tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15258276.post3964989137735480202..comments2023-11-05T01:05:41.190-07:00Comments on International Noir Fiction: SoHo Crime, Bitter Lemon Press, and Sergio Bizzio's RageGlenn Harperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04869155065647936216noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15258276.post-48799943874116981872009-07-31T17:13:21.787-07:002009-07-31T17:13:21.787-07:00Thanks for the Arlt info, I don't know if I...Thanks for the Arlt info, I don't know if I'll ever get to read a translation, given how the publishing industry is now. Money to Burn is indeed interesting, a sort of "documentary" crime novel. My favorite of Piglia's books. I haven't had a chance to see the movie that was made from it though--it's been on cable TV but I keep missing it.<br />Thanks again,<br />GlennGlenn Harperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04869155065647936216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15258276.post-69976288187323803522009-07-31T16:56:24.844-07:002009-07-31T16:56:24.844-07:00Sorry to take so long to get back Glenn.
My Spani...Sorry to take so long to get back Glenn.<br /><br />My Spanish isn't really very good but I spent a summer working on Las lanzallamas--and created kind of a working copy of it. The second book is kind of the realization of everything that Arlt played around with in the first. There is certainly some comedy to it but comic aspects are much more prevalent in the first book. The second book is much darker and more intriguing IMO.<br /><br />The Astrologer for one plays a much larger role. He recruits Erdosain to create a phosgene gas making machine. That does not come to realization though. Several murders including Erdosain's brutal and very gruesome slaying of his 14(?) year old girlfriend and the burning down of the Astrologer's home and headquarters preempt all the Astrologer's plans to stage a coup d'etat. The guilt driven Erdosain finally taking the train into the center of Buenos Aires where he shoots himself in the heart. <br /><br />What reminds me of Arlt in your Bizzio review is a kind of expressionistic drawing of Buenos Aires--or a sense I get from it of a pervasive city life throbbing beneath the surface of the story which is a great tool for any crime or noir style writer to have at least those working in an urban setting. Speaking of great Argentine crime novels Ricardo Piglia's 'Money to burn' also comes to mind.lrileynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15258276.post-52378810557257994432009-07-31T07:39:45.145-07:002009-07-31T07:39:45.145-07:00Great blog - just discovered it - will now have to...Great blog - just discovered it - will now have to expand my reading wish-list... Cheers<br /><br />http://www.amazon.com/Balzac-Badlands-Steve-Finbow/dp/0578021161/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1249051159&sr=8-1stevefinbowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04064153690080967053noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15258276.post-82149506123070322202009-07-30T11:08:39.717-07:002009-07-30T11:08:39.717-07:00I read 7 Madmen years ago, and remember it (correc...I read 7 Madmen years ago, and remember it (correct me if I'm wrong) as more of a comic tour-de-force almost in the dada vein. I'd love to read Las lanzallamas but my lack of Spanish fluency currently prevents it. There is a translation of Mad Toy (El juguete rabioso) that I read not too long ago, and my memory of that one is decidedly dada, though there's also crime in it. Perhaps the success of Bizzio (who is far from comic except in a metaphysical sense maybe) and international crime writing in general will result in a translation of Las lanzallamas....Glenn Harperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04869155065647936216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15258276.post-90406509397303031772009-07-30T10:57:19.030-07:002009-07-30T10:57:19.030-07:00Sounds a little bit in a Roberto Arlt--The seven m...Sounds a little bit in a Roberto Arlt--The seven madmen--vein. That book was followed by the yet untranslated sequel Las lanzallamas--'The flamethrowers'. More or less a fast paced criminal plot to overthrow a corrupt government using working class Buenos Aires as a backdrop--those books progress through a series of criminal acts to a final act of suicide. Anyway I'll be looking up Bizzio--it sounds interesting.lrileynoreply@blogger.com