Synopses & Reviews
For years, Boga and the old man have worked side by side on the banks of the Paraná, cutting reeds. But when the old man dies, Boga abandons himself entirely to the river and the life of solitary drifting he has long yearned for.
An evocative English debut from a classic Argentinian writer.
Review
"Haroldo Conti was one of the great Argentinian writers." Gabriel Garcia Marquez
"Haroldo is a river, a delta with many streams that embrace the islands as they pass. His literature is directed at the solitude of others, and it brings a warm embrace, in the same way the river does."? Eduardo Galeano
"The economy of his writing, impregnated with poetry and tenderness, is remarkable . . . Dont be fooled by the storys initial, quasi-bucolic, calm. A dramatic crescendo leads to the final roar." María Esther de Miguel, La Nación
"Readers in English can at last immerse themselves in the subtle, beautifully wrought journey of the voyager
Southeaster is one of the most original contributions to what Conti himself would term, in an interview in 1974, 'a stylistically and imaginatively Argentine literature'." Professor John King, School of Comparative American Studies, University of Warwick
"Haroldo Conti was one of Argentina's finest prose writers at the time he was 'disappeared' by the military junta in the mid 1970s. He was fifty-one years old. This first publication of his work in English introduces us not only to one of South America's finest twentieth-century writers but to a world view, a landscape and a unique literary vision that is essential to our time." John Burnside
"What a surprise and a treat. I was swept up in the great murky flow of it. Conti is a writer for whom place is character, not backdrop, and what a place, what a character. Hes a revelation." Tim Winton
Synopsis
One of the great Argentinian writers now translated into EnglishConti's fiction is also powerful as nature writing
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 Parana 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 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.