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El Ano Del Desierto (Spanish, Paperback, Annotated edition)
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El Ano Del Desierto (Spanish, Paperback, Annotated edition)
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El ano del desierto is the story of a year in the life of Maria
Valdes Neylan, narrated by herself, from somewhere in Ireland or
England. The novel narrates the (literal) dissolution of a city
(Buenos Aires), of a nation (Argentina) and of a life story (that
of Maria). The agent of this dissolution is the Wilderness (la
intemperie). But, what is the Wilderness? The novel does not
provide any definition or clarification regarding its nature. We do
not know if it's a natural or supernatural phenomenon. We do not
know if it's a sentient phenomenon, an instrument animated by an
evil design or just an impersonal force. Furthermore, nobody
witnesses the Wilderness in action. Only its effects are recorded:
the gradual (but fast-paced) degradation and disappearance of
buildings, streets, of all trace of human work or habitation, and
its replacement by a nature (certainly not Mother Nature) out of
control. Because of the Wilderness, the city disappears and the
Desert reclaims what always belonged to it. This novel by Pedro
Mairal (Buenos Aires, 1970) is a brilliant tour de force. On the
one hand, it captures the Zeitgeist of post-2001, pre-Kirchner
Argentina. But, as happens in Kafka's fictions (or in any work of
literature worthy of that name) Mairal takes the allegory well
beyond the mere document of the present. In these pages the reader
will find a story that is simultaneously familiar and infinitely
strange, the sights and sounds of Buenos Aires' everyday life, but
also the peculiar taste of a nightmare. The novel is also a sui
generis archive of Argentina's historical, cultural and literary
experience (its events and characters, as well as its founding
tropes and obsessions are all there). Susan Hallstead and Juan
Pablo Dabove have exhaustively annotated the novel to allow the
reader access to the myriad allusions and meanings embedded in the
novel. However, in spite of Mairal's totalizing ambition, El ano
del desierto never ceases to be a highly legible novel, with a
capacity to move us with the vicissitudes of Maria's individual
destiny. The introduction (also by Hallstead and Dabove) locates
Mairal in his historical and literary context, and gives numerous
clues for a complete understanding (and enjoyment) of this novel,
one of the best in recent Argentine narrative.
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