Antipodes
Stories
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- 52,99 lei
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- 52,99 lei
Publisher Description
From the author of the award-winning novel Shadow Without a Name, comes Antipodes, the first collection of his short fiction to be translated into English. This lively, eclectic, and highly imaginative volume spans time, place, and culture as the narratives move from the scorching heat of the Gobi desert to the glacial heights of Mount Everest.
Here, among others, are the stories of a great Scottish engineer, left to die in the middle of the desert, who is rescued by a tribe of nomads and inspires them to build an exact replica of the city of Edinburgh in the dunes; of a dying, cross-dressing pilot who allegedly climbs Mount Everest and then mysteriously disappears; of an English colonel who swears on his life to make the trains in Zambezi run on time, only to be forced to honor his word when they are always ten minutes late; of a monk who conjures the devil to prove the devil's existence; and of a young administrator of a psychiatric hospital who is appalled by the treatment of the patients, and devises his own bizarre solution.
Based on history, legend and an awe-inspiring power of invention, Antipodes delights, terrifies, and entrances.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Lunatic, adventuring Englishmen dominate Antipodes, Ignacio Padilla's pithy, lyrical short story collection. Set mostly in exotic colonial locales, the tales ring with Umberto Eco-style absurdity and delusion. In one story, Mongolian nomads construct a full-scale replica of Edinburgh in the Gobi Desert at the request of a divine messenger (read: a marooned and hallucinating Scottish engineer). Meanwhile, a cross-dressing mountaineer recovers from tuberculosis-by adhering to a severe regimen of pituitary gland exercises, crazy sex and carrot and thyme bouillabaisse-in order to climb Mt. Everest. Alastair Reid ably translates Padilla's sophisticated, droll prose.
