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A review by rebeccazh
The Athenian Murders by José Carlos Somoza
Read for school. This is such a strange but absolutely fun book. I'm quite disappointed that eidesis is not a real literary technique, but I'd probably get obsessed, just like the translator, if it was real. It's interesting because the violent and repeated images of the eidesis left uneasy impressions on my mind, like the afterimages after seeing bright colors. The text bleeding into the translator's life (and its implications) made me more and more uneasy as well. I read this in broad daylight in the afternoon and I actually felt disturbed/perturbed. I loved it.
The more I read, the more the features of the text really messed with me. I felt almost like the translator, like I was being called out: the sudden switch to second person so that I felt like I was directly addressed, the translator's life being messed with (messing with reader expectations the translator is untouchable), the translator's conversations that so closely mirror conversations I have with fellow lit students and the insistent and forceful message of the text -- reading in an academic/critic's way is pointless and unfulfilling coz you're just stuck in a cave and you don't even know you're in the cave. The upshot of it was that I felt like the whole point of my studying literature was being interrogated and found wanting, and I felt like the author dragged me along for the ride along with the translator (who is honestly a great stand-in for the literary reader, I felt like I was walking in his shoes). This is such a unique experience. Really enjoyed it.
The more I read, the more the features of the text really messed with me. I felt almost like the translator, like I was being called out: the sudden switch to second person so that I felt like I was directly addressed, the translator's life being messed with (messing with reader expectations the translator is untouchable), the translator's conversations that so closely mirror conversations I have with fellow lit students and the insistent and forceful message of the text -- reading in an academic/critic's way is pointless and unfulfilling coz you're just stuck in a cave and you don't even know you're in the cave. The upshot of it was that I felt like the whole point of my studying literature was being interrogated and found wanting, and I felt like the author dragged me along for the ride along with the translator (who is honestly a great stand-in for the literary reader, I felt like I was walking in his shoes). This is such a unique experience. Really enjoyed it.