A Brief History of Portable Literature (New Directions Paperbook)
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.46 (949 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 081122337X |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 128 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-07-13 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
A reader’s fictional tour of the art and lives of some of the great 20th-century Surrealists An author (a version of Vila-Matas himself) presents a short “history” of a secret society, the Shandies, who are obsessed with the concept of “portable literature.” The society is entirely imagined, but in this rollicking, intellectually playful book, its members include writers and artists like Marcel Duchamp, Aleister Crowley, Witold Gombrowicz, Federico García Lorca, Man Ray, and Georgia O’Keefe. We witness the Shandies having adventures in stationary submarines, underground caverns, African backwaters, and the cultural capitals of Europe.. The Shandies meet secretly in apartments, hotels, and cafes all over Europe to discuss what great literature really is: brief, not too serious, penetrating the depths of the mysterious
Author of Bartleby & Co., Montano’s Malady, and Never Any End to Paris, he has received Europe’s most prestigious awards and been translated into twenty-seven languages.Anne McLean has won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize twice, as well as the Premio Valle Inclán. His novels have been translated in
This is brilliant absurdist literature This is brilliant absurdist literature. Read it and look for your favorite author referenced in some strange and hilarious manner.. Simon Barrett 'Il Penseroso' said Laborious spoof. Dry run for the great Bartleby (qv). One can quite see that culture-starved Spaniards on the rebound from the Franco years would have taken to this farrago like a duck to water, but honestly - Skip Canell? Rita Malu? (Whose reappearance in Bartleby,by contrast, is welcome.) Skip Canell's FAVORITE NEPHEW? Aw c'mon, Henry, who ya kidding? EVM's previous book, the resonantly titled Impostura, was both funnier and more serious: unfortunately, as of now, you need Spanish to read it. The bibliography (is this the only work of literature to have one?) is well done but shows how wise the author was to omit from the later work the index m
I was so fascinated by his humor, the incredible knowledge he has of all kinds of literature, his compassion for writers, and his fearlessness in taking on literary subjects and making that part of what he is writing about.” (Paul Auster)“Arguably Spain's most significant contemporary literary figure.” (Joanna Kavenna - The New Yorker)“Vila-Matas's touch is light and whimsical, while his allusions encompass a rogue's gallery of world literature.” (Time Out New York) . Vila-Matas is a master, one of the most gifted contemporary Spanish novelists.” (Publishers Weekly)“Vila-Matas's work made a tremendous impression on me. “His intelligent playfulness and his fervor for written language are visible on every page and highlighted by this excellent translation