Edmundo Paz Soldán

Stiffelio

Reader
I think this is a young writer very much worthy of attention

Edmundo Paz Soldán was born in Cochabamba, Bolivia, in 1967. He studied International Relations in Argentina before moving to the United States where, with the aid of a soccer scholarship, he obtained a B.A. degree in Political Science from the University of Alabama-Huntsville in 1991. A providential injury and his childhood literary passion convinced him to change directions and to pursue an academic career. He graduated in 1993 with an M.A. in Hispanic Languages and Literatures at the University of California-Berkeley, where he also completed his Ph.D. in 1997. Since then, Paz Soldán is a professor of Latin American literature at Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York. His course curriculum includes Modern and Contemporary Spanish-American Literature, Andean Literature, Narrative and Mass Media, and Creative Writing.

Edmundo Paz Soldán is the author of seven novels and three collections of short stories. He is the winner of the Bolivian National Book Award (1992 and 2003), and the Juan Rulfo Short Story Award (1997) for his story Dochera. His novel Río Fugitivo was a finalist in the prestigious Rómulo Gallegos prize in 1998. He received a Guggenheim scholarship in 2006. Some of his books have been translated into other languages. Below is a list of Paz Soldán’s publications.

Novels:

Días de Papel, La Paz, 1992.

Alrededor de la Torre, La Paz, 1997.

Río Fugitivo. La Paz: Alfaguara, 1998. Re-published by Libros del Asterioide, Madrid, 2008. Danish translation: Copenhagen: Lindhardt & Ringhof, 2001. Finnish translation: Helsinki: Gummerus, 2000.

Sueños digitales. La Paz: Alfaguara, 2000. Madrid: Alfaguara, 2001.Greek translation: Athens, Digiali, 2004.

La materia del deseo. Miami: Alfaguara, 2001. Madrid: Alfaguara, 2002. English translation as The Matter of Desire: Mariner Books, 2004.

El delirio de Turing. La Paz: Alfaguara, 2003. Madrid: Alfaguara, 2004. English translation as Turing’s Delirium: Mariner Books, 2007.

Palacio Quemado. La Paz, Madrid: Alfaguara, 2006.

Los Vivos y los Muertos. Madrid: Alfaguara, 2009.

Short Stories:

Las Máscaras de la Nada. La Paz: Alfaguara, 1990.

Desapariciones. La Paz: Alfaguara, 1994.

Amores Imperfectos. La Paz: Alfaguara, 1998

Simulacros. La Paz: Alfaguara, is an anthology of his previous collections of short stories

Paz Soldán has also published a critical study Alcides Arguedas y la narrativa de la nación enferma (Plural, 2003), and is the coeditor, with Debra Castillo, of the volume of critical essays Latin American Literature and Mass Media (Garland, 2000), and, with Alberto Fuguet, of the anthology of short stories Se habla español: Voces latinas en U.S.A. (Miami: Alfaguara, 2000). Paz Soldán recently coedited with Gustavo Favern Patriau a compilation of critical essays about Roberto Bolaño, Bolaño Salvaje, Barcelona: Editorial Candaya, 2008. In addition to many articles in newspapers and literary magazines, some of Paz Soldán’s stories have been published in anthologies. His story Dochera has been translated into English and included in the book A Whistler Through the Nightworld: Short Fiction from the Latin Americas. Ed. Thomas Colchie. New York: Plume, 2002.


Paz Soldán belongs to a new generation of Latin American writers who have departed from the clichés typically ascribed to writers from the region, in particular the notion that all writers from Latin America must necessarily write magic realism . These writers tend to be urban and to reflect in their writing the impact of mass media and new technologies in the modern world, as well as to address specific social problems occurring in each specific region. These young writers are very different from one another. They feel closer to McDonalds than they are to Macondo (the magical setting of García Márquez’s One Hundred years of Solitude). Chilean writer Alberto Fuguet jokingly coined the term "McOndo" to describe this new literary movement. He published a collection of new Latin American writing, which included a story by Paz Soldán: Amor, a la distancia: McOndo.
Eds. Alberto Fuguet & Sergio Gómez. Barcelona/Santiago: Mondadori, 1996. Here's a link to wiki about McOndo:

