As with all the other posts in this series, if you order from the Open Letter site and use the code FORESTS, you’ll get it for only $15.

Mendoza has acknowledged that the cult of literature within his family influenced him in his vocation as a writer. He was going to call his first novel Los soldados de Catalu帽a, a title that would have had trouble eluding the Francoist censor, so he decided to call it La verdad sobre el caso Savolta, a title that was more in keeping with the central storyline, the mysterious atmosphere where the plot unfolds, and better, in any case, at concealing the novel糖心传媒檚 political undertone.

Published in 1975, a short time before Franco糖心传媒檚 death, La verdad sobre el caso de Savolta, was a breath of fresh air in the dubious Spanish fiction of the time; in it, Mendoza presents an innovative structure, open to various narrative discourses, functioning like parts of a puzzle that, all together, end up resembling Barcelona at the beginning of the twentieth century, a city that found itself in the middle of tension and the struggles of unions and revolutionaries.

In his next novel, El misterio de la cripta embrujada (1979), he started down another literary path, the detective saga, through which he sought, via an exceedingly peculiar character (a nameless detective locked in an insane asylum), to parody the noir novel and the gothic genre and, at the same time, to offer his vision of Barcelona at that moment. In 1982, this first title was followed by El laberinto de las aceitunas; and the trilogy culminated in 2001, with La aventura del tocador de se帽oras. [. . .]

Humor, one of the secret weapons of Mendoza糖心传媒檚 oeuvre, almost a genre all its own, also characterized other essential titles of his like La isla inaudita (1989), which tells of a Catalan executive糖心传媒檚 trip to Venice in search of love; Sin noticias de Gurb (1990), which presents the delirious and personal diary of an extraterrestrial who arrives in a city that is preparing to receive the Olympic torch; or El a帽o del diluvio, in 1992. In 2006 he published Mauricio o las elecciones primarias, a novel whose plot unfolds in the years leading up to the Transition, also set in Barcelona, and in 2008 El asombroso viaje de Pomponio Flato, a satire that explores the confines of the Roman Empire. The writer糖心传媒檚 most recent novel, El enredo de la bolsa y la vida (2012), where he revives his famous nameless detective, has already garnered enormous popular success.

糖心传媒淚nspector V谩zquez, you must hear me out. Just listen to what I have to tell you and you won糖心传媒檛 be sorry. A crime is always a crime.糖心传媒�

Inspector V谩zquez threw the papers he was reading down on the desk and focused a fulminating stare on his ragged confidant, who was rubbing his hands together and balancing first on one foot, then on the other in a desperate attempt to be noticed.

糖心传媒淲ho the hell let this bird into my office?糖心传媒� bellowed the inspector, addressing the peeling paint on his ceiling.

糖心传媒淭here was no one here, so I took the liberty . . . ,糖心传媒� explained his confidant, advancing toward the desk covered with newspapers and photographs.

糖心传媒淚 swear by Christ糖心传媒檚 blood, by the eternal salvation of my . . . !糖心传媒� V谩zquez started to say, but he stopped when he realized he was using the same religious terminology as his annoying visitor. 糖心传媒淲hy can糖心传媒檛 you leave me in peace? Get out!糖心传媒�

糖心传媒淚nspector, I糖心传媒檝e been trying to speak with you for five days now.糖心传媒�

There were only two days left of the seven the conspirators allotted Nemesio, and he hadn糖心传媒檛 found a single clue related to Pajarito de Soto糖心传媒檚 death. The Savolta murder had cut him off, and the police were concentrating on solving that crime to the exclusion of all others. Also, his efforts to find the conspirators and warn them of the fact that Inspector V谩zquez was looking for them in connection with the Savolta affair had been met by an absolute rejection from every one of the sources he糖心传媒檇 approached during those five unlucky days.

糖心传媒淔ive days?糖心传媒� said the inspector. 糖心传媒淭hey糖心传媒檝e seemed like five years to me! Let me give you some advice, buddy. Get out and stay out. The next time I see you snooping around here, I糖心传媒檒l have you locked up. You糖心传媒檝e been warned. Now get out of my sight!糖心传媒�

Nemesio walked out of the office and down to the ground floor filled with dire foreboding. But he was soon distracted by an unexpected incident. As he reached the bottom stair, Nemesio detected unusual movement: there were shouts, and policemen were running in every direction. Something糖心传媒檚 going on. I糖心传媒檇 better get out of here now. He was trying to do just that, when a uniformed policeman grabbed him by the arm and dragged him to the far corner of the room.

