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2 reviews for:
A Thousand Forests in One Acorn: An Anthology of Spanish-Language Fiction
Valerie Miles
3.83 AVERAGE
2 reviews for:
A Thousand Forests in One Acorn: An Anthology of Spanish-Language Fiction
Valerie Miles
3.83 AVERAGE
3.5/5
Back in the day, when I didn't view GR giveaways as complete and brownnosing wastes of corporate shitsuck time, I got my hands on a copy of this and a handful of other works. Several years of pre-21st century reading focus later, I got around to this, having by then read a few (Llosa, Marías, Moya) and heard more than a bit about others (Vila-Matas, Fuentes) and all in all being in a solid position to know what I was getting into, but not so much that it was repetitive. 700 pages later, I even came out with a couple of names that would be well worth following up on (however difficult it proves to find works already translated into English), but something I couldn't help but notice is how malingeringly status quo samey most of this collection is. Sure, plenty of the authors unroll the spiel of European/Neo European white dudes in their nonfictional expositions and accrue lots of weird experimentalisms and horrific themes during the course of their selected holistic excerpts, but if you didn't already know about Galeano or Castellanos or Donosos with their revolutions in sexuality/race/history, you'd be hard pressed to imagine that they have ever existed among their comparatively lauded but awfully milquetoast writing compatriots. Plenty of names to the pot, but the fact that the hand of the US and fellow disaster capitalism beneficiaries lies so heavily on all of it sucks a great deal of its potential out of it, and makes me wonder about the ideological tenor of Open Letters as a whole.
Out of the bunch, the writing of [a:Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio|35253|Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1432657971p2/35253.jpg], [a:Esther Tusquets|25540|Esther Tusquets|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1415314860p2/25540.jpg]l and to a lesser extent [a:Elvio E. Gandolfo|409751|Elvio E. Gandolfo|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1301876977p2/409751.jpg] stood out the most to me. If any of those names ring a familiar bell to you, congrats, you're far better quipped to handle this anthology with any sort of insight or skill than I am. Given that, I took each writer that I hadn't read anything of in stride as much as their individual histories and choices in inspiration aligned with my previous knowledge about history and literary tradition, and as hinted at earlier, I didn't spend much time giving the authors any benefit of the doubt that they didn't earn through the course of the excerpts include in their section. In the realm of Ferlosio, I was taken back into a realm where world building was done step by step and the thread of plot was wound as tight around community as it was drawn to a breaking point through calamity, and the fact that his excerpt was drawn from an untranslated work was rather heartbreaking. Tusquets has to stand out as the best of the bunch, as her inspiration from Woolf drew as much from the syntax as it did from the sexuality, and if there's one type of work I am pulled as rabidly towards as if it were my raison d'être, it's older queer works hidden in the translated rough. And finally, Gandolfo, whom I haven't committed to any work by (if there are indeed any translated into English at this point), but who demonstrated some of the most brilliant applications of the principles of science fiction that I would be remiss if I didn't track a proper read of his down before I finally croaked. Three out of twenty-eight, none of whom I had encountered before whether in prose or in reputation, and considering what I had to say about the anthology as a whole, I'm rather pleased with this handful of quality results that promise worlds beyond what I may have, without the benefit of this collection, gone an entire lifetime without ever experiencing.
Over time, I've discovered that, compared to getting through a work by a single sole author, a great deal more effort is necessary if I want to make it out of this kind of anthology with more than just a blur of names and a paltry sense of success nearly overwhelmed by a general feel of mediocrity. This particular piece wears its biases on its sleeves, mayhaps even lending credence to the idea that, in a hellscape like this, the conservatives live longer, whether out of yellow-bellied selfishness or blissfully equivocating complacency. As demonstrated, I found some spots of significant worth despite all that, but given how little of all three authors has made its way into English translation, it makes me wonder what an anthology of Spanish literature would look like on the other side of the coin would look like: the ones who lived hard, died young, painted themselves so deeply on the insides of their country's heritage and did not give a single fuck about the hand that feeds that their names are still honored amongst the autonomous communities and anarchist solidarities that cleave to writing for its inherent flesh and blood, not for a dusty pile of names and dried up countries an ocean away. Indeed, were such a collection put together (if it hasn't been already), there's little chance of it being translated into English. And that, reader, would be for the best.
