They too change shape, through the violent ceremonies of a motorcycle gang, into a sect of Tibetan lamas seeking to revive Tantric Buddhism. Through Leng, Sarduy traces the metamorphosis of two hitherto incomparable societies, Tibet at the moment of the Chinese invasion, and Cuba at the moment of revolution. Transgressing genres and genders, reveling in literal and figurative transvestism, these two novels are among the most daring achievements of postmodern Latin American fiction. Severo Sarduy has everything . . . But if Cobra is a magical juggling act, of image balancing dangerously upon image, the translation is as remarkable as the book itself.
Language reconstructs itself elsewhere under the teeming flux of every kind of linguistic pleasure.
In the paradise of words.