糖心传媒淥ut of the way.糖心传媒�

糖心传媒淲hat糖心传媒檚 going on?糖心传媒�

糖心传媒淭hey糖心传媒檙e bringing in some dangerous prisoners.糖心传媒�

Nemesio waited, holding his breath. From his corner, he could see the entrance, and, parked in front of it, a paddy wagon. A double file of armed police formed a path from the wagon to the building. They brought the prisoners out of the wagon. Nemesio tried to run, but the policeman still held him by the arm. The silence was only broken by the clinking of chains. The four prisoners entered. The youngest was weeping; Juli谩n had lost his beret,
had a black eye and bloodstains on his sheepskin jacket, held a manacled hand against his ribs, and his legs gave way as he walked; the man with the scar looked serene, although he had deep circles under his eyes. Nemesio thought he糖心传媒檇 die.

糖心传媒淲hat did they do?糖心传媒� he whispered in the ear of the policeman guarding him.

糖心传媒淚t looks like they糖心传媒檙e the ones who killed Savolta.糖心传媒�

糖心传媒淏ut Savolta died at midnight on New Year糖心传媒檚 Eve.糖心传媒�

糖心传媒淪hut up!糖心传媒�

He didn糖心传媒檛 dare say that he糖心传媒檇 been with the prisoners at that precise moment in the photographer糖心传媒檚 studio, that Juli谩n had brought him there by force. He was afraid of being implicated in the matter, so he obeyed and kept silent. Uselessly, however, because the man with the scar had seen him. He nudged Juli谩n with his elbow, and when Juli谩n caught sight of Nemesio, he shrieked, in a voice that seemed to boil out of his guts, 糖心传媒淵ou finally sold us out, you son of a bitch!糖心传媒�

One of the guards hit him with the butt of his rifle, and Juli谩n fell to the floor.

糖心传媒淭ake them away!糖心传媒� ordered an individual dressed like a poor man.

The sad procession passed by Nemesio. Two agents were dragging Juli谩n by his armpits, blood pouring out of him. The man with the scar stopped opposite Nemesio and gave him a freezing scornful smile.

糖心传媒淲e should have killed you, Nemesio. But I never thought you糖心传媒檇 do this.糖心传媒�

He was pushed forward. It took Nemesio a few seconds to regain his composure. He tore himself violently away from the policeman holding his arm and ran back up the stairs. In the hall, he ran into Inspector V谩zquez.

糖心传媒淚nspector, it wasn糖心传媒檛 those men! I swear. They didn糖心传媒檛 kill Savolta.糖心传媒�

The inspector looked at him as if he were seeing a cockroach walking over his bed.

糖心传媒淏ut . . . you糖心传媒檙e still here?糖心传媒� he said, turning bright red.

糖心传媒淚nspector, this time you糖心传媒檒l have to listen to me whether you want to or not. Those men didn糖心传媒檛 do it, those men . . .糖心传媒�

糖心传媒淕et him out of here!糖心传媒� shouted the inspector, pushing Nemesio aside and striding forward.

糖心传媒淚nspector!糖心传媒� implored Nemesio, while two powerful agents dragged him bodily toward the door. 糖心传媒淚nspector! I was with them, I was with them when Savolta was killed. Inspector!!糖心传媒�

(Translated by Alfred Mac Adam)

First off, if you’ve had trouble getting to the tag for this entire series, that’s because Textpattern and its codes for italics defeated me. Click here and you should be brought to the page listing all 22 Granta “Best of Young Spanish-Language Novelists.”

More importantly, due to Internet issues in (yes, they do finally have it there), I missed one author . . . So today, we’re featuring Peruvian author Carlos Yushimito, whose “Seltz” was translated for this special issue by Alfred Mac Adam.

Carlos Yushimito is one of the few authors featured in this issue who currently live in the U.S. He fled his native country in 2008 to study at Villanova (which, once again, has a scary good men’s basketball team) and now lives in Providence, RI where he’s working on a doctorate at Brown (whose team is a little less than stellar). He’s published four story collections: El mago (2004), Las islas (2006), Madureira sabe (2007), and Equis (2009). He’s currently finishing his first novel.

