Just part of my Latin American literature collection from one of the bookcase I have. Over the last 17 years I've managed to review 180 books from Latin America on the blog. My first post here
Alison Entrekin’s long-awaited English translation of João Guimarães Rosa’s Grande Sertão: Veredas is currently slated for publication in January 2027 under the title Vastlands: The Crossing (Previously translated as The Devil to Pay in the Backlands in 1963).
First published in 1956, Grande Sertão is one of the foundational masterpieces of Brazilian literature maybe most commonly described as a Brazilian Ulysses.
Entrekin, who has also translated Clarice Lispector, Paulo Lins, and Chico Buarque, began working on the novel in 2014, making this a roughly thirteen-year translation project.
Looks like they're aiming to maybe just be considered in time for the 70th anniversary of the novel's original publication. Another exciting note being that a parallel 15-year effort to translate it into German by Berthold Zilly (S. Fischer Verlage) is also slated for early 2027.
P.S.
Certainly an exciting time for significant literary endeavors to make significant works available in English! Just off the top of my head, from the past few and upcoming years:
Mircea Cărtărescu’s Blinding and Solenoid (Theodoros forthcoming); Marguerite Young’s Miss MacIntosh, My Darling; Joseph McElroy’s Women and Men getting a Dzanc reissue; Leon Forrest’s Divine Days being rereleased; Jacek Dukaj’s Ice; Vera Mutafchieva’s The Case of Cem; Chaim Grade’s Sons and Daughters; Kyūsaku Yumeno’s Dogra Magra; Otohiko Kaga’s Marshland; Luis Goytisolo’s Antagony; Konstantin Paustovsky’s The Story of a Life; Gabriele Tergit’s Effingers; Shimoni’s The Salt Line; Hwang Sok-yong’s Mater 2-10; Miguel de Palol’s The Garden of Seven Twilights (with Troiacord also in the works); Antonio Moresco’s The Beginnings (with the remainder of the trilogy forthcoming); Stefano D’Arrigo’s Horcynus Orca in discussion; the rerelease of Manuel Mujica Lainez’s Bomarzo; Adolfo Bioy Casares’s Borges forthcoming (and a new translation of Morel's Invention); and, of course, recent releases like Helen DeWitt and Andrew Gridneff’s Your Name Here, Michael Brodsky’s Invidicum, William T. Vollmann’s A Table for Fortune, Thomas Pynchon’s Shadow Ticket, and Mark Z. Danielewski’s Tom’s Crossing (Cheers if you read that list).
...and there are probably so many other literary projects I'm leaving out or don't even know about! At this point I'm starting to wonder how anyone could keep up, but that's a good problem to have :) What a time to be a reader!
John K. King Used and Rare Books in Detroit, MI, has to be one of the coolest bookstores on the planet!
Whenever I pass through Detroit, I try to make a stop at this four-story bookstore, as their selection of more than one million books (no joke), is matchless to say the least! Also, their prices are very reasonable (Terra Nostra cost me the most at $9.50 USD).
If you ever end up visiting John K. King Bookstore, make sure to give yourself ample time to explore the stacks, as the place is a true labyrinth! Don’t worry though, the staff will of course hook you up with a map.
Anyway, due to the fact that I had limited space available in my suitcase, I made myself be rather selective with my choices, so I only walked away with five Latin American titles in total. Nevertheless, you can swipe to the end to see some of the other books I picked up as well (including three first-editions by Denis Johnson, all of which only cost me $9.50 USD each as well).
Believe it or not, it's mostly a coincidence that the five LatAm books I walked away with are all vintage editions from The Noonday Press, which is a now-defunct imprint of Farrar, Straus and Giroux… OK, enough rambling—here's what I picked up from Latin America:
Terra Nostra by Carlos Fuentes (México)
The Green House by Mario Vargas Llosa (Perú)
Conversation in the Cathedral by Mario Vargas Llosa (Perú)
The Time of the Hero by Mario Vargas Llosa (Perú)
Explosion in a Cathedral by Alejo Carpentier (Cuba)
Although I am somewhat ashamed to admit it, I've actually never read a single book by Vargas Llosa nor Carpentier. Also, I DNF'd The Death of Artemio Cruz when I was in my early twenties, but after hearing a lot about Terra Nostra recently, my interest in Fuentes has no doubt been rekindled, so I may have to try out his stuff again sometime soon!
Have you read any of these books? If so, would you please be so kind as to tell me your thoughts in the comment section below? Thanks in advance!
By the way, I'm still celebrating WITMonth by trying to focus on primarily reading works written by Latin American women this August, but perhaps I'll dive into one of the LatAm classics pictured above in September... In that case, where should I begin?
PS — I'm super curious to know: Has anyone else here ever been to John K. King Bookstore? It's a gem for sure!
basically the title, i love clarice lispector, hilda hilst, and fernanda melchor, and am looking for something similar. i am open to fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. i do love books that blur the distinction between the forms.
