Novel
The Tunnel
El túnel
Ernesto Sábato · 1948
Synopsis
Juan Pablo Castel, a painter from Buenos Aires, introduces himself at the outset as the man who killed María Iribarne, according to Cultura Genial. At an exhibition, in the autumn of 1946, he saw a woman stop before a marginal scene in his painting Maternidad, one that no one else had noticed, and believed her alone capable of understanding him. He finds her again and learns that she is married to Allende, a blind man. Their affair is eaten away by his obsessive interrogations, and a stay at the estancia of Hunter, Allende's cousin, feeds his jealousy.
Context
The novel, turned down by Buenos Aires publishers, appeared in 1948 thanks to the journal Sur, according to the two biographies consulted. The French writer Albert Camus praised it and had it translated by Gallimard, where Carmen Sangrador's version appeared in 1956. The book was adapted for the cinema in 1952, according to escritores.org. Christopher Domínguez Michael, cited by Cultura Genial, sees it on the contrary as a perfect example of the didactic novel, based on the stereotype of the misunderstood artist.
Who it is for
A short novel in Spanish, in the form of a confession; translated into French by Gallimard and then by Seuil.
Prizes and reception
The first novel by its author, which became, according to Cultura Genial, a success and a reference of Latin American literature.