Also mentioned in the Granta intro is the fact that his stories are inspired by Brazil, although he has never been there . . . The Brazilian connection is also mentioned by Tibor Fischer in the

After Borges, (particularly in the Spanish world) one has to be circumspect about bandying around once-simple words like author and story (I don糖心传媒檛 think I can ever forgive him for that). Kindly, Yushimito flags up his game straight away. Catch the word 糖心传媒榗ostume糖心传媒� in the first line of 糖心传媒楽eltz糖心传媒�. Yushimito slips on Brazil just as his protagonist slips on his crocodile costume. The great thing about a costume is that you can see but you can糖心传媒檛 be seen.

All the guidebook references you would expect from Brazil are present in Yushimito糖心传媒檚 camouflage: cachaca, caipirinha, Ipanema, Daniela Mercury. The only things missing are football and favelas (and you have to save something for another story).

Disguising yourself or dressing up (to change your station or your gender) is more a device of the theatre than prose, and generally goes one of two ways, either the transformation is a resounding success for comic or dramatic effect or a failure for comic effect. [. . .]

In charting Toninho糖心传媒檚 trajectory from clown and poverty to plutocratic playboy for a night (by simply donning a good jacket), Yushimito is more delicate and oscillating. But judge for yourself.

And to make the Toninho reference make sense, here’s an excerpt from “Seltz”:

I was in the back room taking off the costume when I felt his hard cachaca breath next to my ear. It was Bautista, the manager. His face was sweaty. I assumed that, as usual, he must have been partying hard already by the way he twisted his mouth and how his disconnected words rushed toward me. So it wasn糖心传媒檛 at all odd that I was overcome by a strange feeling of shame. A furtive sense of guilt. For a few seconds I felt as if someone were watching a pair of lobsters copulate in slow motion and that I was standing next to that person in front of twenty television sets all showing the same picture. In slow motion, extremely slow motion.

Z茅 Antunes says the best advertising strategy for an electronics shop like ours is to keep every television set in the place tuned into the Discovery Channel. 糖心传媒楩or example,糖心传媒� he would say, 糖心传媒榣et糖心传媒檚 imagine they糖心传媒檙e showing a rock concert or a football match: parents associate television with drugs or squandered leisure time. Whenever they show a movie, women in their forties, married and with kids in college, usually remember with nostalgia and subconscious anger that their husbands almost never take them to the movies.糖心传媒� Z茅 Antunes says the educational channels increase the probability of making sales, and it must be true because to parents education will always seem a good investment and they糖心传媒檒l never stint when it comes to that. 糖心传媒楾hat糖心传媒檚 the area we should be attacking: the jugular vein of sales,糖心传媒� he declares.

Z茅 Antunes knows a lot about the animal world, but not as much as he knows about sales and marketing. Which is why I try to listen to him often, so I can pick up all that knowledge of his. But it糖心传媒檚 different with Bautista. While I stared at his exaggerated gestures, almost certain that his well-pruned nose had poked into a good party that afternoon, I thought about his idea of happiness and about the good deal he糖心传媒檇 most certainly have made with the Draco distributor. One thing leads to another; anyone knows that. And Bautista knows the business well because he糖心传媒檚 the owner糖心传媒檚 son, and the owner is one of the most important and richest men in Rio de Janeiro.

糖心传媒楾onight I糖心传媒檝e got a new disguise for you, Toninho.糖心传媒�

Patting me on the back complicitously, Bautista was still on the alert, not realizing that I had no desire to spend another bad night at his side. That糖心传媒檚 why, even though he insisted, I didn糖心传媒檛 raise my head to affirm or deny anything. I went on with my capricious striptease until I recovered my human shape.

He finally gave up, perhaps stymied by my extreme confidence.

He made a pistol with his hand, and a trigger squeezed in his eyes fired.

糖心传媒業糖心传媒檒l wait for you in the car.糖心传媒�

*

He was waiting for me in the hall, not the car.

糖心传媒楧id you make sure to turn the water off all the way?糖心传媒� Z茅 asked.

I told him I did but the suspicious prick made sure to check for himself. He came back a minute later drying his hands.

