Battles in the Desert (40th Anniversary Edition)
Summary
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Battles in the Desert (40th Anniversary Edition) by Jose Pacheco
This landmark novella, one of the central texts of twentieth-century Mexican literature, published originally forty years ago, is eerily apropos to our current dark times--a child's-eye-view of a society beset by dictators, disease, and natural disasters, set in the year of polio, foot-and-mouth disease, floods. A middle-class boy grows up a in a world of children aping adults (gang wars at recess (Arabs vs the Jews), racism, strife), where a child's left to ponder how many evils and catastrophes we have yet to witness. When he laments the cruelty and corruption, the evils of racism and a vicious class system, his older brother answers: So what, we are living up to our ears in shit anyway under Miguel Aleman's regime, with the face of El Senor Presidente everywhere: incessant, private abuse. Sound familiar? Woven into this coming-of-age saga is the terribly intense love he cherishes for the young mother of a friend--and his inability to actually share his love (and her mysterious disappearance) has the effect of driving the general cruelties further under the reader's skin. A remarkable and indelible novella about innocence betrayed which packs a whole world into its several dozen pages. Acclaimed translator Katherine Silver returned and greatly revised her translation, one of the very first she published as a young translator, enlivening afresh this remarkable work.
"An exceptional poet of daily life, impeccable" -- USA TODAY
"His work is universal, part of the eternal glory of literature." -- Carlos Fuentes
"An intensely felt vision of life: abruptly we realize we have been led—almost trapped—into thoughtfulness. Mr. Pacheco has said he cannot believe his work could be of interest to anyone outside of Mexico City. True, his work is not an export commodity—precisely why it is worth exporting." -- New York Times Book Review
"This coming-of-age story, originally published in 1981, explores the intensity of childhood passion even as it mourns the passing of a version of Mexico City subsumed by the tidal wave of consumer-based globalism. A fresh translation of this classic of 20th-century Mexican literature, ready for a new audience to savor." -- Kirkus (starred review)
"What may be the most beloved fictional work to a nation of 130 million people. Battles in the Desert—recently reissued by New Directions to honor the fortieth anniversary of its first publication in Spanish—plays in Mexican culture a role similar to Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye or Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird in the United States. Everybody has read it." -- Àlvaro Enrigue - Book Post
"How can such a tiny novella contain so many lessons in perception? The vessel is a schoolboy named Carlos, whose father owns a soap factory in Mexico City in the late 1940s...70 pages of deep submergence in experience and sensation." -- Molly Young - The New York Times
"His work is universal, part of the eternal glory of literature." -- Carlos Fuentes
"An intensely felt vision of life: abruptly we realize we have been led—almost trapped—into thoughtfulness. Mr. Pacheco has said he cannot believe his work could be of interest to anyone outside of Mexico City. True, his work is not an export commodity—precisely why it is worth exporting." -- New York Times Book Review
"This coming-of-age story, originally published in 1981, explores the intensity of childhood passion even as it mourns the passing of a version of Mexico City subsumed by the tidal wave of consumer-based globalism. A fresh translation of this classic of 20th-century Mexican literature, ready for a new audience to savor." -- Kirkus (starred review)
"What may be the most beloved fictional work to a nation of 130 million people. Battles in the Desert—recently reissued by New Directions to honor the fortieth anniversary of its first publication in Spanish—plays in Mexican culture a role similar to Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye or Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird in the United States. Everybody has read it." -- Àlvaro Enrigue - Book Post
"How can such a tiny novella contain so many lessons in perception? The vessel is a schoolboy named Carlos, whose father owns a soap factory in Mexico City in the late 1940s...70 pages of deep submergence in experience and sensation." -- Molly Young - The New York Times
Author of the well-known novel Battles in the Desert, José Emilio Pacheco won the Mexican National Poetry Prize, the Premio José Asunción Silva Award, and the Cervantes Prize. He lived in Mexico City until his death in 2014. Katherine Silver's award-winning translations include works by María Sonia Cristoff, Daniel Sada, César Aira, Julio Cortázar, Juan Carlos Onetti, and Julio Ramón Ribeyro. The author of Echo Under Story, she volunteers as an interpreter for asylum seekers.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780811230957 |
| ISBN 10 | 0811230953 |
| Title | Battles in the Desert (40th Anniversary Edition) |
| Author | Jose Pacheco |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | New Directions Publishing Corporation |
| Year published | 2021-06-15 |
| Number of pages | 48 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |