Paradiso (en español)

by José Lezama Lima, Eloisa Lezama Lima

Overview

First published in Cuba in 1966, Paradiso was hailed as a masterpiece of contemporary literature. It has gained the international reputation of a modern classic and was received with unqualified enthusiasm when it was published in France and Italy. Jose Cemi, the hero of Paradiso, begins life at the turn of the century in Cuba. As an adolescent, Cemi discovers his soulmates, the intellectuals Fronesis and Focion, and it is the triangle of their relationship which provides the impetus for much of the novel. Each of Cemi's experiences in his search for his dead father and for the understanding of love and the powers of the mind has a tropical intensity that gives it long life in the reader's memory.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9788437602202
Publisher:	Ediciones Cátedra
Publication date:	01/01/1990
Series:	Letras Hispanicas , #112
Edition description:	Spanish-language Edition
Pages:	656
Sales rank:	538,959
Product dimensions:	4.30(w) x 7.10(h) x 1.20(d)
Language:	Spanish

Editorial Reviews

"[An] extraordinary novel . . . written by Cuba's leading poet. . . . There is scarcely a line in the entire narrative that could be mistaken for anyone else's writing. . . . Lezama's language is reckless, voluptuous, sly and unrelentingly sexual. . . . A masterpiece of the modern Spanish Baroque. . . . Lezama has the power not only to create absorbing and memorable images; he has also placed these images in into a vast network of philosophical and mythical significance. . . . For me, the proof of the greatness of Paradiso is that for the last two weeks I've been walking around New York seeing things through Lezama's eyes."
Edmund White, New York Times, 4/21/74

Edmund White

". . . Paradiso has the 'leaps of imagination' which have come to associated with the best contemporary Spanish literature."
Jack Friedman, Village Voice, 4/25/74

Jack Friedman

"Lezama Lima . . . advances with a giant stride into the forefront of this group [of Spanish American novelists], alongside Garcia Marquez and Cabrera Infante. . . . [A] panoramic novel of Cuban life . . . Paradiso is tantalizing, heady reading in this brilliant translation."
Robert Lima, Library Journal, 4/1/74

Robert Lima

"Lezama Lima is one of Cuba's leading poets. . . . 'A Proust of the Caribbean,' Lezama Lima has been rightly called. . . . The wonder of Paradiso is the rediscovery of the world of words, not as a tool but as an art form in its own right. The rediscovery of an ancient and profound need, the solace of language. . . . Paradiso triumphs as a work of pure aestheticism, of absolute digression and linguistic tour de force."
Peter Moscoso-Gongora, Nation, 4/11/74

Nation