Southeaster - Softcover

Conti, Haroldo

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1908276606 ISBN 13: 9781908276605

Publisher: And Other Stories, 2015

Synopsis

"Neither the old man nor Boga ever said more than was needed. And yet they understood each other perfectly."

Over the course of a season, Boga and the old man work side by side on the sandbanks of the Paraná Delta, cutting reeds to sell to local basketweavers. But when the old man falls sick and dies, Boga abandons himself entirely to the river and the life of solitary drifting he has long yearned for.

Echoes of John Berger sound throughout the evocative prose of this great Argentinian writer. A twentieth-century classic, Southeaster is a central work in Haroldo Conti’s oeuvre.

About this title

About the Author

Haroldo Conti was born in the province of Buenos Aires in 1925. He studied at a Salesian school and a Jesuit seminary before graduating with a degree in philosophy from the University of Buenos Aires. In his professional life, Conti was variously employed as an actor, bank clerk, Latin teacher and screenwriter.

Conti was arrested in his apartment after the military coup of 1976, and is currently included on the list of permanently disappeared. After the publication of Southeaster in 1962, he went on to write three more novels as well as several short story collections. He is the recipient of several important literary prizes, including the Casa de las Américas Prize.

Jon Lindsay Miles works in southern Spain, also publishing as Immigrant Press. The translation of Conti's Southeaster (2013) followed a hybrid guide-novel of Úbeda (Along the Way. Walking in Úbeda, 2009) and a bilingual collection of mediated stories of migration (Desde las Américas a Jaén/From the Americas to Jaén, 2011). He pays for this life by teaching English conversation at an outpost of the University of Jaén.

Reviews

Decades after his disappearance from the streets of Buenos Aires in 1976, Conti is still rightly regarded as one of Argentina's finest authors. His first novel and English-language debut features vivid depictions of life on the Paraná River. Boga is a rootless young man who spends months living and working with an old man to harvest reeds for sale. When the old man dies, Boga feels restless and adopts a "languid life of wandering." Floating in a small boat along the river's branches, the usually apathetic Boga discovers new emotions and shares encounters with people that force him to navigate violent situations. Miles's translation does a wonderful job of reflecting Conti's poetic tone. The prose is rhythmic and unrelenting, flowing for page after page; only sporadic line breaks offer brief bends in the stream of text. Though the narrative is deceptively simple in its premise, it has great depth. During Boga's time on the river, he plunges into long periods of isolation and silence, and in this chosen solitude he examines his existence. There is a sense of regret for what has passed and also a feeling of gratitude for what could have been; the tension between these feelings guides the story in clever ways, making this a memorable journey. (Nov.)

Edition details

• Publisher: And Other Stories
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1908276606
• ISBN 13: 9781908276605
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320