Synopses & Reviews
Surreal fiction from Juan Goytisolo, Spain’s greatest living writer. A resurrected Karl and Jenny Marx sitting on their sofa in Hampstead watching a television documentary about the landing of Albanian refugees on a private Italian beach, flourishing photocopies of dollar bills in search of paradise Dallas. Find out how Karl reacts to the demise of the systems Josef Visionariovitch and Co. built on his word! Read all about the family life of the Marxes, moving upmarket from Dean Street to Highgate and beyond, yet never free of the hock shop. Marx visits scenes of former triumphs in Moscow, where MacLenin T-shirts and harmburger freedom are all the rage, and returns to a Hampstead housewarming reception and ball filmed by the cameras for a Merchant-Ivoryish Red Baroness—which subsequently becomes the subject of a Saturday-night talk show featuring a feminist sexologist from UCLA, an anarchist from the Spanish Civil Bar, Bakunin . . . But the narrator’s publisher, the urbane pipe-smoking Mr. Faulkner, wants a best-selling novel, a proper story with real facts and heart-rending descriptions of the Marx ménage. Some hope!
Synopsis
In Juan Goytisolo's latest surreal fiction Karl and Jenny Marx sit on their sofa in Hampstead and watch a television documentary. Albanian refugees land on a private Italian beach flourishing photocopies of dollar bills, in search of paradise Dallas. A resurrected Marx visits scenes of former triumphs in Moscow, where MacLenin T-shirts and harmburger freedom are all the rage, and returns to a Hampstead housewarming reception and ball filmed by the cameras for a Merchant-Ivoryish Red Baroness -- which subsequently becomes the subject of a Saturday-night talk show featuring a feminist sexologist from UCLA, an anarchist from the Spanish Civil Bar, Bakunin ... The Marx Family Saga, Goytisolo's most mordant satire yet, is a roller-coaster of bitter invective and witty paradox, a verbal whip-lashing for the cheerleaders of the new world order.
Synopsis
Fiction. Latino/a Studies. The latest work from the most important living novelist from Spain (S.F. Guardian) is a surreal, witty, roller coaster of a novel. As you leave the room, from the top of the staris you look down on the perfectly freeze-framed guests or actors holding their drinks or glasses of champagne while the petrified couples ready to dance await a signal or order from the director... Juan Goytisolo has lived in voluntary exile from Spain since 1956 and now divides his time between Paris and Marrakesh. Peter Bush won the Ramon Valle-Incan Prize for literary translation in 1998 for his translation of this amazing work.
About the Author
Born in Barcelona in 1931, Juan Goytisolo is Spain's greatest living writer. His books include: Mask of Idenity, The Marx Family Saga, and, State of Siege. He lives in Marrakesh, Morocco.