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Chargement... No title (1956)
Information sur l'oeuvreZama par Antonio Di Benedetto (1956)
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Inscrivez-vous à LibraryThing pour découvrir si vous aimerez ce livre Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre. Call me a coward, call me a philistine, I couldn't keep on reading, or rather, I paged slowly but steadily through the book growing ever more impatient. A bureaucrat is sent from Argentina to an office in Paraguay (think, guy from New York City being sent to work in Edmonton). Not paid enough, but not bothering either to send his wife and children any money (there is some but he spends it on himself) or to bring them to Paraguay as he hopes to get back to 'civilization'. I couldn't help wondering, after fifty or so pages whether he had been sent there as a tiresome self-absorbed man no one could bear the sight of back home. The lack in Zama of any self-awareness (possession of which leads to humour, which leads to a balance). What caused me to abandon the novel is that I couldn't get past a sense of the whole taking itself too seriously (and I mean that at so many levels). I also found di Benedetto's use of melodrama, histrionics, and so forth in a sort of casual throwaway manner as a literary device to develop his protagonist's decline, unconvincing. I've read lots of gloomy novels written by men about men (and the occasional woman) who just can't get past their desires, their inability to get out of their own heads or other parts etcetera, most of those tales had something I couldn't find here and cannot endure searching for further. I'd love to spoil by offering the ending which, in its extreme melodrama, makes my point, and almost becomes humorous almost compassionate, but . . . really? I chose the book to widen my reading of South American writers (from NYRB). And seriously, I'm not condemning the book, but giving you my own reaction, and you might find this a gem as others have. A truly remarkable book. It is hard to understand how this work does not have a more notable reputation nor a wider readership. Di Benedetto presents a first person stream of consciousness narrative of a life in decline. A reader can hear and feel how the character attempts to make sense of the miasma that he himself creates. Certainly an existential classic written in succinct and yet moving prose. Clearly ahead of its time and a must-read for any person interested in serious literature. Don Diego de Zama, a government official representing Spain from his post in South America in the 1790s, is far from home and his family with no hope of returning home or attaining a better position. He grows paranoid, goes months without pay, and oddly stalks women in the street. At first he worries about his distant wife and children, then seems to forget they exist. He demands money and food from people, fathers an illegitimate child and generally treats others badly. His life devolves into horror. “The horror of being trapped in absurdity.” As the years of isolation in his outpost continue, Zama’s mental health deteriorates, and the sense of claustrophobic madness builds in this masterful story. aucune critique | ajouter une critique
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"First published in 1956, Zama is now universally recognized as one of the masterpieces of modern Argentinean and Spanish-language literature. Written in a style that is both precise and sumptuous, Zama takes place in the last decade of the eighteenth century and describes the solitary, suspended existence of Don Diego de Zama, a highly placed servant of the Spanish crown who has been posted to Asunción, the capital of remote Paraguay. Eaten up by pride, lust, petty grudges, and paranoid fantasies, Don Diego does as little as he possibly can while plotting an eventual transfer to Buenos Aires, where everything about his hopeless existence will, he is confident, be miraculously transformed and made good. Don Diego's slow, nightmarish slide into the abyss is not just a tale of one man's perdition but an exploration of existential, and very American, loneliness. Zama's stark, dreamlike prose and spare imagery make every word appear to emerge from an ocean of things left unsaid"-- Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)863.64Literature Spanish and Portuguese Spanish fiction 20th Century 1945-2000Classification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
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La de Zama no es cualquier espera, se trata de una condición existencial, angustiosa y reflexiva, en un territorio caracterizado por la lejanía, la ajenidad y la disposición para el recuerdo. Zama es la novela de un exiliado castizo, con un lenguaje intemporal y arcaico, por momentos cercano al del Siglo de Oro.