Sidewalks
By: Valeria Luiselli ; translated from the Spanish by Christina MacSweeney
Contributors: MacSweeney, Christina, translator
Publisher: Granta
Published: 2013
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 110
ISBN-13: 9781847085191
Work titles: Papeles falsas
Description: A dazzling follow-up to the novel Faces in the Crowd , this collection of literary peregrinations around the margins of metropolitan life demonstrates Valeria Luiselli's equal virtuosity as a writer of non-fiction. Evocative, erudite and consistently surprising, these narrative essays explore the places - real and imagined - that shape our lives. Whether wandering the familiar streets of her neighbourhood, revisiting the landmarks of her past, or getting lost in a foreign city, Valeria Luiselli plots a unique and exhilarating course that traces unexpected pathways between diverse ideas and reveals the world from a fresh perspective. Here, we follow Luiselli as she cycles around Mexico City, shares a cigarette with the night porter in her Harlem apartment, and hunts down a poet's tomb in Venice. Each location sparks Luiselli's nimble curiosity and prompts imaginative reflections on topics as varied as the fluidity of identity, the elusiveness of words that can't be translated, the competing methods of arranging a bookcase, and the way that city-dwellers evade eye-contact with their neighbours, while spying on their lives. Sidewalks cements Luiselli's reputation as one of Latin America's most original, smart and exciting new literary voices.
Notes: Translated from the Spanish.