“The dialogues. Definitive edition”
Jorge Luis Borges and Olvaldo Ferrari. Seix Barral, 792 pages, $17,900.
A young poet and journalist proposed to Jorge Luis Borges, in the ’80s, a dialogue on the radio. The condition that the writer imposes is that there are no topics agreed upon in advance, that the conversation flows in a drift similar to that of a real talk. And it is precisely the rhythm of that drift that is the most captivating thing about “The Dialogues,” the book that Borges and Osvaldo Ferrari published in three volumes in 1985 and 1998, transcribing their months-long talks. Now Seix Barral is publishing them again in the final version.
A title summarizes the topics discussed in each dialogue. The variety of topics is infinite: Macedonio Fernández, the I Ching, cinema, Leonor Acevedo, Sarmiento and Japanese culture are just a few. Everything can be included in these exchanges without pretensions to depth and, for that very reason, charming. In each one is Borges’s voice, his humor and his talent.
““I won’t watch you die.”
Antonio Muñoz Molina. Seix Barral, 238 pages, $18,500.
Gabriel Aristu is a man of success and power, who emigrated from Spain to the United States in his youth and never returned. Satisfied with his life, he nevertheless has a pending score with the past: a youthful love that he abandoned under pressure from his family. Adriana is the name of that passion that he returns to again and again in his dreams. Awake, Aristu does not dare to look for her, but a clue opens up the possibility of a meeting. That meeting of the lovers will be the central scene of “I won’t see you die.”
The latest book by Antonio Muñoz Molina, one of the most prestigious Spanish writers, returns to themes that he already dealt with in some of his best novels: “The Polish Horseman” and “The Night of Time.” The fragility of love, the political catastrophes that condition our lives and the fear of taking desires to the ultimate consequences are the topics of this narrative. Slow and baroque, the plot moves towards an unexpected ending that questions the (false) stories we tell ourselves.
““Queens of legend”
Cristina Morató. Plaza&Janés, 600 pages, $26,999.
Royalty always has its charm and the stories of former queens even more so. Cristina Morató, Spanish journalist and writer, has a great talent for narrating the lives of women who crossed time to reach the present transformed into myth. She demonstrated it in previous books such as “Rebel Divas”, “Hollywood Goddesses” and “Cursed Queens”. This, her new book, also deals with queens, which includes the biographies of some very powerful sovereigns, such as Elizabeth I of England and Catherine the Great; and others less known, such as Catherine of Aragon (first wife of Henry VIII), Charlotte of Mexico and the Chinese empress Cixi. The volume is edited with special care and contains paintings and photographs that portray these famous women and people around them. Real stories told with the fast pace of fiction.
“The legend of the holy drinker
Joseph Roth. Godot Editions, 164 pages, $16,999.
Roth is one of the great writers of the 20th century. He died at age 45 after a tragic life of exiles and loss. This volume contains some of his best stories, like the one that gives its name to the book. Godot is publishing much of his work in new translations and very careful editions, which are worth having.
““The Night of the Beguines”
Aline Kiner. Edhasa, 368 pages, $18,200.
The Beguines were women who met in community to help those in need, during the Middle Ages. They were not nuns although they lived apart and could return to society to marry if they wished. This novel by the French writer Aline Kiner imagines a plot of jealousy and danger in the streets of Paris, with a group of beguines as protagonists.
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1-“Happiness”
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Source: Yenny and El Ateneo Bookstores.
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