Juan Vidal
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Many readers know and love One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera. But critic Juan Vidal suggests you not overlook Gabriel Garcia Marquez's dynamic, poetic short stories.
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The late Brazilian author Hilda Hilst's With My Dog-Eyes chronicles a mathematics professor's descent into madness after a mystical vision. Critic Juan Vidal says it's a pleasure to see and read.
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Issue 46 of McSweeney's Quarterly Concern showcases crime fiction from all over Latin America, with new stories from writers like Alejandro Zambra. Reviewer Juan Vidal calls it rousing and essential.
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The NYRB Classics imprint has reissued William Gass's 1976 raucous philosophical inquiry into the color blue. Reviewer Juan Vidal says it's more an experience to be had than a book to be read.
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Brothers Boris and Arkady Strugatsky originally published their sci-fi classic Definitely Maybe in 1974. Now, a new translation restores cuts made by Soviet censors to this subversive tale of scientists exploring a reluctant universe. Reviewer Juan Vidal says "you'll laugh, you'll look around suspiciously, you'll throw the text across the room."
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Japanese author Takashi Hiraide's The Guest Cat has just been released in English; it's a layered novel within a novel, centered on a workaholic couple who become enraptured by their neighbors' playful little cat. Reviewer Juan Vidal says "even dog lovers will relate" to the story.
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Poet Federico Garcia Lorca's life was cut short during the Spanish Civil War, but he left behind a rich legacy of poetry and drama. Reviewer Juan Vidal says the best poetry in translation to come out this year is a new collection of Lorca's verse, translated by writers who were deeply influenced by him.
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Juan Vidal recommends three Latin American masterpieces that were translated this year: a boundary-pushing novella, a noir tale of an assassination plot and a complex exploration of identity and history. There are no noble heroes in these pages — instead, they feature hapless, struggling souls in search of meaning.