Sultry Moon

by Patricia J. Duncan (Translator), Mempo Giardinelli

Overview

Topping Argentina's bestseller list for twenty-seven weeks and winner of Mexico's National Book Award, Sultry Moon is reminiscent of both Crime and Punishment and Lolita. This fast-paced thriller begins with the arrival of a protagonist who has just returned from studies in France with the prospect of a brilliant career ahead of him. He is welcomed back with open arms, but within a few hours at a dinner party, he becomes a ruthless, violent agressor living out the paranoid psychology of a criminal.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780935480924
Publisher:	Latin American Literary Review Press
Publication date:	01/28/1998
Series:	Discoveries Series
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Mempo Giardinelli is a leading figure in the literary world of Argentina and beyond. His opinion is well-respected and sought after on an international level. Recently, he was quote in Time magazine (February 8, 1998) concerning the turmoil that has rocked the White House. Giardinelli has published six novels to date. His articles and stories have appeared in daily newspapers and magazines throught the world. He has conducted courses, conferences, and readings in more than one hundred universities in the United States and Europe.

Editorial Reviews

A bestseller in Argentina where it was published in 1983, this feverish novella made Giardinelli the first foreign author to win Mexico's National Book Award. The story, about a man who commits a heinous crime and spirals into a series of rationalizations, owes much to Dostoyevski and Camus. At 32, Ramiro Bernardez returns to his small Argentine hometown after eight years of studies in Paris, expecting to embark upon a brilliant career as a law professor. Instead, within the span of a few hours when the moon is full, he becomes a rapist, murderer and fugitive. Giardinelli explores how Ramiro's transgressions exacerbate his difficulty distinguishing reality from mere perception. Arrogant and even proud of his actions, Ramiro manages, for a while, to evade being charged with the crime even as he's increasingly tortured by fear and a nagging sense of guilt. Into this classically existentialist tale of the crime (and punishment) of a man who is a psychological stranger to himself, Giardinelli works a gracefully inconspicuous allegory of the political climate in Argentina during the 1970s. Ramiro is no different from the government of the time, which abused its power, made excuses for its actions and pretended other crimes never happened. It's a shame that American readers have had to wait so long to see such an important Latin American novel, and thanks are due the publisher for bringing it to us at long last. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly