Faces in the crowd by Valeria Luiselli
04 May 2012 12 Comments
in Mexico Tags: 2012, latin american fiction, NEW BOOKS, NEW VOICES
Faces in the crowd by Valeria Luiselli
Mexican Fiction
Translator Christina Macsweeney
Valeria Luiselli is young Mexican writer she lives in New york and has had pieces published in New york times and Letras Libres .She has a degree in Philosophy .She is due to appear at this year Hay festival .
Faces in crowd is her first book to be translated to english .This is a little gem .A women now in middle of marriage and looking after kids decides one day to write the story of her early life when she worked in New york ,this in turns leads to the story of an older mexican poet that also lived in New york in the 1920′s one Gilberto Owens he is a partly forgotten member of the Harlem Renaissance so we meet a second story with in the first of the narrators life then she imagines a life of Gilberto Owen as he seems to seep into her world as she sees him on the subway appearing to her .She also imagines Owens life and how he was both friend and enemies with the famous poet Frederico Garcia Lorca On top of that we she the Narrators marriage maybe isn’t the best already a feel of how it is to be young and a student and them starting on the job ladder in New york in this case in the publishing industry .
The obscure Mexican poet became ,in time the new Bolano or ,rather a new Neruda .But that day ,while I was reading an article in the NYRB ,neither white nor I knew what would happen about Owen .I tried to call the Office once more when I d finished reading the article but nobody answered .I took a long hot bath .
Past and present mix so well in this novel .
Valeria has done a wonderful job managing all this in just 150 pages shows why Valeria Luiselli is considered one of the hottest talents in Latin American writing having cut her teeth in Essay writing you can see how see has used the essay writing skills to produce a tight precise piece of prose I was reminded of how Bolano mostly wrote about poets that said mostly fictional and how Valeria had made Owen feel real in a much shorter novel than Bolano did in some of huge novels .That said Owens was a real person you can view his Wiki page here so Valeria probably had a lot of historical data to work from .This book is about memories the narrator memories so rather like Julian Barnes booker winning book you see how some times in hindsight things get muddled in this case it is the distant past and the early part of the twentieth century merge into one .
We aim that sky
collapsed before us, dark green.
Those who passed were far off
? shadow puppets
on the screen of twilight?
our shadows on other worlds.
The sky truly
was, outside prison,
and peeked between the trees, watching us
with his eye of the moon, hollow.
A star, the only trembled
without light in our souls.
And if we closed our eyes
we heard, platonic,
like a bee buzzing
music of the spheres.
This is a poem from Gilberto Owen translated via google translate from the site poemasde.net .I think even thou it is a rough translation it shows Owens beauty and why he was chosen to be remembered by Valeria .Yet again showing the talent that is coming from Mexico in the last few years it was nice t read a female voice from the region for once .
Do you have a favourite Mexican writer ?
The night Buffalo by Guillermo Arriaga
20 Feb 2012 6 Comments
in Mexico Tags: 2012, latin american fiction, TRANSLATIONS
The night Buffalo by Guillermo Arriaga
Mexican Fiction
Translator Alan Page
Guillermo Arriaga is a mexican writer ,but describes himself as a hunter that writes, maybe best known for his screen writing work in the uk his scripts include 21 grams and Babel both successful films ,he has also written three novels ,this one was also made into a film in 2007 .He also got a award in Cannes for best screenplay in 2005 .
The night buffalo is set Mexico city and it follows a best friend Manuel trying to come to terms with the death of his friend Gregorio death via suicide ,the book takes back over one day but is also told a lot in flashbacks to the time they spent together .then we throw in Gregorio girlfriend Tania that Manuel had been having an affair meeting her in a hotel room .A box of letters and the police looking at what happened add to this tale of latin american teens in a interview here Guillermo said he didn’t realise how bad suicides and mental health problems were in mexico before he wrote the book .Rather like his more famous screenplays this deals with the human condition and people on the edge ,also friendship what it means to people this is a classic threesome story ,of a women divide male friends like garden of eden or jules et jim two more books dealing with this subject .
I lay on the bed .Where could tania be ? I couldn’t tell and, at this point considered the zoo or the airport as possibilties was absurd .I had no choice but to wait for her to reappearin her usual surrepitious ,unexpected way .
