The Abyss: A Novel

Synopsis

Finally, the Colombian Fernando Vallejo’s masterpiece, The Abyss, is available in English in a stunning translation by Yvette Siegert Winner of the Rómulo Gallego Prize, The Abyss is a caustic masterwork of incredible power and force, an unforgettable autobiographical work of queer fiction. The novel tells about the demise of a crumbling house in Medellín, Colombia. Fernando, a writer, visits his brother Darío, who is dying of AIDS. Recounting their wild philandering and trying to come to terms with his beloved brother’s inevitable death, Fernando rants against the political forces that cause so much suffering. Vallejo is the heir to Céline, Thomas Paine, and Machado de Assis. He hurls vitriolic, savagely funny insults at his country (“I wipe my ass with the new Constitution of Colombia”) and at his mother (“the Crazy Bitch”) who has given birth to him and his many siblings. Within this firestorm of pain, Fernando manages to get across much beauty and truth: that all love is painful and washed in pure sorrow. He loves his sick brother and the family’s Santa Anita farm (the lost paradise of his childhood where azaleas bloomed); and he even loves his country, now torn to shreds. Always, in this savage masterpiece about loss—as if in the eye of Vallejo’s hurricane of talent—we are in the curiously comforting workings of memory and of the writing process itself, as, recollecting time, it offers immortality.

Copyright:

2024

Book Details

Book Quality:

Publisher Quality

Book Size:

192 Pages

ISBN-13:

9780811238526

Related ISBNs:

9780811238519

Publisher:

New Directions

Date of Addition:

06/25/24

Copyrighted By:

Fernando Vallejo

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

Literature and Fiction, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender, Politics and Government

Submitted By:

Bookshare Staff

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.

Translator:

Yvette Siegert