We'd love to hear about what you've been reading, authors you're interested in, and really anything related to LATAM Literature!
Buen día,
Yo estuve transcribiendo 396 páginas de una obra extremadamente rara de importancia cultural para Puerto Rico. Lamentablemente, se me dañó la computadora y no sé cuando pueda acceder el documento o si tendré que comenzar de nuevo. La misma es la 2da edición de la novela del genio Guillermo Venegas Lloveras (Guillermo Venegas Lloveras Official Site), Marzo Dos: Una Voz Para Los Siglos. Aquí les comparto dos o tres de las primeras páginas:
Not too shabby of a haul I’d say. The most exciting finds are definitely the from the titans like Julio Cortázar, Silvina Ocampo, and Mario Vargas Llosa, the ones from Juan Gabriel Vásquez look interesting too. And of course it’s always a pleasure to spot Bolaño in the wild. I have never heard of Daniel Alarcón, but don’t tell me that At Night We Walk in Circles isn’t a kickass title!
Beauty is a Wound had been on my list ever since I saw a redditor recommending it for One Hundred Years of Solitude fans, but I couldn’t believe my luck that I actually ran into it this early. I also got Ekin Kurniawan short story collection Kitchen Curse (forgot to include it in the photo), but apparently Kurniawan has been consistently called the Gabriel García Márquez of Indonesia. And Gabo continues to live up to his legacy as the global face of Latin American Lit. Li Zi Shu’s The Age of Good byes is said to be “rooted in the literary tradition of Chinese-language novels but infused with a García Márquez-like magical realism,“ while Moses Isegawa’s Abyssinian Chronicles is “like an African Midnight’s Children or One Hundred Years of Solitude“. Yan Lianke’s *The Day the Sun Died* is compared to Juan Rulfo‘s Pedro Páramo, and apparently Bolaño once called Javier Marías “by far Spain’s best writer today.”
Algo sobre la muerte del Mayor Sabines / Maltiempo / Otros poemas sueltos por Jaime Sabines. Los poemas son profundos y el impacto es a lo largo de mi universo en un mundo muy chico. Antes de leer esta colección solamente los poemas de Concha Méndez me habían conmovido de tal manera (haz click aquí como ejemplo).
“La Biblioteca Jaime Sabines pone al alcance de los lectores la obra completa, en cuatro volúmenes, de uno de los más admirados poetas contemporáneos de México. En esta edición, revisada y contrastada con los documentos originales del poeta, se reúnen Maltiempo (1972), Algo sobre la muerte del mayor Sabines –estremecedor y profundo, cúspide de la poesía mexicana– (1973) y Otros poemas sueltos (1973-1993), libros deslumbrantes e indispensables en la historia de la literatura hispanoamericana.”
Recientemente me topé con este video en el que Nobel de literatura es entrevistado por Gabriel García Márquez. Aunque el reportaje es conducido por Augusto Olivares, periodista chileno, que acabaría siendo el primero en suicidarse en los hechos del 11 de septiembre de 1973. 12 días después moriría Neruda.
En fin, sólo algunos datos interesantes. Espero que disfruten de esta entrevista, del año 1971.
I have more than achieved my goal this year of reading 52 books. Moving onto my next goal -- planning to read a book written by a woman from every country in Latin America. I have made a bit of progress, but have a long way to go. Starting from scratch (meaning what I have read in the past doesn't count towards this goal). Do you have recommendations for any of the countries that have not been completed? I like a wide variety of genres, mainly read literary fiction, but am open. I can't tolerate books that feature child/animal abuse or heavy body horror. Thank you!
ETA: Translated into English.
Argentina
Bolivia
Brazil
Chile -- Clean by Alia Trabucco Zeran
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cuba
Dominican Republic
Ecuador -- planning to read Electric Shamans at the Festival of the Sun by Monica Ojeda
El Salvador
Guatemala
Haiti
Honduras
Mexico
Nicaragua -- planning to read a book by Gioconda Belli
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Uruguay -- Pink Slime by Fernanda Trias
Venezuela
Very Bad Wizards is a philosophy podcast that occasionally covers the works of Jorge Luis Borges.
I have compiled every Borges episode below. Highly recommend for any Borges fan!
