“Passionate dictionary of the black novel”, by Pierre Lemaitre.
Salamander, 503 pp. $5,799.
He is one of the most successful authors of the french literature, above all with a novel that won the Goncourt Prize in 2013: “See you up there”. Late writer, already then Pierre Lemaitre I had been pedaling effectively for a few years on the so-called “black novel”: complex plots, scenes of violence and extreme blood, and other features of that genre that seemed to eat the world (or the worlds, since there are dozens of countries involved). In this book the 500 large pages ensure the “dictionary size”. The title is strange: in the original it is actually called “Dictionary ‘in love’ with crime novels”.
Once read, with numerous jumps of approval or annoyance, perhaps it would be appropriate to baptize it as an “enthusiastic dictionary”. There are many very good, informed and accurate chips. Many others, on the other hand, have an unjustified extension, without greater critical performance. As expected, the French zone of the genre whose title was invented in Paris (through Gallimard’s “series noir” collection), is abundant. The obvious are not lacking: Georges Simenon, Arsenio Lupin (ie: Maurice Leblanc), Manchette, Daniel Pennac.
Equally loaded is the American sector, with extensive texts on two masters: Dennis Lehanne and James Elroy. There are also isolated works: “1280 souls”, “American Psycho”, “Murder on the Orient Express”, “In cold blood”, “Fantomas”, “The asphalt jungle”. The most original are the conceptual texts: “the bomb under the table” (and the suspense), “the head and the balls”, “emotion”, etc.
The final aftertaste is strange: almost an inciting conversation at a noisy night party, where, for example, Patricia Highsmith and Andrea Camilleri are missing, there are several authors of weight to know, or many who are left over.
“Songs of loss and recovery”, by Hilda Hilst (translation by José Ioskyn).
Paradise, 94 pp. $1,800.-
In the seventy poems in this book, the author is at once clear and complex, passionate and thoughtful. In Brazil, she has long been considered a comparable name, for example, to that of Clarice Lispector. Here, he rarely goes beyond a page per poem to explain, or react to, what he calls love-hate, thus renaming what others simply call love. He carves his language with intensity: “In order to die / I keep insults and needles / Between the silks of mourning.” The peculiar and detailed tone, alternately sharp and powerful, changes the reader’s perception, opening up new worlds.
the most read
Fiction
1-“The time of the flies”
Claudia Pineiro
2-“The city of frogs”
Hugo Alconada Mon
3-“Revolution”
Arturo Perez-Reverte
4-“The judge’s list”
John Grisham
5-“The traces of evil”
Federico Andahazi
Non-fiction
1- “What for”
Mauricio Macri
2-“The power of words”
Mariano Sigman
3-“From self-love to love for the other”
deaf pillar
4-“This pain is not mine”
mark wolynn
5-“Raul Alfonsin”
Paul Gerchunoff
Source: Yenny and El Ateneo bookstores.
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