El cielo árido
Emiliano Monge
NOVEL | 2012 | 216 pages
* WINNER OF THE XXVIII JAEN NOVEL PRIZE 2012 *
"This is the story of a man who, without knowing it, was his century as well as the story of a place that is condensed here in a proper name: Germán Alcántara Carnero—a story of uncontrollable and natural violence that demands to be counted as a discontinuous biography and that shouldn't start here. "
Thus begins El cielo árido, the story of Germán Alcántara Carnero: his time, the men and women who lived alongside him and the nonexistent plateau where Monge distills the essences of a wild Latin America. An arid place, where the only constants seem to be solitude, the inexhaustible sun, violence, loyalty, and the daily struggle to create a set of values hat lends meaning to existence.
Narrated from the memorable moments in the life of Germán—the flight of a couple of boys to another country, the vicissitudes of an endless war, the disappearance of a helpless girl, the breaking of a strike, the rebellion of some believers, the confrontation of a son with his father, the birth of a small sick person, the pulling of a weapon, the contemplation of a murder or an ill-conceived joke. El cielo árido is a journey to the heart of human beings and a challenge to the reader—an opportunity that only great literature allows us—to cast aside the parameters by which they judge guilt and innocence.
RIGHTS: spanish PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE | dutch WERELBIBLIOTHEEK | italian LA NUOVA FRONTIERA | turkish YAPI KREDI | portuguese (brazil) BERTRAND | english (world) RESTLESS BOOKS
“Lyrical and violent, The Arid Sky is a striking desert noir... It’s is hard not to hear a resemblance to Cormac McCarthy in bleak, lyrical prose like this.”
“Rarely can we witness literature like this.”
“A complex yet magnificent book, solid and slippery
at the same time, with poetry that blows one’s mind. A great novel.”
“I don’t know how to tell you this but you must get your hands on this novel. Read it as if time didn’t matter, in a remote and solitary place, and do not dare to give your copy away as a gift. And finally, may it not be a surprise if it leaves you in unrest and reminds you of something ancient and afar.”
“One of the most ambitious achievements in the last
decade of Mexican literature.”
“Monge’s novel stands out for the plasticity of its prose, the intelligence of its approach and its revision of stereotypes.”
“A relentless novel that reconstructs almost a century of Mexican history with an obsessive and illuminating prose.”
“This book weighs down in importance just as much
as it dazzles.”
“High voltage writing, so lyrical it should be read out loud.”
BY EMILIANO MONGE:
Los vivos
NOVEL, 2024
Justo antes del final
NOVEL, 2022
Tejer la oscuridad
NOVEL, 2020
No contar todo
NOVEL, 2018
La superficie más honda
SHORT STORIES, 2017
Las tierras arrasadas
NOVEL, 2015
Los insectos invisibles
CHILDREN'S, 2013
El cielo árido
NOVEL, 2012
Morirse de memoria
NOVEL, 2009
Arrastrar esa sombra
SHORT STORIES, 2008