Novel
Farabeuf or the Chronicle of an Instant
Farabeuf o la crónica de un instante
Salvador Elizondo · 1965
Synopsis
In an old building in Paris, a surgeon, Doctor Farabeuf, climbs the stairs towards a woman who is waiting for him, a nurse or nun who was once his assistant. She traces an ambiguous sign on the condensation of a windowpane and questions a spiritualist planchette; a woman walks by the sea; and the photograph of a Chinese torture victim cut up alive in Peking keeps returning, said to have been taken by Farabeuf. The same scenes repeat and contradict one another, around a question: “¿recuerdas?”.
Context
The book starts from a photograph of the Chinese torture of the hundred pieces, taken around 1905, which the author had discovered in Georges Bataille's Les Larmes d'Éros (1961). Reluctant to publish it, he was pushed to do so by Gustavo Sainz; the book appeared in November 1965 with Joaquín Mortiz, in a print run of 3,150 copies, with a cover by Vicente Rojo, and its subtitle comes from the publisher. The author preferred to speak of a “book” rather than a novel. An English translation appeared in 2015.
Who it is for
About two hundred pages with no plot or chronology, made of repetitions and variations, demanding and at times harrowing; translated into English.
Prizes and reception
Xavier Villaurrutia Prize 1965, unanimously; its author's most famous book, regarded as a cult classic of Latin American literature.
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