What is it about Camus and Argentinian writers? I wasn’t familiar with di Benedetto, but your discussion of his writing reminded me just a little of his slightly older contemporary, Ernesto Sábato (also of Italian ancestry), who published a very Camus-like little novel called The Tunnel in 1950. You might take a look at it if you haven’t already, it’s only 138pp. And it was Camus who recommended it for publication to his publisher (an early translation called it The Outsider).
If that appeals to you, then there’s also Sábato’s big novel, On Heroes and Tombs, with its novel within the novel, a long section called Report on the Blind, about how the blind secretly control the world.
Many years later, Sábato headed up the commission that investigated the “disappeared” during Argentina’s authoritarian period.
(For some reason, your description of the “macabre-minded women” the narrator works with brought to mind Ginger Snaps, a little horror movie that opens with what appear to be lurid crime photos of the two main characters, sisters Brigitte and Ginger, who appear to have killed themselves, then we learn that posing and photographing themselves like that is their hobby.)
Thanks for the recommendations. I am familiar with but haven’t read (yet) the Tunnel, but Heroes and Tombs sounds like pure catnip. As for your question, maybe if I read Spanish and could track the influences I could tell you, but it does seem notable that Camus and the Argentinians consistently have something in common.
I didn't find this piece bleak at all, certainly not this part: "I have been wasting my life, frittering away those golden lozenges. My father dying, slowly then very suddenly, while I proceeded as if many more orderly, golden lozenges waited for us, persuaded me. Lost really is lost. I have been wasting my life, frittering away those instants. My mediocre existence of value to no one persuaded me. I have been putting off my sole ethical obligation in this world — to stop fucking around and get on with it — and cannot any longer." I found it inspiring. I'd heard of Di Benedetto thanks to the Beyond the Zero podcast episode, in which his translator, Esther Allen, was interviewed. This piece piqued my interest further.
Thankyou, because I am already onboarded with Bolano, but hedescribes a dead end such as dies not exist in Mexico, where I will visit sooner than later, and maybe he is right that the dead end is the birder, but will find out right? But i want to recommend you buy the Rebel book and pair it with An anything-at-all you think after reading the first 20 pages might be if compatable scope. For me it was Barzuns 500 years of Western culture/ cannot remember the name because he was 94 or 89 when he wrote it and really just doing his duw diligence. Read the rebel next to one of Baudrillard's Versos or idk what, Yeats. Byt the idea is that because Camus doesnot citate in Rebel, it fails to land unless you make a landing strip for it. Be well.
I also liked the odd angles, the slightly rough texture of text in Suicides but was afraid of where it was all leading so I haven't yet finished it. Cesar Aira in the Dictionary of Latin Am Authors considers Zama the most experimental of the three novelas, Di Benedetto's style there being "reticent, disjointed and nebulous."
Regarding existentialism, Fredric Jameson in his newly published lectures on French theory, which I am just reading, says of Camus that once you say something is absurd or meaningless, you have meaning again because it's become an abstract philosophy, and likewise Sisyphus in a story turns into a meaningful image.
No pillorying here, Greg. Love Camus. Enlightening reflection. Doesn’t sound like you’re wasting your life with writing of this quality. But, yes, time is sand through the fingers. Have personally found the search for intrinsic meaning more nourishing than acquiescence to the absurd. I could go on, I’ll not go on.
A strong start to the Best Thing series.
What is it about Camus and Argentinian writers? I wasn’t familiar with di Benedetto, but your discussion of his writing reminded me just a little of his slightly older contemporary, Ernesto Sábato (also of Italian ancestry), who published a very Camus-like little novel called The Tunnel in 1950. You might take a look at it if you haven’t already, it’s only 138pp. And it was Camus who recommended it for publication to his publisher (an early translation called it The Outsider).
If that appeals to you, then there’s also Sábato’s big novel, On Heroes and Tombs, with its novel within the novel, a long section called Report on the Blind, about how the blind secretly control the world.
Many years later, Sábato headed up the commission that investigated the “disappeared” during Argentina’s authoritarian period.
(For some reason, your description of the “macabre-minded women” the narrator works with brought to mind Ginger Snaps, a little horror movie that opens with what appear to be lurid crime photos of the two main characters, sisters Brigitte and Ginger, who appear to have killed themselves, then we learn that posing and photographing themselves like that is their hobby.)
Thanks for the recommendations. I am familiar with but haven’t read (yet) the Tunnel, but Heroes and Tombs sounds like pure catnip. As for your question, maybe if I read Spanish and could track the influences I could tell you, but it does seem notable that Camus and the Argentinians consistently have something in common.
I didn't find this piece bleak at all, certainly not this part: "I have been wasting my life, frittering away those golden lozenges. My father dying, slowly then very suddenly, while I proceeded as if many more orderly, golden lozenges waited for us, persuaded me. Lost really is lost. I have been wasting my life, frittering away those instants. My mediocre existence of value to no one persuaded me. I have been putting off my sole ethical obligation in this world — to stop fucking around and get on with it — and cannot any longer." I found it inspiring. I'd heard of Di Benedetto thanks to the Beyond the Zero podcast episode, in which his translator, Esther Allen, was interviewed. This piece piqued my interest further.
Here's the link to the podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6prPQ6cqtWHoDxLRb4DeYb?si=1bzxJBZWTvao4aFeW2XpnQ
Thanks for that podcast. Finding an episode with Mark Polizzotti is providential.
Yeah, that's a good episode, too.
“The Suicides” is probably one of my favorite novels of the year so far as well!
Thankyou, because I am already onboarded with Bolano, but hedescribes a dead end such as dies not exist in Mexico, where I will visit sooner than later, and maybe he is right that the dead end is the birder, but will find out right? But i want to recommend you buy the Rebel book and pair it with An anything-at-all you think after reading the first 20 pages might be if compatable scope. For me it was Barzuns 500 years of Western culture/ cannot remember the name because he was 94 or 89 when he wrote it and really just doing his duw diligence. Read the rebel next to one of Baudrillard's Versos or idk what, Yeats. Byt the idea is that because Camus doesnot citate in Rebel, it fails to land unless you make a landing strip for it. Be well.
I also liked the odd angles, the slightly rough texture of text in Suicides but was afraid of where it was all leading so I haven't yet finished it. Cesar Aira in the Dictionary of Latin Am Authors considers Zama the most experimental of the three novelas, Di Benedetto's style there being "reticent, disjointed and nebulous."
Regarding existentialism, Fredric Jameson in his newly published lectures on French theory, which I am just reading, says of Camus that once you say something is absurd or meaningless, you have meaning again because it's become an abstract philosophy, and likewise Sisyphus in a story turns into a meaningful image.
No pillorying here, Greg. Love Camus. Enlightening reflection. Doesn’t sound like you’re wasting your life with writing of this quality. But, yes, time is sand through the fingers. Have personally found the search for intrinsic meaning more nourishing than acquiescence to the absurd. I could go on, I’ll not go on.