McOndo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Paz Soldán has been actively writing in his own blog since 2005. Here is the link:

R?o Fugitivo / Blog de Edmundo Paz Sold?n ? El Boomeran(g)

Here's a link to Paz Soldán's page in Solo Literatura, where you'll find a brief description (in Spanish) of some of his books, with further links to reviews.

http://www.sololiteratura.com/edm/edmobras.htm


I am personally a fan of Edmundo. I've read a few of his books and visit his blog regularly. He is eminently a modern realist writer. He has confessed his admiration for Mario Vargas Llosa (who, in turn, has praised him highly) and Javier Marías. But he read a lot of genre fiction in his youth, including Hammett and Chandler and Dick. He likes to move characters around and to narrate there tribulations in counterpunctual, episodic fashion. Turing's Delirium is a marvellous 'choral' novel that I recommend earnestly. It is set in the convoluted Bolivia of the 90s. You can find it in English. Río Fugitivo, an earlier novel, a 'bildungsroman', is also very good, and is a homage to Vargas Llosa's La Ciudad y Los Perros. Sadly, this one has not yet been published in English. I also read his collection of very short stories Amores Imperfectos, some of which are excellent, such as the award winning Dochera.
 
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Daniel del Real

Moderator
Re: Edmundo Paz Sold

Thanks for creating this thread Stiffelio.
This is a writter I've been curious about for some time this year and this is good way to start knowing him better.
It's not easy to find his titles, although he writes in Spanish, many of his publications only circulate in Spain (at least not in Mexico so much).
He also has joined the Bolañomania, writing a book named Bolaño Salvaje.

I'll try to get the first book I find from him, hopefully Río Fugitivo.
 

Stiffelio

Reader
Re: Edmundo Paz Sold

Thanks for reminding me about Bolaño Salvaje. It's a fantastic book. I've edited my post above to complete the information.

Río Fugitivo is very hard to obtain in Latin america. So try to get El Delirio de Turing or Palacio Quemado, both of which are available throughout. Los Vivos y los Muertos is scheduled for distribution in Latin America in 2010.
 
B

Backwords

Guest
Re: Edmundo Paz Sold

How does Stiffelio get so far ahead of the curve?
 

Jayaprakash

Reader
Re: Edmundo Paz Sold

The term 'McOndo' is vomit-inducing, but influences like Marias and the pulps are promising. Can you tell us more about the form and content of some of Soldán's novels?

Here are reviews of English translations of his work, both from The Complete Review:

Turing's Delirium

The Matter Of Desire


They both seem rather equivocal but, I've enjoyed a lot of novels that only scored a B+ on the CR scale.
 

Stiffelio

Reader
Re: Edmundo Paz Sold

I will review Turing's Delirium soon. It was brilliant, a lot better than what CR say. I haven't yet read The Matter of Desire, but will read it soon.

McOndo was just a joke term only used for that specific book. It was a sardonic reaction against the ignorant literary marketeers, who for decades lumped (and still try to do so) each and every writer coming from Latin America together as would-be García Márquez imitators.
 
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Re: Edmundo Paz Sold

I read Turings Delirium several years ago. My first impression: it reminded me a lot of Neal Stephenson?s Crytonomicon (which coincidently I am reading right now, or re-reading to be more precise). There?s a lot going on in Paz Soldáns Turing?s Delirium (a lot of good things, actually), but it didn?t quite come together for me. Still, I enjoyed it and would recommend it.

Looking forward to reading your review, Stiffelio.
 

Daniel del Real

Moderator
After reading Los Vivos y los Muertos, which was quite a disappointment and put me away some time from his ouvre, I'm really glad I returned with such a great book as Norte. This novel came out in 2011, and it reads as a tribute to Roberto Bolaño. Three different stories about Hispanic migration to the United States; A Mexican schizophrenic man who becomes a painter at the mad house in the 1930's; a serial murder known as The Railroad Killer back in the 1980's and a young woman who tries to create her graphic novel after dropping her masters degree in the present days. The stories slightly touch each other and it creates an atmosphere very similar to Bolaño's short stories happening in the North of Mexico, with those disfigured characters, grotesque persons who are bordering insanity.
If you like Roberto Bolaño, grab this novel immediately once it gets translated.
 
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