------------------------------------------------------------------
Episode 144: Borges' Babylon (“The Library of Babel”)
July 24^(th), 2018
Episode 145: Lost in Borges' Garden (“The Garden of Forking Paths”)
Aug 7,2018
Episode 154: Metaphysical Vertigo ("Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius")
Dec 18, 2018
Episode 178: Borges' Obsession-Obsession ("The Zahir")
Dec 10, 2019
Episode 192: Postmodern Wet Dreams (" Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote”)
Jul 7,2020
Episode 219: Multiplied by Mirrors (“Emma Zunz”)
August 17, 2021
Episode 244: Thanks for the Memories? (“Funes the Memorious”)
Sep 6, 2022
Episode 251: First Order, Then Chaos (“The Immortal”)
December 20,2022
Episode 275: The Ineffable Center (“The Aleph")
Dec 26, 2023
Episode 282: Fearful Symmetry ("Death and the Compass")
Apr 16, 2024
Episode 293: Who Is the Dreamer? ("The Circular Ruins")
Sep 24, 2024
Episode 308: The Gray Man who Dreamed ("Shakespeare's Memory”)
May 6, 2025
Episode 313: The Spontaneous Eruption of Now (“A New Refutation of Time”)
July 29th, 2025
Episode 332: Talking to Myself ("The Other")
May 12, 2026
We'd love to hear about what you've been reading, authors you're interested in, and really anything related to LATAM Literature!
This book is far outside my usual reading habits, but I hadn’t read any Vargas Llosa and figured this little book would be a good intro to his work. Despite being filthy, I actually really enjoyed the characters and how they interfaced with classic art works. Has anyone else read this one recently?
From left to right: a lonely Juan Rulfo, Mario Vargas Llosa, Octavio Paz, Gabriel García Márquez, Julio Cortázar, Carlos Fuentes, and Jorge Luis Borges
Mod -- from Canary Islands, please remove if doesn't make sense for this sub!
Currently reading and loving this very funny book Supersaurio by Meryem El Mehdati about a young woman who lives in the Canary Islands. For those who enjoyed Discontent by Beatriz Serrano, you make like this. Office Space vibes!
DESCRIPTION
"An award-winning debut about a young woman who lands an internship at the most popular supermarket chain in the Canary Islands, a role that proves at turns humorous and soul-crushing and reflects the daily struggles of a new generation entering the workforce, for fans of Really Good, Actually and The New Me.
"I was born in the '90s and grew up in the 2000s. I've survived a lot of horrible things: low-rise pants, Kate Winslet's supposed chubbiness, ultra-thin eyebrows. I will survive this, too."
Meryem is twenty-five years old, drinks too much coffee, goes on dates with terrifying men and never says what she really thinks. A Canarian from a Moroccan family, she has just started working as an intern in the offices of the most important supermarket chain on the island of Gran Canaria. She commutes daily by buses that are rarely on time just to arrive and meet her repulsive boss. The only thing they have in common is their mutual hate for each other.
In her spare time, Meryem hangs out with her two best friends, and writes fan fiction starring her office mates and characters from Harry Potter and Twilight. Surrounded by insecure and inept individuals, she seeks to hold on to what little authenticity is left around her.
Birth, growth, reproduction (if you're lucky), work, work, work, work, work, work and death. This is the life cycle of every human being, and the one Meryem finds herself joining. But she endures and resists, because she has faith that everything will turn out all right and that her efforts now will pay off in the long run. In this darkly comedic debut from an award-winning author, Supersaurio vividly portrays the everyday trials of a new generation entering the working world."
Los de abajo by Mariano Azuela. A brief novella that captures complexity of a subset of revolutionary actors.
“Durante la Revolución Mexicana, Mariano Azuela fue médico de la facción la que comandaba Francisco Villa, de ahí que algunas de sus más notables obras literarias estén inspiradas por aquellos hechos de armas. Entre todas ellas, Los de abajo, redactada en 1915 en El Paso (Texas), sintetiza admirablemente lo que el ilustre escritor pensaba de la Revolución y cómo vio él mismo su furia destructora. Se trata de una historia descarnada, concebida con la sinceridad y la valentía de un hombre que nunca cedió a la tentación de adornar artificiosamente o de falsear los acontecimientos, y escrita con un lenguaje directo que aúna la belleza a la sencillez.”
Hey y'all, I'm new to this sub but I came because I wanted to know if anybody else had read this. I loved it so much! I had already been looking for more Latin American sci-fi, so to get this from a Boricua author was really nice.
For the story itself, I found the narration and the characterization of the Animal's identities fascinating, given the deliberately spiraling nature of the prose (it doesn't lie-- the increasing and repeating layers of are humorous at times, and deeply impactful and surreal in turn.) I read it in both English and Spanish, and there were some differences, but I thought the translation was pretty good. I definitely prefer the original Spanish, however. It has longer sentences that feel more spiraling and true to the themes, though the English sentences are admittedly shorter, more "active."
I also found the stylistic differences among the sections really interesting, which made sense when I found out the story was actually written among a group of writers and translators across many years. It lends an eclectic feeling to the novel I liked. I study linguistics and the simultaneous translation fascinates me.
I'm also a nerd with a lot of intersecting interests and this managed to hit all of them in a unique way, so it might just be laser-targeted to me lol.
What did you think? What were your favorite or least favorite things about the novel?