Manuel waiting in room 803 there secret meeting place.
The other book I read set mainly in Mexico city Bolano’s savage detectives but that book is a muddle tale of the city with many storylines and a bit crazy like the city itself ,But here because the focus is on three lives ,you get what is obviously Arriaga cinematic eye he has eyes for detail character and dialogue not over doing any the bareness adds to the story and also means the story doesn’t drift like Bolano’s did , as manuel drifts back in time and gives you the little glimpse in what lead to his friends death . Even thou he wrote it before his screenplays you can see him having a eye on this potential being made to a film .Manuel isn’t the nicest guy I mean he cheated on his friend with his girlfriend Tania but this relationship was mostly sexual meeting in the hotel room ,but that said he had been embroiled in many things with his friend Gregorio not all legal and seen his friends mental health decline over there friendship .This is a great read of teen agnst and what happens when that crosses over into suicide .The title is from the fact the two best friends have matching tatoos of night Buffalos .The book is translate by Alan Page .
Who is your favourtie Mexican writer or have you a favourite Mexican novel ?
Down the rabbit hole by Juan Pablo Villalobos or (dad I want a pygmy hippo)
03 Aug 2011 10 Comments
in #translationthurs, Mexico Tags: 2011, book prize, latin american fiction, mexican fiction, NEW BOOKS, NEW VOICES, TRANSLATIONS, twitter
Down the rabbit hole by Juan Pablo Villalobos
Source – review copy from &other stories
Translator – Rosalind Harvey
Juan Pablo Villalobos is a Mexican writer ,the studied marketing and spanish literature ,he has an interested in the avant grade having written about Cesar Aira ,he currently lives in Barcelona in Spain .This is his Debut novel and has already been translated into 8 languages since it came out last year ,including this English Translation ,that marks the start of a new Press in translation” and other stories ” .They’ll be so happy this was also the first book named on Guardians first book 2011 long list .
So what is this book about well ,dear me I gave a bit away in the title this about Tochtli a child ,well may I say this child is in some ways a normal child wanting thing he can’t have and telling us about his family ,cute you ‘re thing ,well er no cause Tochtli (this means rabbit in mexico main native language ) is the son of a notorious Mexican drugs baron and is well how do I put a little different to normal kids his age he has the real swords and a real guillotine his house is full of the underworld characters hit men ,prostitutes and dodgy politicians so when he turns round one day and says he wants a Liberian Pygmy hippopotamus for his collection of animals ,the people round his father’s luruxy hideout start finding a way to do this ,do they succeed well the best way to find out is to rush to the book shop and buy this thrilling ride of a book .
Today Paul Smith ,who hasn’t been to our place for a really long time ,about three months,came round .I found out I actually know fifteen people and not fourteen or fifteen .The thing is I wasn’t sure if Paul smith was still a person or if by now he was a corpse .I had my doubts because of one of Yolcaut’s enigmatic phrases,which he had said when asked once why Paul Smith didn’t come round any more .
“if he’s smart he’ll come back ,if he’s an asshole he won’t “
You have to give a dark laugh as this is how Tochtli sees the world .
So this book is short seventy pages but hell it packs a punch in those seventy pages .We enter Villalobos dark comic world ,this is black comedy at it’s best Tochtli is a perfect glimpse into the surreal world of the Mexican drug barons as we see his day-to-day life we catch a little glimpse of what is happening in his fathers world and maybe why there at the hideaway at this time as he father tries to step up in his world .Tochtli rabbit hole is a place you wouldn’t want a kid to be but it is his rabbit hole and if he wants something no matter how odd it seems because of his rabbit hole being what it is he may just get it in the end .So I commend And other stories on a great first choice for the press ,these books were chosen as a result of reading groups with people reading books in the original spanish .I first came across via a e-mail to me fro Stefan from and other ,so have mention them before for their reading groups here .the translation is crisp and also a nice glossary of some words used in the text at the end which is handy .&other stories allow you to subscribe and via this you can have your name in the future book s
Have you a book you heard of that you think should be translated ?
Would you read a book in another language to decide if its right for english translation ?