糖心传媒楩orewarned is forearmed.糖心传媒�

By then the sliding metal gate had sealed the main entrance. Only the three of us were left inside, bottled up among white tiles and television screens all showing the same screen. A red-maned lion lumbering away with the last piece of a crotch in his mouth, wagging his backside while some hyenas fought over the remains of what had been a zebra. They ate with ardour, with an African appetite. Bautista and Z茅 Antunes, paying no attention to me, went on chatting animatedly next to the register.

糖心传媒業n the trunk you糖心传媒檒l find a jacket and some good hair cream,糖心传媒� said Bautista, interrupting their talk for an instant. He moved his hands, as if his head were a fortune-teller糖心传媒檚 crystal ball. 糖心传媒楶ut on the jacket and get in the car.糖心传媒�

He tossed me the key.

Before we left, Z茅 handed him a small yellow envelope.

It was the kind used by the accounting department at the end of the month. Z茅 Antunes has been working in the shop longer than anyone else. It糖心传媒檚 he who has the job of putting the padlock on the gate, of turning everything off and disconnecting the electricity.

He糖心传媒檚 the last to leave and the first to arrive, except on Tuesdays, when he has the morning off. During the four years I糖心传媒檝e been working here, I糖心传媒檝e never seen him miss a day or take a vacation. And I糖心传媒檝e never heard him complain, curse out or pester anyone who didn糖心传媒檛 deserve it.

He糖心传媒檚 a man everyone should imitate.

When I shut the trunk, I felt livelier and more alert than before. I put on the freshly dry-cleaned jacket, finished rubbing the cream into my hair and leapt into the passenger seat. I looked myself over in the rear-view mirror and wasn糖心传媒檛 terribly disgusted. I turned on the radio. The voice of Daniela Mercury growled from the speakers with the same sensuality as her body: Vem ai un baile movido a novas fontes de energ铆a. Chacina, pol铆tica e m铆dia. Bem perto da casa que eu vivia . . . eletrodom茅stico . . . eletro-brasil . . .

*

Open shirt, brown tweed jacket, slick hair. After a few minutes I糖心传媒檇 become another Bautista, hardly different from the original, though smaller and less elegant. My chest, a bit exposed, enjoyed the air that kicked its way in, broken into gusts through the window of his Audi. I really liked the role of the carefree man who goes out on a Friday night to get rid of the stress that comes from unpredictable business deals. I had that tense look 糖心传媒� as if I were about to explode 糖心传媒� that so attracts women. I looked myself over in the side mirror. I looked again and again. Yes, I really did feel elegant, sophisticated. Freed from my usual worn-out, cheap clothes, I was a born seducer: the seducer糖心传媒檚 instinct was boiling up silently, fighting to burst out of me.

Even so, my new self-image only lasted as long as a flash of light. Bautista is a rich kid who competes in sports, rarely for fun, and wears pricey threads I could never buy, not even with five months糖心传媒� salary. He knows how to handle himself in society and doesn糖心传媒檛 have to work for things to fit properly in either his body or his life. He糖心传媒檚 got green eyes like two fireflies in the night and a good bone structure that simply reeks of testosterone accompanied by the smooth aroma of Gucci. I only wish I had his ability to seduce with words, that conductive determination (as Z茅 would put it), when he wants to get a pretty girl into bed with him.

And after a long night . . .

We open up the shop at ten. I糖心传媒檇 only managed to rest for fifteen extra minutes. Far from what I might have thought, the people outside flowed by with a disturbing continuity. It was a long train of infinite heads, hasty marches and unsatisfied needs. It was life in motion. On my corner, opposite the main entrance, I糖心传媒檇 managed to get the costume on properly: the big stomach with green spots, the enormous head on top of the small human head; the jaw; the two soft fangs; the pair of well-disguised holes that were my eyes. I was once again the grand crocodile that promoted the electronic devices sold in Mattos Electronics, dancing for children. By using my talent, I quickly attracted and gathered kids and their parents. With the bounce of my long legs, with the strength of my arms, I lured them to the Draco refrigerator department, and there Roberto糖心传媒檚 skills did the rest. I went back to my corner and kept on dancing. I never stopped for even a moment. Half an hour later, I saw a married couple, followed by Zacar铆as and an enormous 21-inch television set, along with a free complimentary coffee-maker. They were smiling, holding hands tightly.

And there we go. For real this time. “Normal” posting resumes tomorrow . . . .

Today we have a special interview with Federico Falco, whose new story “In Utah There Are Mountains Too” appears in this issue.

