Let the Wind Speak (Extraordinary Classics) - Softcover

Onetti, Juan Carlos

3.65

273 ratings by Goodreads

9781852421960: Let the Wind Speak (Extraordinary Classics)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1852421967 ISBN 13: 9781852421960

Publisher: Serpent's Tail, 1996

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The archetypal Onetti hero, Medina is at different times of his life a (phoney) doctor, a painter and a police chief. He lives in Lavanda, across the river from Santa Maria, a town he is not allowed to enter and that he, therefore, wishes to destroy. In the end the wind speaks by devouring Santa Maria with its flames. The first novel written in exile in Spain, Let the Wind Speak is Onetti coming to terms with his exclusion from the Santa Marias of his childhood, his first sexual conquests, his first cigarettes, his first double whiskeys. A lover's bitter lament - it ends in the destruction of the object of adoration.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

Latin American literature has few secrets to divulge to the English-speaking world; but one of them is the Uruguayan novelist Juan Carlos Onetti (Gerald Martin Guardian)

Is The Shipyard a one-off masterpiece? I hope that having reconstituted it for English readers, the translator and publisher will decide to take the rust off the rest of Onetti's works. (John Spurling Spectator)

The Graham Greene of Uruguay... foreshadowing the work of Beckett and Camus. (Sunday Telegraph)

A rare chance to catch up with the neglected Uruguan novelist (Metro)

Onetti's world is sick and his hero sick of it, but his compelling, messy existentialism makes Let the Wind Speak a deceptively modern novel, and its reissue a cause for celebration (Observer)

A perplexing but inspiring writer (Guardian)

Synopsis:

The archetypal Onetti hero, Medina is at different times of his life a (phoney) doctor, a painter and police chief. He lives in Lavanda, across the river from Santa Maria, a town he is not allowed to enter, and therefore wants to destroy. The wind speaks and Santa Maria is devoured in flames. This is the first novel written by Onetti in exile in Spain. In it he is coming to terms with exclusion from the Santa Marias of his childhood. A bitter lament, it ends in the destruction of the object of adoration.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.