by Iris
When we shared our Sophie’s eloquent essay about the discomfort surrounding that “American” in our name on social media, many followers pointed out that technically, America is much more than just the USA. And they’re right, of course, even if in our case it does refer to that specific country. Not because we are “funded by the United States”, as someone on Facebook alleged, but simply because our founders back in the seventies happened to be American. Anyway, head over to the original post for more on that!
To showcase the immense diversity of the American continent and all its many countries, we’re now bringing you the fourth and final part of this series about books from the Americas. In highlighting works from an array of authors, places, languages, and backgrounds, we hope to inspire you to expand your literary horizons. You can check out the previous installments here!
Adela Zamudio: Selected Poetry & Prose translated by Lynette Yetter
“The first book in English showcasing the life and writings of Bolivia’s most celebrated writer and educator, Adela Zamudio (1854-1928). Her birthday is a national holiday in Bolivia. Self-taught, Zamudio was the mother of feminism and women’s education in Bolivia, and was active for Indigenous People’s rights.”
An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter by César Aira
“It is 1837 and a brilliant German artist sets out to cross the mountains between Chile and Argentina. Perhaps nobody before him has been able to paint the sights that unfold: vast chasms, surreal plants and animals… But then something goes appallingly wrong.”
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
“Santiago is a shepherd boy who dreams of treasure buried in the Egyptian pyramids. He sets off from his home Spain in search of his destiny and his fortune. Along the way he faces many obstacles, but also receives help from an array of unexpected spiritual messengers, including an alchemist who eventually helps him to see that real ‘treasure lies where your heart belongs.'”
This book is an ABC Favorite.
We Slaves of Suriname by Anton de Kom
“A literary masterpiece as well as a fierce indictment of racism and colonialism. 159 years after the abolition of slavery in Suriname and 88 years after its initial publication, We Slaves of Suriname has lost none of its brilliance and power.”
A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende
“Victor Dalmau is a young doctor when he is caught up in the Spanish Civil War. When opportunity to seek refuge arises, he boards a ship to Chile, the promised ‘long petal of sea and wine and snow’. There, he finds himself enmeshed in a rich web of characters who come together in love and tragedy over the course of four generations, destined to witness the battle between freedom and repression as it plays out across the world.”
Dom Casmurro by Machado de Assis
“Originally published in Brazil in 1900, Dom Casmurro is widely considered Machado de Assis’s greatest work and a classic of Brazilian realist literature. It is a delightful and hilarious novel told by an entertainingly unreliable narrator about the powers of jealousy and the deceitful persuasiveness of a mind in the grip of paranoia.”
This book has been reviewed by our Bruna.
A Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
“The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. Rich and brilliant, it is a chronicle of life, death, and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the beautiful, ridiculous, and tawdry story of the Buendía family, one sees all of humanity, just as in the history, myths, growth, and decay of Macondo, one sees all of Latin America.”
No Place to Bury the Dead by Karina Sainz Borgo
“In an unnamed Latin American country, a mysterious plague quickly spreads, erasing the memory of anyone infected. A searing novel of loss and resilience that illuminates the often-overlooked human dimension of the migrant crisis, re-imagining the border as a dreamlike purgatory bridging life and death.”
Jawbone by Monica Ojeda
“Interweaving pop culture references and horror concepts drawn from Herman Melville, H. P. Lovecraft, and anonymous ‘creepypastas,’ Jawbone is an ominous, multivocal novel that explores the terror inherent in the pure potentiality of adolescence and the fine line between desire and fear.”
The Invention of Distance by Ticio Escobar
“A prominent figure in Latin-American criticism, Escobar’s writing combines philosophical reflection with ethnographic observation. In this volume, his essays are arranged into four thematic sections and tied together by one of the writer’s most crucial ideas: the importance of distance when confronting a work of art.”
The Time of the Hero by Mario Vargas Llosa
“Set in Leoncio Prado Military Academy in Lima, a group of cadets attempt to break out of the vicious round of sadistic ragging, military discipline, confinement and boredom. In the author’s native Peru, this powerful social satire so outraged the authorities that a thousand copies were publicly burned.”
The Rooftop by Fernanda Trías
“In a rundown apartment building, in an unnamed city in Uruguay, a father and daughter close themselves off from the world. As Clara’s connection to the outside is stripped away, desperation and paranoia take hold. A claustrophobic novel about freedom, and also about fear, violence, motherhood and loss.”