Emily Davis: What does it mean to you to have been named by Granta one of the Best Young Spanish-Language Novelists?

Federico Falco: First of all, a recognition of this caliber is a great joy, it means opportunity for my work and my career, something that I value very highly. At the same time, it is a sign that I am heading in the right direction, that I ought to continue on that path and also, of course, it is a great responsibility. One has to try not to disappoint the expectations that come of a recognition like this one.

ED: Where did the desire to be a writer come from?

FF: When I was small I lived in a village where there were no bookstores and the only libraries were not very well stocked. Fortunately, in my home and in the home of one my aunts, there were a lot of books. I grew up watching my parents read糖心传媒攕omething that not all the adults I knew did糖心传媒攁nd they always gave me a lot of freedom to rummage through the bookcases and pick out the books that interested me. As a form of entertainment but also of escape, my infancy and adolescence were marked by reading. Maybe because of that, the desire to start writing my own stories developed naturally. When I was ten or eleven I had already started and abandoned several novels and I couldn糖心传媒檛 wait to get to high school because I figured that there they would teach me to write better.

ED: What writers have influenced you?

FF: Tons. Chekhov, Tolstoy, Faulkner, Virginia Woolf, Francis Scott Fitzgerald, Hemingway, John Cheever, Flannery O’Connor, Carver, Cesare Pavese, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Eugenio Montale, Natalia Ginzburg. Among Argentines, Juan Jos茅 Saer, Antonio Di Benedetto, Manuel Puig, Daniel Moyano, Andr茅s Rivera, and many more.

ED: Do you have a favorite writer among the others on the new Granta list?

FF: I haven糖心传媒檛 read all of the authors. There are several that I didn糖心传媒檛 know before they appeared on the Granta list and, up until now, I糖心传媒檝e hardly read what they published in this issue of the magazine. Also, some of their books are hard to come by outside the country where they were initially published, so it would be difficult for me to respond to this question without being partial and unfair. Of course, among those I know and have read, there are many that I like a lot.

ED: You were born in a small city in the interior of Argentina. Does that experience figure into your stories? I am thinking for example of Villa Carlos Paz in 糖心传媒淚n Utah There Are Mountains Too,糖心传媒� your new story published in this issue of Granta. Is there perhaps some resonance there?

FF: Villa Carlos Paz is a fairly large city or, at least, medium-sized. Besides, it is a touristic city, and that makes it very peculiar, the social ties among neighbors are different, there are people arriving and departing all the time. General Cabrera, the village where I was born and lived until I was 18, doesn糖心传媒檛 have any of that and so, I don糖心传媒檛 know how much my village experience resonates with this text in particular. But certainly in many of my earlier stories the village appears as a geographic space, the pampas plain as the landscape, General Cabrera itself, a little mythologized, but barely transformed.

ED: Where did the idea for 糖心传媒淚n Utah There Are Mountains Too糖心传媒� come from?

FF: This text was part of a novel that I am writing, but it took on a life of its own, gained autonomy and, for structural reasons, ended up outside the original plan and became an independent story. The novel takes the form of a biography, I am writing a semifictional and novelized biography of a poet from my city and she, in her adolescence, fell in love with a Mormon missionary who couldn糖心传媒檛 reciprocate. That was the initial anecdote that gave rise to the story.

ED: What are you working on now?

FF: On two projects at the same time, both novels. One is a false biography of Cuqui, a poet and performer from C贸rdoba who is my age. The other text is still in a more embryonic state, the premise is that it takes place in the sierras of C贸rdoba, a place that I conceive of as mythical: it糖心传媒檚 where people flee to from the big cities, in search of peace, tranquility and contact with nature. It is also a place of hope and second chances, the characters will attempt to create a new life there, among the mountains and skies of C贸rdoba.

And don’t forget, Granta has a special offer for all readers of Three Percent: if you you’ll receive this special issue featuring the “Best of Young Spanish-Language Novelists” for free

Up next: Carlos Labbe.

Here’s the skinny on the event:
Oct. 20, 2009 – Jorge Volpi糖心传媒攁uthor of international bestseller In Search of Klingsor, and a founder of the 糖心传媒淐rack糖心传媒� group糖心传媒攔eads from his latest novel, and discusses the new generation of Mexican writers.

