From the groundbreaking author of Beauty Salon, The Large Glass, Jacob the Mutant, Mario Bellatin delivers a rousing, allegorical novel following the widowed keeper of a mysterious garden. When art student Izu's teacher asks her to visit the famous collection of Mr. Murakami, she publishes a firm rebuttal to his curation. Instead of responding with fury, the rich man pursues her hand in marriage. When we meet her in the opening pages, Mrs. Murakami is watching the demolition of her now-dead husband's most prized part of the estate: his garden. The novel that follows takes place in a strange, not-quite-real Japan of the author's imagination. But who, in fact, holds the role of author? As Mr. Murakami's garden is demolished, so too is the narrative's authenticity, leaving the reader to wonder: did this book's creator exist at all? Mario Bellatin has revolutionized the state of Latin American literature with his experimental, shocking novels. With this brand-new, highly anticipated edition of Mrs. Murakami's Garden from lauded translator Heather Cleary, readers have access to a playful modern classic that transcends reality.

Mario Bellatin’s complex dreamscape, offered here in a brand-new translation, presents a timely allegorical portrait of the body and society in decay, victim to inscrutable pandemic. In a large, unnamed city, a strange, highly infectious disease begins to spread, afflicting its victims with an excruciating descent toward death, particularly unsparing in its assault of those on society's margins. Spurned by their loved ones and denied treatment by hospitals, the sick are left to die on the streets until a beauty salon owner, whose previous caretaking experience extended only to the exotic fish tanks scattered among his workstations, opens his doors as a refuge. In the ramshackle Morgue, victim to persecution and violence, he accompanies his male guests as they suffer through the lifeless anticipation of certain death, eventually leaving the wistful narrator in complete, ill-fated isolation.

"We can read The Magician of Vienna not just as a work of literature but as one of the Holy Books in which we store humanity's imaginary." -- Mario Bellatin, author of Beauty Salon The heartbreaking final volume in Sergio Pitol's groundbreaking memoir-essay-fiction-hybrid "Trilogy of Memory" finds Pitol boldly and passionately weaving fiction and autobiography together to tell of his life lived through literature as a way to stave off the advancement of a degenerative neurological condition causing him to lose the use of language. Fiction invades autobiography--and vice versa--as Pitol writes to forestall the advancement of degenerative memory loss. "Pitol's writing -- the way he constructs sentences, inflects Spanish, twists meanings and stresses particular words -- reflects the multiplicity of languages he has read and embraced. Reading him is like reading through the layers of many languages at once." -- Valeria Luiselli, author of The Story of My Teeth Sergio Pitol, the greatest living Mexican writer, winner of the Juan Rulfo and Cervantes prizes, is profoundly influential to the current generation of Spanish-language writers, including Valeria Luiselli, Enrique Vila-Matas, and Yuri Herrera.

Made up of two novellas, this thought-provoking book about the duality of self explores the common yet unsettling out-of-body experience of looking in a mirror and not recognizing the face that gazes back, of feeling like a spectator in one's own life, or even of remembering past actions that seem completely incongruous with one's disposition. The first novella begins with the narrator's encounter with his other self as he sits at the foot of his bed, a seemingly innocuous event that leads to a series of alternating narratives revealing a slew of eccentric characters in bizarre situations. The second half of this postmodern volume explores a female author's inner metamorphosis as she transforms into both a famous Japanese writer and a notary's clerk, all the while visiting mystical settings and encountering mythical beings. The two tales come together to unsettle and fascinate readers as they themselves explore their multiple inner selves. "Consistiendo de dos novelas cortas, este libro invita a reflexionar sobre la dualidad del ser al explorar la experiencia comun pero inquietante de mirarse en un espejo y no reconocerse, o de sentirse como un espectador en su propia vida o aun de recordar acciones pasadas que aparentan ser completamente incongruentes con el temperamento propio. La primera novela breve comienza con el encuentro del narrador con su otro yo mientras se reposa al pie de su cama, un evento aparentemente inocuo que lleva a una serie de narrativas alternantes que revelan una coleccion de personajes excentricos en situaciones extranas. La segunda parte de este volumen postmoderno explora la metamorfosis interna de una autora mientras se transforma tanto en una famosa escritora japonesa como en una pasante de notario, todo mientras visita lugares misticos y se encuentra con seres miticos. Los dos relatos se unen para trastornar y fascinar al lector mientras el mismo explora sus multiples yos internos."