Infinity Ends Soon

INFINITY ENDS SOON recreates the search for two characters in two different historical moments and countries: Marcos, a contemporary Colombian mathematician, and Georg Cantor, a 19th Century Russian mathematician.

The narrator, Joseph, and Marcos meet by chance in a mental hospital in Montería where Marcos relives the past in Medellín, his youth, the women he loved, the violence he experienced in his beloved city, and his obsession with the late work of Cantor. Marcos is determined to solve the infinite and finish Cantor's controversial, mathematical work that only leads him to mental decline and isolation from society.

In the tradition of Jorge Luis Borges, Joseph Avski delivers a powerful, intellectual and often humorous tale full of mathematical revelations, dramatic tension, and lyrical solvency.

INFINITY ENDS SOON is translated by Mark McGraw with sophistication and sensitivity to language and details that only an accomplished translator of literary works can accomplish. The book was first published in Spanish in Colombia in 2015 by Emecé Colombia Editorial and taught at universities throughout South America.

"Intelligent, creative, and sometimes mind-blowing, this short novel packs a lot of intellectual and emotional power. Blending philosophy, physics, and some of the most important questions raised by literature, especially those imaginative musings of Borges, we are told the story of two friends who go from metalheads in a small city in Colombia thinking they are the smartest people in the town as they listen to grunge music and graffiti the town with their political messages to actually becoming some of the smartest people in the world, and perhaps a bit crazy. In fact, this cerebral story shows us that an excessive understanding of reality and infinity sometimes sounds a lot like madness. Infinity Ends Soon also follows a parallel narrative of the mathematician George Cantor, with the style and depth of Benjamín Labatut."--Daniel Chacón, author of Hotel Juárez and The Cholo Tree

Fiction.

Born in Medellín, Colombia. Joseph graduated with a degree in Physics from the Universidad de Antioquia (Colombia), an MFA in Creative Writing from University of Texas at El Paso, and a Phd in Hispanic Studies from Texas A&M. He has published poetry and short stories in Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Spain, Mexico, and the USA. He won short story contests in Colombia, Uruguay, and the USA. In 2009, he won the IX annual National Novel Award from the Medellín Chamber of Commerce with his opera prima El corazón del escorpión (Published in English as Heart of Scorpio). In 2010, he was the finalist in the XII Novel Biennial "José Eustasio Rivera'' with his novel El libro de los infiernos (The Book of Infernos). His memoir about his time in El Paso, a un paso de Juárez/ a step away from Juárez, was also published by Mouthfeel Press in a bilingual edition. Infinity Ends Soon, was published in 2015 in Colombia and is part of the literature curriculum in schools all over the country. Joseph is currently an associate professor at Northwest Missouri State University.

Mark McGraw is a writer, translator, language professor, and retired U.S. Marine officer from Ft. Worth, Texas. He earned a Ph.D. in Hispanic Studies at Texas A&M University in 2013. He is the author of Behind Friendly Lines: Memoirs of a US Marine in Chile (Lucid 2019) and translator of Joseph Avski's novel El corazón del escorpión (Heart of Scorpio, Tiny Toe 2012) and memoir A un paso de Juárez (One Step from Juárez, Mouthfeel 2015). He is also the translator of Chilean poet Luis Cruz- Villalobos' Hombre lleno de flores and Stańczyk - Poema Narrativa de un serio bufón to be published in 2022. He lives in Waco, Texas.