Op Oloop

by Juan Filloy, Lisa Dillman (Translator)

Overview

Mr. Optimus Oloop is a Finnish statistician living in Buenos Aires.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781564784346
Publisher:	Deep Vellum Publishing
Publication date:	08/04/2009
Series:	Latin American Literature Series
Pages:	252
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Juan Filloy was an excellent swimmer, dedicated boxing referee, and talented caricaturist; he spoke seven languages and he practised as a judge in the small town of Rio Cuarto, 200 kilometres from Cordoba, where he spent nearly the whole of his life. He died in 2000 at the age of 106. A world champion palindromist, he made use of the entire dictionary in his books, coined new words, and used only seven letters in all the titles of his works. He received various distinctions during his lifetime and was nominated for the Nobel Prize.

Lisa Dillman teaches in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Emory Universityand has translated numerous works of fiction by Argentine, Mexican, Catalan, and Spanish writers. She lives in Decatur, Georgia.

What People are Saying About This

Julio Cortazar

Humor is 'all pervading' or it's nothing at all, as Juan Filloy, Shakespeare, and Max Ernst always knew.

Luisa Valenzuela

We Argentinians have lost the last of our true comedians, Juan Filloy, philosopher of the soul: a man whose life managed to span three centuries, because he always knew how to live outside the current of the times.

Editorial Reviews

Chockablock with neologisms ("They'll never abelardize us!") and word play (he refers to France’s “three great clods”: Bernard, Monet, and Debussy), this pre-Oulipoian (Oloopian?) romp is a must read for lovers of Perec, and a fine introduction to this dazzling writer.

Words Without Borders

We Argentinians have lost the last of our true comedians, Juan Filloy, philosopher of the soul: a man whose life managed to span three centuries, because he always knew how to live outside the current of the times.

Luisa Valenzuela

Op Oloop is a strange, playful novel, as Filloy twists the story around the flights of fancy and philosophy that seem to be the main excuse for it. It is decidedly odd, but sparkles in its oddity. Well worthwhile.”

Complete Review

Occasionally ranting against the depravity of life unhinged from his beloved "method," Oloop's struggle is at turns pathetic and hilarious, though he persists to the very last.

Paste Magazine

Lately [Filloy] has been rediscovered by younger writers and critics, who have compared him with Jorge Luis Borges and even with Balzac . . . Freud liked [Op Oloop] so much that he sent Filloy a hand-written letter of congratulations.”

The Telegraph

One is left with the impression of a virtuosic, wildly passionate, and often hilarious writer writing primarily for his own aesthetic amusement.

The Rumpus

Like the best satire it is an understated undermining of a lifestyle it illustrates in perfect, chiseled detail.

PopMatters

His work is an infinite exercise in allusive realism, in constant irony, a species of human comedy . . .

La Nacion

The first English translation of the 1934 novel by prolific Argentinean author Filloy (who died in 2000 at age 106) is a meandering day-in-the-life chronicle of Optimus Oloop, a Finnish statistician living in Buenos Aires, who is described as “method personified—an accomplished executioner of spontaneity.” His wanderings begin one morning when, on a routine trip to a Turkish-Roman bath, a minor traffic accident unglues him from his punctual reality. Filloy zips frantically between lengthy ruminations steeped in flowery, occasionally madeup language as Op unravels recklessly through his day. Like its main character in the throes of his breakdown, the narrative is at turns fascinating and impossible: Filloy shines in small moments when he displays his expert wordplay—Op's hilarious journal of the prostitutes he's known, or the occasional colorful aphorism—but more often the dense landscape of his language swallows the narrative and ditches the reader. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

His work is an infinite exercise in allusive realism, in constant irony, a species of human comedy . . .
— La Nacion

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