Antipodes by Ignacio Padilla
21 Jul 2011 9 Comments
in Mexico Tags: crack movement, latin american fiction, mexican writers, NEW VOICES, TRANSLATIONS
Source – library
Translator -Alistair Reid
Ignacio Padilla is a mexican writer ,he grew up liking Joyce and Stevenson as a child ,he studied communication and got a masters in english literature .Eventually end up teaching hispanic american literature at university of Salamanca in spain .He is also with Eloy Urroz and Jorge Volpi part of the crack movement ,a new movement of writing from mexico to move on from the latin american boom movement ,by using complex literature ,different structural writing .
So that in mind what did I learn from Antipodes about Ignacio and the crack movement well this book is structured round a collection of twelve very short stories all about five or six pages long .There all sort of boys own stories ,sometimes funny sometimes reminding me of a collection I had adventure stories for boys and also the tv series ripping yarns where the stories were all slightly tall tales but based on real types of characters .The characters on whole tend to be English or ex pats and a lot of locations are in the English speaking world from India to Scotland.Included in the mad adventures include rebuilding a copy of Edinburgh in the desert ,a man the may have climb Everest this reminded me of the great true story of George Mallory ,who was born near were I grew up so heard his story as a kid .Another is the one I quote from about a famous gun and how there were a number of fakes made of it at the time and how you could tell they were fakes .
There is no denying that the craftsmen of Cappadocia were extremely accomplished ,but anyone with half an eye could recognize an authentic Hutchinson – van Neuvel among the many pirated copies that have shown up in the armies of europe over the last five years .For a start the butt of the Hutchinson almost always carved from Fijian red oak ,weights exactly 3 pounds ,25 ounces and measures 15.4 inches from the stock to the firing pin .
the opening of the short story ballistics :some notes .
Well its hard to say much twelve very short stories I did like them the brought to mind Bolanos nazi literature ,small insights and maybe Borges a brief history of infamy style wise .I liked them a lot like I liked the Borges and Bolano ,maybe flippish and no real story but jumping almost leaping in and pout these places and times getting a taste like A Tapas of Padilla style well if these are nibbles I m hook .If you want something to pass a cheerful hour or two try these little nibbles of Ignacio Padilla .Reid did a good job on the translation keeping the sense of fun at times in these tales .
the labyrinth of solitude by octavio paz
18 May 2010 8 Comments
in Mexico, south and central american fiction Tags: mexico
Notes -
Paz was one of the greatest writers from mexico he wrote numerous novel and poems ,he was also very active politically during his life and commented on numerous latin american and spanish causes during his life .He was awarded the nobel prize for literature on 1990 and is only third mexican to win a nobel and only nobel laureate in literature .this book is considered his masterpiece .
The Book –
The book is a journey through in a number of different chapters what it is to be mexican ,it examines the mexican psyche ,the history ,there are a number of recurring theme that keep appearing like spain ,indian culture and the Catholic church ,Paz weaves the story with the mexican nation being describe as though they where a person and what are characteristics that are common to all mexican like often a mixed heritage of native indian and spanish family background .how spain running lead to the revolution and the beginning of the mexican state and the laws of the stat regarding education etc ,the church’s influence over everyday life and the state as a whole ,also how the church has adapt to the mexicans as a people .the is lots of mysticism like the journey of being mexican like the ancient quests of labyrinths and how every mexican has this deep well of solitude at the core .
Any contact with the mexican people, however brief ,reveals that the ancient belief and customs are still in existence beneath western forms .These still living remains testify to the vitality of the pre-courtesian cultures .and after discoveries of archeologists and historians it is no longer possible to refer to these societies as savage or primitives tribes.
the opening of the fifth chapter .
My view -
Paz has encapsulated what to be a mexican is here and it is wonderful reading the history views perception of mexico ,mexico has always fascinated me a country of vast contrasts in class on the edge of the richest country in the world the politics ,chaos of its capital ,I heard that Martin Amis said China and Japan are going to be the new literary centres but i have a feeling mexico has something to tell us all the vast metropolis of mexico city is sure to stir up many amazing stories in the future and as a book to give you a start on the track of mexican lit this has been a great help for me into this vibrant and diverse country .The edition i borrowed from library was in 1967 ,in later versions a 10th essay was added to the 9 orginals ,this essay dealt with a massacre in 1968 that lead to Paz resighning as an ambasador for mexico in India where he had spent a lot of his later life ,this edition was translated by lysander kemp and was the first translation available .
