Confession
Published on 5. September 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
165 pages
978-1-913867-65-2 (ISBN)
Description
Brutal and overwhelming, Confession wrestles with the legacy of Argentina's past and the passions of one young girl.
When Mirta Lopez looks out the dining room window, she sees a slim, self-possessed older boy on his way back from school. It's 1941 in provincial Argentina, and the sight has awakened in her the first uncertain, unnerving vibrations of desire. Naturally, she confesses. But she cannot stop herself.
Over thirty years later, in 1977, that same young man is a general, leading the ruling military junta of a country, and a cell of young revolutionaries plot an audacious attack on him, and the regime.
Writing from the present into the past, Martin Kohan maps the contours of Argentina's 20th century, but finds his centre in one woman - devout, headstrong, lit up with ideas of right and wrong - not the grand historical figures of her lifetime's omnipresent, brutalizing history. And yet, there is great beauty in Confession , its decades and landscapes, and the legacy of love and guilt, pieties religious and civic, that play out in one family and against the background of dictatorship's traumas.
When Mirta Lopez looks out the dining room window, she sees a slim, self-possessed older boy on his way back from school. It's 1941 in provincial Argentina, and the sight has awakened in her the first uncertain, unnerving vibrations of desire. Naturally, she confesses. But she cannot stop herself.
Over thirty years later, in 1977, that same young man is a general, leading the ruling military junta of a country, and a cell of young revolutionaries plot an audacious attack on him, and the regime.
Writing from the present into the past, Martin Kohan maps the contours of Argentina's 20th century, but finds his centre in one woman - devout, headstrong, lit up with ideas of right and wrong - not the grand historical figures of her lifetime's omnipresent, brutalizing history. And yet, there is great beauty in Confession , its decades and landscapes, and the legacy of love and guilt, pieties religious and civic, that play out in one family and against the background of dictatorship's traumas.
Reviews / Votes
"An expertly structured, morally complicated, and surprisingly timely blend of fact and fiction." -Kirkus"Beguiling." -Publishers Weekly
"A wonderful book."" -Fiona Mozley , author of ELMET and HOT STEW
"The prose of Argentinian writer Martin Kohan, above all in the most recent books, conveys a clinical precision and cool distance. From one novel to another, however, the effects are different."" -Edmundo Paz Soldan , author of TURING'S DELIRIUM and NORTE
"Confession delves into Kohan's poetics in an agile and determined manner, preserving his affectionate distance from the intimate affairs of his characters, as well as his freedom vis-a-vis militant writing" -Latin American Literature Today
"A must-read." -Morning Star
"A stupendous novel." -El Pais
"One of Argentina's greatest living writers." -La gaceta literaria
"A fantastic writer whose texts question established ideas." -Letras Libres
"Kohan works with tradition and with the Borgesian idea of the traitor and the hero. He chooses three situations and explores them minutely." -La Nacion
"Kohan's novel understands and helps to understand; it delimits, records, pursues and reaches the most slippery crevices of history." -Letralia
"The end result is a fluid, disturbing novel, one that neither resorts to low blows nor commonplaces when it comes to the military regime and the disappeared, but puts its finger on that concept that still causes unease when spoken aloud: civilian complicity." -La primera piedra
"Hypnotic prose. A writer who owns a literary universe and a style all his own; a writer of unquestionable solidity." -El periodico
"Martin Kohan is becoming an obligatory name in Argentinian literature." -Pagina/12
"With a gift for totally natural dialogue, Kohan writes with an elegant lightness, paying great attention to rhythm. His specialty is the measured, exact word. Impeccable" -El Mundo
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Praise for Martin Kohan
"The worthy successor of Borges, Sabato and Bioy Casares." -Le Devoir
"An expertly structured, morally complicated, and surprisingly timely blend of fact and fiction." -Kirkus
"Beguiling." -Publishers Weekly
"Hypnotic prose. A writer who owns a literary universe and a style all his own; a writer of unquestionable solidity." -El periodico
"A must-read." -Morning Star
"A stupendous novel." -El Pais
"One of Argentina's greatest living writers." -La gaceta literaria
"A fantastic writer whose texts question established ideas." -Letras Libres
"Kohan works with tradition and with the Borgesian idea of the traitor and the hero. He chooses three situations and explores them minutely." -La Nacion
"Kohan's novel understands and helps to understand; it delimits, records, pursues and reaches the most slippery crevices of history." -Letralia
"The end result is a fluid, disturbing novel, one that neither resorts to low blows nor commonplaces when it comes to the military regime and the disappeared, but puts its finger on that concept that still causes unease when spoken aloud: civilian complicity." -La primera piedra
"Martin Kohan is becoming an obligatory name in Argentinian literature." -Pagina/12
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More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Not illustrated
Dimensions
Height: 194 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
220 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-913867-65-2 (9781913867652)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Persons
Martin Kohan was born in Buenos Aires in 1967. He teaches Literary Theory at the University of Buenos Aires. To date, he has published several books of essays and short stories, and seven novels. His work has appeared with publishers of great prestige in Europe such as Anagrama (Spain), Einaudi (Italy), Seuil (France) and Suhrkamp (Germany). The 25th Premio Herralde de Novela awarded to Ciencias Morales (Moral Sciences ) consecrated him as one of the most important authors in today's international literary panorama.
Daniel Hahn is a writer, editor and translator with over one hundred books to his name. His translations (from Portuguese, Spanish and French) include fiction from Europe, Africa and the Americas and non-fiction by writers ranging from Portuguese Nobel laureate Jose Saramago to Brazilian footballer Pele. Recent books include the new Oxford Companion to Children's Literature and translations of Julian Fuks' Resistance and Occupation . He is a former chair of the Society of Authors and is presently on the board of a number of organisations that deal with literature, literacy, translation and free expression. In 2021 Daniel was made an OBE for his services to literature.
Daniel Hahn is a writer, editor and translator with over one hundred books to his name. His translations (from Portuguese, Spanish and French) include fiction from Europe, Africa and the Americas and non-fiction by writers ranging from Portuguese Nobel laureate Jose Saramago to Brazilian footballer Pele. Recent books include the new Oxford Companion to Children's Literature and translations of Julian Fuks' Resistance and Occupation . He is a former chair of the Society of Authors and is presently on the board of a number of organisations that deal with literature, literacy, translation and free expression. In 2021 Daniel was made an OBE for his services to literature.