First published in Spain in 1983 and proclaimed "an instant postmodern classic, without a doubt the most disturbingly original Spanish prose of the century" (Encyclopedia Britannica 1985 Book of the Year), Larva is a rollicking account of a masquerade party in an abandoned mansion in London. Milalias (disguised as Don Juan) searches for Babelle (as Sleeping Beauty) though a linguistic fun house of polylingual puns and wordplay recalling Joyce's Finnegans Wake. A mock-scholarly commentary reveals the backgrounds of the ...
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First published in Spain in 1983 and proclaimed "an instant postmodern classic, without a doubt the most disturbingly original Spanish prose of the century" (Encyclopedia Britannica 1985 Book of the Year), Larva is a rollicking account of a masquerade party in an abandoned mansion in London. Milalias (disguised as Don Juan) searches for Babelle (as Sleeping Beauty) though a linguistic fun house of polylingual puns and wordplay recalling Joyce's Finnegans Wake. A mock-scholarly commentary reveals the backgrounds of the masked revelers, while R???os's punning and allusive language shows that words, too, wear masks, hiding an astonishing range of further meanings and implications. Larva's tale, a reassessment of the Don Juan myth in our time, is told in single-minded pursuit of double meanings, but it is serious play. It revives a Hispanic tradition repressed for centuries by introducing the Madhatter English tradition of puns, palindromes, and acrostics, by creating Joycean echoes and pushing language to its maximum connotative capacity. Larva has been praised by such leading Spanish-language writers as Carlos Fuentes, Juan Goytisolo, and Severo Sarduy, and establishes R???os as the most accomplished successor to Joyce.
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Add this copy of Larva: Midsummer Night's Babel to cart. $100.00, very good condition, Sold by Chaparral Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Portland, OR, UNITED STATES, published 1990 by Dalkey Archive Press.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good in Very Good jacket. Size: 6x2x9; Translated by Richard Alan Francis with Suzanne Jill Levine and the author. First edition stated. Straight binding with light wear to extremities, top front corner gently bumped. Very light soiling and isolated wear to top edge of text block. Text and images unmarked. The dust jacket shows light handling/rubbing and two areas of tiny bite marks to both panels. Presents nicely in a mylar cover. 8vo. 585pp.
Add this copy of Larva: Midsummer Night's Babel to cart. $121.15, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Quartet Books.
Add this copy of Larva: Midsummer Night's Babel to cart. $170.71, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1990 by Dalkey Archive Press.
