Novel
Andén lejano
Not translated into English
Oswaldo Trejo · 1968
Synopsis
The author's first experimental novel, the book follows no plot that the sources summarise. According to Manuel Cabesa, Trejo wrote it to refine his writing and to give an outlet to autobiographical memories of childhood, a tribute to be paid before other subjects. The narrative is interrupted by whole pages of poetry in the manner of Mallarmé, a veritable score, and Julio Ortega hears in it a poetic drive ahead of the Latin American novel of its time, at the risk at times of hermeticism.
Context
The novel appeared in 1968; it is from this book, according to El Nacional, that Trejo's most singular body of work crystallises, which led critics to link him to the generation of the sixties. Its title comes from a phrase by a woman writer who was a friend of the author, according to Analítica. The experimentation that begins in it distanced him from some of his readers: Manuel Cabesa admits he could not find a way into it and prefers the first novel, published in 1962.
Who it is for
A novel in Spanish, untranslated, which asks the reader to accept pages of pure poetry in the midst of the narrative.
Prizes and reception
Julio Ortega regards it as its author's masterpiece, and many readers as his most important book.
Sources for this page 4
The pages consulted to check this page.