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Palinuro of Mexico
by
Fernando del Paso
general information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author
| Title: | Palinuro of Mexico |
| Author: | Fernando del Paso |
| Genre: | Novel |
| Written: | 1977 |
| Length: | 557 pages |
| Original in: | Spanish |
| Availability: | Palinuro of Mexico - US |
| Palinuro of Mexico - UK | |
| Palinuro of Mexico - Canada | |
| Palinure de Mexico - France | |
| Palinurus von Mexiko - Deutschland |
- Translated by Elisabeth Plaister
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Our Assessment:
A : a brilliant, wide-ranging display.
See our review for fuller assessment.
| Source | Rating | Date | Reviewer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago Tribune | . | 11/8/1996 | Alan Cheuse |
| The LA Times | . | 21/7/1996 | Charlotte Innes |
| The NY Times Book Rev. | A- | 11/8/1996 | James Polk |
| Salon | A+ | 30/12/1999 | Janet Fitch |
| San Fran. Chronicle | . | 6/10/1996 | Thomas Christensen |
| The Washington Post | . | 1/9/1996 | Alfred Mac Adam |
| World Literature Today | . | Fall/1993 | George McMurray |
From the Reviews:
- "This is not so much a story as a Mardi Gras of the imagination." - Janet Fitch, Salon
Please note that these ratings solely represent the complete review's biased interpretation and subjective opinion of the actual reviews and do not claim to accurately reflect or represent the views of the reviewers. Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole. We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure.
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The complete review's Review:
A big, broad book, and a virtuoso writing performance.
Littering the novel with references -- literary, medical, political, philosophical, historical -- del Paso is almost entirely successful with this marvelously ambitious effort.
Chronicling in a number of voices the life of Palinuro (and his cousin Estenfania), del Paso's dense but entertaining text is a splendid novel.
Our only reservations go to some of the presentation: some of the chapters are too unconnected, reading occasionally like MFA-Creative Writing Program exercises (excellent ones, admittedly) -- perhaps too much rubbed off when del Paso was at the Iowa Writing Program.....
The other warning is that there is great attention to medical detail -- readers who are annoyed by lots of technical language and or graphical detail might be put off by it.
Otherwise we recommend it very, very highly.
We have not read the original Spanish, but we also praise Elisabeth Plaister for a translation that reads extremely well.
The book was first published in Spain in 1977 (and in Mexico in 1980), and first appeared in English under the English Quartet imprint.
Now the estimable Dalkey Archive has brought out this colourful edition. They deserve great success with it: it is a hugely important book and a very fine read.
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Palinuro of Mexico:
- Dalkey Archive Press publicity page
- See the index of Latin and South American literature at the complete review
- Other books from Dalkey Archive Press under review
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Mexican author Fernando del Paso was born in 1935.
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