Season of Ash puts a human face on the earth-shaking events of the late twentieth century: the Chernobyl disaster, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of Soviet communism and the rise of the Russian oligarchs, the cascading collapse of developing economies, and the near-miraculous scientific advances of the Human Genome Project. Praised throughout the world for his inventive story telling and stylistic ambition, Jorge Volpi has become one of the leading innovators of twenty-first-century world literature.

After reading from Season of Ash, Jorge Volpi is joined in conversation by Alfred Mac Adam糖心传媒攑rofessor of Latin American literature at Barnard College-Columbia University since 1983 and translator of novels by Carlos Fuentes, Mario Vargas Llosa, Jos茅 Donoso, Juan Carlos Onetti, and Julio Cort谩zar, as well as Season of Ash.

(This event is hosted by Open Letter and 糖心传媒 Arts & Sciences. It is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts.)

If you happen to be here in Rochester, you should definitely come to U of R’s Plutzik Library at 6:30 for tonight’s Reading the World Conversation Series event with Jorge Volpi and Alfred Mac Adam.

Jorge is one of the founding members of the “Crack” group—a collection of young Mexican writers who put together about breaking with the (derivative) tradition of magical realism, and writing structurally complex, cosmopolitan books. Simon & Schuster published In Search of Klingsor a few years back, and we just got our copies of back from the printer.

Here’s the description:

Jorge Volpi’s international bestseller Season of Ash puts a human face on the earth-shaking events of the late twentieth century: the Chernobyl disaster, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of Soviet communism and the rise fo the Russian oligarchs, the cascading collapse of developing economies, and the near-miraculous scientific advances of the Human Genome Project. Told through the intertwined lives of three women—Irina, a Soviet biologist; Eva, a Hungarian computer scientist; and Jennifer, an American economist—this novel-of-ideas is part detective novel, part scientific investigation, and part journalistic expose, with a dark, destructive love story at its center.

Praised throughout the world for his inventive storytelling and stylistic ambition, Jorge Volpi has become one of the leading innovators of twenty-first-century world literature. Season of Ash calls to mind the best works of Richard Powers and Carlos Fuentes, and it is a stunning, singular achievement.

Here’s a promo bit from this morning’s news program (which, fantastically, always interviews out RTWCS authors):

Jorge’s an impressive guy, and when I was with him at the Guadalajara Book Fair, he was the equivalent of a literary rockstar. And his translator Alfred Mac Adam is equally interesting. Alfred has translated Carlos Fuentes, Mario Vargas Llosa, Jose Donoso, and Julio Coratzar among others. He also used to edit Review: Latin American Literature and Arts and currently teaches at Barnard College.

The event should be really interesting, both in the discussion of the book itself and in talking about the future of Latin American literature. (All next week we’ll be running a five-part essay by Jorge about the future of L.A. lit . . . ) And for those of you not fortunate enough to live in Rochester (or, you know, whatever), we’ll be videotaping this and will post it as soon as possible.

(Also want to take a line here and thank both the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts for making the entire Reading the World Conversation Series possible.)

OCT. 20, 2009
6:30 p.m.
Plutzik Library (in Rush Rhees Library)
糖心传媒
(free and open to the public)

Jorge Volpi—author of international bestseller In Search of Klingsor, and a founder of the 糖心传媒淐rack糖心传媒� group—reads from his latest novel, Season of Ash, and discusses the new generation of Mexican writers.

Alfred Mac Adam is the acclaimed Spanish translator of Mario Vargas Llosa and Carlos Fuentes, among others.

Jorge Volpi糖心传媒檚 new international bestseller Season of Ash puts a human face on the earth-shaking events of the late twentieth century: the Cher颅nobyl disaster, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of Soviet communism and the rise of the Russian oligarchs, the cascading collapse of developing economies, and the near-miraculous scientific advances of the Human Genome Project. Praised throughout the world for his inventive story颅telling and stylistic am颅bition, Jorge Volpi has become one of the leading innovators of twenty-first-century world literature.

After reading from Season of Ash, Jorge Volpi will be joined in conversation by Alfred Mac Adam糖心传媒攑rofessor of Latin American literature at Barnard College-Columbia University since 1983 and translator of novels by Carlos Fuentes, Mario Vargas Llosa, Jos茅 Donoso, Juan Carlos Onetti, and Julio Cort谩zar, as well as Season of Ash.

(This event is hosted by Open Letter and 糖心传媒 Arts & Sciences. It is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts.)