses .Peron influence over post war Argentina was huge his crimes and death squads is something this country still comes to terms with and books like this help shed a light on that time .the book is very short and took me an afternoon to get through  ,the book was made into a film in 1983 by Hector Olivera .which was critical acclaimed ,the book  and film is a tale of left wing versus right wing politics that was acted out in many towns and areas of latin america during the 70′s .the translation by the acclaimed Nick Caistor is perfect ,he is one of the best at male latin american voices

Have you read this book ?

 

AUTONAUTS OF THE COSMOROUTE BY JULIO CORTAZAR AND CAROL DUNLOP

source – personnel copy published by Telegram books

Julio Cortazar was a Argentina writer spent his youth around Europe before his family settled back in Argentina ,on leaving university ,he became a translator in france for Unesco ,he lived there until his death in the eighties ,he is considered one of the most influential latin american writers of the period  and european writers including Roberto Bolano and Georges Perec ,he was part of the fifties Noveau roman movement .The book follows Cortazar and his third wife the writer photograph Carol Dunlop,on a trip down one of the main freeways of france from Paris to Marseilles .

The book is made up as a travelogue / guide book in the style of the great books of history by the likes of Marco Polo .We find the preparation ,planning for this Journey down the main road from Paris to Marseilles ,not leaving the road and visiting two rest areas every day and sleeping in the dragon the name they gave their battered VW camper they had got for this voyage of discovery ,so we see the guys organizing food drops gathering scientific equipment a typewriter camera ,so they set of and we see each rest stop described .How the struggle with washing etc . Then we get Julio’s daily observations a map of the route ,what they eaten and Carols photographs of the gallant troop as they try to conquer the route .

The parell highway we’re looking for perhaps only exists in the imagination of those who dream of it ; but if it exists I( its to soon to make categorical affirmations and nevertheless one would say we’re there and have been for the last twenty for hours ;let’s be skeptical reader think before denying reality to this new route by eliminating the “perhaps” from the phrase ,that may well disappear with it ;may he have patience then,at least wait until we’ve been able to gather evidence .

just before they embark on the journey .

What I loved about this book is Julio’s ability to take what may seem something very boring and uninteresting as I 33 journey down a single road not leaving it for that time .But what he does is like slow cooking is in this age of speed and jets ,that as he says you may notice more when travelling at camels pace .So every rest are thou similar to the last is like a new country awaiting observation and discovery with their woods ,dogs that may be there or bins that may look like a little knights helmet ,how will the dragon cope with the heat ? .as the pace is slow they notice little things that pass the every day motorist ,it shows how the ebb and flow of life has sped up  over time .even at the end there is a sadness that the trip went so quickly .I ve had this a good year on my shelves and wish I d pick it earlier to read as it was a book I knew I d love and it was finished in two evening not bad for a 368 page BOOK,I just want to see them reach the next rest area have that next encounter and see what Julio made of it and what pictures there was of this leg of the trip  .the book was translated by Anne McLean from the Spanish .

Have you read Cortazar ? if so what should I read next ?

SANTA EVITA BY TOMAS ELOY MARTINEZ

Source – second hand copy brought at book stall .

Translator -Helen Lane -she translated numerous novels in Spanish including Martinez earlier book the Peron novel ,and one I want to read when I get a copy I supreme by Augusto Roa Bastos

Tomas Eloy Martinez was born in San Miguel de Tucuman got a degree from there in Spanish and Latin American literature ,then studied in Paris ,he work in Journalism for many years ,then took to teaching at universities in America .He passed away earlier this year .This book was a choice for September shared read by richard of Carvana de Recuredos ,I had got a copy in the summer so decide to join in,

The book focus on the death and Life of Eva Peron Evita as she was known the wife of the Argentina dictator Juan Peron ,the book is told via the people who come into contact with her body as she was embalmed and put on display ,she died aged 33 after 6 years of the wife of the president .we flash from the present to the past as we find people dealing with the body and what part  Peron and the regime had played in their life ,on a couple of occasions his fellow Argentina writer Jorge Luis Borges is mention and his reaction at the time to Peron ,where he used hidden meaning in his works .in the end we find out how much the rise to power had effect this country girl .

In this novel peopled by real people by real character ,the only ones I never met were Evita and the Colonel .I saw Evita only from a distance in Tucuman , one morning on a national holiday as for Colonel Moori Koeing I found a couple of photos and a few traces of him .the newspapers of the period mention him openly and disparagingly .It took me months to meet the widow ,who lived in an austere apartment on the Calle Arenales and who agreed to see me only after putting me off time and time again .

there are clever Meta fiction touches like this scattered over the book .

I found this book a wonderfully researched and heartfelt book Martinez had lived through the regime so knew at first hand the situations described ,Like most shocking events and times it left a lasting impression on him .The veil is lifted on Eva Peron ,a name which most people know by the saccharin musical ,this book shows the dark side of the story as well as the light side .We find how power corrupts people and the effect it has on the people caught up in the corruption and abuse of power ,many thanks for Richard for picking this that may have sat on my shelf a lot longer ,if not for this reading group .

THE PAPER HOUSE BY CARLOS MARIA DOMIGUEZ

Carlos Maria Dominguez was born in Buenos Aires in mid 50′s he has written a number of fiction and non fiction books ,he currently lives in Montevideo Uruguay ,he won the Juan Carlos Onetti prize .This book is one of those wonderful books about book s and people a short book at only a hundred pages it took me an evening to get through ,it is accompanied by wonderful illustrations ny Peter sis who’s cartoons appear regularly in Time and Newsweek .The action starts with the death of Bruma Lennon in Cambridge a unopened package a book then sends a friend on a long trip to Argentina after a book eccentric Carlos Brauer how lives in a house filed with books and a highly personal filing system ,in the end the action draws us to Montevideo and a great climax .

Books change people destinies .some have read the tiger of Malaysia and become professors of literature in remote universities.Demian converted thousands of young men to eastern philosophy ,Hemingway made sportsmen of them ,Alexander Dumas complicated the lives of thousands of women ,quite a few of whom were saved from suicide by cookery books .Bluma was their victim .

from the opening page the touching power of books .

This book is in the grand Argentina tradition from Borges and Manguel ,they always love dissecting books and people ,this book is about the love and lust of owning books ,how this can sometimes drift into obsession and crime ,it also seems a personnel journey for the writer himself ,maybe he is retreating his own reading and people he had come across .There is a fable like quality as well .A definite movie book (like a good movie can be read in a couple of hours ).THE translation is great on of the best from spanish, I’ve read and was by Nick Caistor who has work on translation of a lot of the major latin american writers in recent years .