Back in the day, when I didn't view GR giveaways as complete and brownnosing wastes of corporate shitsuck time, I got my hands on a copy of this and a handful of other works. Several years of pre-21st century reading focus later, I got around to this, having by then read a few (Llosa, Marías, Moya) and heard more than a bit about others (Vila-Matas, Fuentes) and all in all being in a solid position to know what I was getting into, but not so much that it was repetitive. 700 pages later, I even came out with a couple of names that would be well worth following up on (however difficult it proves to find works already translated into English), but something I couldn't help but notice is how malingeringly status quo samey most of this collection is. Sure, plenty of the authors unroll the spiel of European/Neo European white dudes in their nonfictional expositions and accrue lots of weird experimentalisms and horrific themes during the course of their selected holistic excerpts, but if you didn't already know about Galeano or Castellanos or Donosos with their revolutions in sexuality/race/history, you'd be hard pressed to imagine that they have ever existed among their comparatively lauded but awfully milquetoast writing compatriots. Plenty of names to the pot, but the fact that the hand of the US and fellow disaster capitalism beneficiaries lies so heavily on all of it sucks a great deal of its potential out of it, and makes me wonder about the ideological tenor of Open Letters as a whole.
Out of the bunch, the writing of [a:Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio|35253|Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1432657971p2/35253.jpg], [a:Esther Tusquets|25540|Esther Tusquets|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1415314860p2/25540.jpg]l and to a lesser extent [a:Elvio E. Gandolfo|409751|Elvio E. Gandolfo|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1301876977p2/409751.jpg] stood out the most to me. If any of those names ring a familiar bell to you, congrats, you're far better quipped to handle this anthology with any sort of insight or skill than I am. Given that, I took each writer that I hadn't read anything of in stride as much as their individual histories and choices in inspiration aligned with my previous knowledge about history and literary tradition, and as hinted at earlier, I didn't spend much time giving the authors any benefit of the doubt that they didn't earn through the course of the excerpts include in their section. In the realm of Ferlosio, I was taken back into a realm where world building was done step by step and the thread of plot was wound as tight around community as it was drawn to a breaking point through calamity, and the fact that his excerpt was drawn from an untranslated work was rather heartbreaking. Tusquets has to stand out as the best of the bunch, as her inspiration from Woolf drew as much from the syntax as it did from the sexuality, and if there's one type of work I am pulled as rabidly towards as if it were my raison d'être, it's older queer works hidden in the translated rough. And finally, Gandolfo, whom I haven't committed to any work by (if there are indeed any translated into English at this point), but who demonstrated some of the most brilliant applications of the principles of science fiction that I would be remiss if I didn't track a proper read of his down before I finally croaked. Three out of twenty-eight, none of whom I had encountered before whether in prose or in reputation, and considering what I had to say about the anthology as a whole, I'm rather pleased with this handful of quality results that promise worlds beyond what I may have, without the benefit of this collection, gone an entire lifetime without ever experiencing.
Over time, I've discovered that, compared to getting through a work by a single sole author, a great deal more effort is necessary if I want to make it out of this kind of anthology with more than just a blur of names and a paltry sense of success nearly overwhelmed by a general feel of mediocrity. This particular piece wears its biases on its sleeves, mayhaps even lending credence to the idea that, in a hellscape like this, the conservatives live longer, whether out of yellow-bellied selfishness or blissfully equivocating complacency. As demonstrated, I found some spots of significant worth despite all that, but given how little of all three authors has made its way into English translation, it makes me wonder what an anthology of Spanish literature would look like on the other side of the coin would look like: the ones who lived hard, died young, painted themselves so deeply on the insides of their country's heritage and did not give a single fuck about the hand that feeds that their names are still honored amongst the autonomous communities and anarchist solidarities that cleave to writing for its inherent flesh and blood, not for a dusty pile of names and dried up countries an ocean away. Indeed, were such a collection put together (if it hasn't been already), there's little chance of it being translated into English. And that, reader, would be for the best.
An amazing collection. Not only are nearly all of the selections poignant and leave you begging for more, but each comes with an awesome summary of the author, their works, and why the selections were chosen. Each selection was chosen by the author as "their best work".... which is pretty remarkable. I strongly reccomend this book, particularly for people who have just begun to dive into the world of (translated) Spanish literature.