Undiscovered
Description
<b>'An intimate story from the family archive, a story that is also the infamous history of our continent' Valeria Luiselli, author of <i>Lost Children Archive</i></b>
<b>'Powerful and searing' Samanta Schweblin, author of <i>Fever Dream</i></b>
<b>A provocative autobiographical novel that reckons with the legacy of colonialism through one woman's family ties to both colonised and coloniser</b>
In an ethnographic museum in Paris, Gabriela Wiener is confronted with her unusual inheritance. She is visiting an exhibition of pre-Columbian artefacts, the spoils of European colonial plunder. As she peers through the glass, she sees sculptures of Indigenous faces that resemble her own - but the man responsible for pillaging them was her own great-great-grandfather, Austrian colonial explorer Charles Wiener.
In the wake of her father's death, Gabriela begins delving into all she has inherited from her paternal line. From the brutal trail of racism and theft that Charles left behind to revelations of her father's infidelity, she traces a legacy of abandonment, jealousy and colonial violence, in turn reframing her own struggles with desire, love and race. Seeking relief from these personal and historical wounds, Gabriela turns to the body and desire as sources of both constraint and potential freedom.
Blending personal, historical and fictional writing, <i>Undiscovered</i> tells of a search for identity beyond the old stories of patriarchs and plunder. Subversive, intimate and fiercely irreverent, it builds to a powerful call for decolonization.
Reviews / Votes
An intimate story from the family archive that is also the infamous history of our continent -- Valeria Luiselli, author of 'Lost Children Archive' [Undiscovered] captivated me... Powerful and searing, this novel snaps, bucks, heals, and snaps again -- Samanta Schweblin, author of 'Fever Dream' Powerful, genre-transcending... A quiet, lucid triumph * Irish Times * Perhaps the most irreverent and daring voice of the new literary generation of Latin American women * New York Times * A blistering yet surprisingly tender engagement with some of the most highly debated issues of our moment: cultural appropriation, xenophobia and internalized racism, migration, decolonization, family legacies and sexual mores... [A] lyrical, empathetic, entertaining and sometimes hair-raising reading experience * TLS * Undiscovered's beautiful blend of fiction and personal feeling on everything from sex, to death, to Peru's traumatic history to France's heritage-colonial industry could not be more contemporary, vital and important, or expressed in more dynamic and immersive prose -- Preti Taneja, author of the Desmond Elliott Prize-winning 'We That Are Young' The best book that I've read about ancestry and love in the contemporary postcolonial condition -- Paul B. Preciado, author of 'An Apartment on Uranus' Gabriela Wiener's ease and grace allow her in Undiscovered to talk about family, desire, racism, colonialism and being a migrant both tenderly and sharply, vulnerable but strong like her beautiful writing -- Mariana Enriquez, author of 'Our Share of Night' Sharp and insightful about self-discovery, postcolonialism, sexual desires, and polyamory in the 21st century... Wiener's book ultimately triumphs due to her forceful writing, lucid ideas, and an irrepressible quest for a decolonised present -- Leo Boix * Morning Star * A major voice in Peruvian literature... Undiscovered has an appealingly raw, confessional tone, but its prose is highly polished * NPR * [An] open-ended meditation, which wrestles questions of heritage and colonialism -- Francesca Peacock * Daily Mail * A rollicking decolonial fact-fiction remix of her family's histories, the life of her great-great-great grandfather, the explorer Charles Wiener, and how all this time plays out in her own body, and her current life, and polyamorous household in Madrid * Electric Literature * Following the trail of Gabriela Wiener, walking behind her, dreaming of catching up with her, is one of the few luxuries we have left -- Alejandro Zambra, author of 'Chilean Poet' Incisive... Wiener shifts seamlessly from the intimate to the historical, often with humor * Publishers Weekly * A collective autobiography in a decolonial key; a settling of scores that is unafraid of self-criticism; a language that jolts and startles -- Cristina Rivera Garza, author of 'Liliana's Invincible Summer' Gabriela Wiener is pure rebellion, humour and tenderness at the same time -- Sara Mesa, author of 'Four by Four' Wiener explores the female experience in unflinchingly intimate detail * Irish Times *More details
Persons
Julia Sanches translates from Portuguese, Spanish and Catalan. Her translations include Slash and Burn by Claudia Hernandez, for which she won a PEN/Heim award, and Boulder by Eva Baltasar, which was shortlisted for the 2023 International Booker Prize.