In 1920, the British philosopher, logician, and mathematician Bertrand Russell traveled on a short visit to Russia, a trip that brought him a lot of frustration, and later made him one of the most prominent critics of Bolshevism, or the “Russian experiment in communism,” without this meaning that he abandoned his support for socialism as an idea. Or a political approach.
In the first section of this book, Russell records his direct impressions of that visit, in the form of journalistic observations carried out by a committed leftist and first-class philosopher. While the second theoretical and philosophical section is devoted to presenting his main criticisms of Marxism and Bolshevism. Such as criticizing the Marxist philosophy of history, the psychological motives that drive man according to Marx, criticizing the Bolshevik vision of democracy, and refusing to repeat the Bolshevik experience in the West.
Russell presents his ideas to the average reader in a smooth manner without this meaning that he abandons the depth of treatment. Russell's experience and his relationship with a revolution he believed in and witnessed its failure may inspire many. Because it teaches them that changing the world for the better comes through honesty and criticism, and through learning from mistakes, and understanding those who committed them with idealism and courage.
Under the roof of a modest hostel in a poor neighborhood in the Chilean capital, a strange group of guests meets, including workers, trade unionists, students, traffic police, and performance artists. Let them all witness the last days of the rule of the Popular Union headed by Salvador Allende, before the bloody coup led by General Pinochet took place and changed the history of Chile forever. Thus, this hostel turns into something similar to an operations room through which some Chilean leftists try to protect the socialist government and stand up to fascism. And among all of them, Arturo, the braggart and virginal football player, coming from the south to the capital, and burdened with dreams of fame and unsatisfied desires, tries to discover himself and determine his position on everything that is happening around him.
“I Dreamed That the Snow Was Burning” is the first novel by Chilean writer Antonio Scarmeta, and one of his most important works. In it, the features of a special, diverse style are established in terms of rhythms and narrative techniques, in which imagination blends with reality, and in which sarcastic humor alleviates the harshness of dramatic events. The book is a living document of the dialogues, conflicts, and popular mood that prevailed in Chile at the most pivotal moments in its history.
A train traveling with a single passenger is forced to stop for an entire hour, so the traveler leaves it and walks to waste time, but the paths lead him to a coal mine, then to a gypsy wedding, and finally to a place where five wolves were trapped, to carry out a plan targeting the village and its residents.
In an interesting plot, this novel pulls you in and carries you away without leaving you any chance to escape, as you follow the trail of this mysterious strange man and wonder: Who is he? A saint who came to save the village and its residents? Or just a mentally ill man running away with his madness? Or a philosopher? Or all of these together?
With linguistic and psychological intensity, Elena Alexeeva writes a novel that stands on the border between dystopia, magical realism, and absurdity, drawing inspiration from all of them without drowning in any of them. Therefore, in the year following its publication, it deserved the 2019 Novel of the Year Award and the National Book Center’s Feather Award.
The Supreme, as an eternal dictator, wants the only voice heard in his country to be his own, and for all his subjects to follow the path he has set, because he is certain that this is their destiny. But what will happen when he wakes up one day and finds a leaflet posted on the door of the cathedral, written in the form of a decree issued by the dictator himself, instructing the people to hang his head after his death on a pike in the public square, and calling for the killing of all his aides? Will the Almighty succeed in finding out who wrote this post and punishing him?
In this novel, Augusto Roa Bastos gives free rein to the character of José Gaspar de Francia, who ruled Paraguay with an iron fist for nearly three decades, to narrate and dictate, ask and answer, tell stories and incidents, and judge situations and people, in a frenetic narration and a genius, competent construction. This novel is among the 100 most prominent works of literature written in Spanish.
The puppeteer Dingo's carriage hits a young child while passing through the village of Artemilla, the miserable village from which he fled years ago to join a troupe of acrobats, aspiring to make his entire life a continuous festival. He resorts to his old friend, Juan Medinao, to help him in this predicament, but his contact with the village master will finally awaken the details of the painful past, and with them he will begin a relentless journey through memory, recalling his relationship with his father, his mother’s suicide, and the mixture of hatred and love that he felt towards his brother. Stepbrother.
In this small-sized novel, but with a big impact, Anna Maria Matute is able to delve into the depths of her characters, searching for the deep scars that childhood leaves in their souls, revealing with keen insight and high sensitivity the most complex and profound human feelings, in a dense narrative that makes room for emotional feelings. Inferiority, fear, isolation, and hatred can tell their story too.
Mario Rota, a professor of linguistics, falls while doing his usual morning exercise, spraining his ankle. When he returns to his apartment, the landlord introduces him to the new tenant, Daniel Berkwix, who will live next door to him.
Starting from that moment, everything will change in his life, as the new tenant is his colleague not only in housing, but also at work, and threatens his existence and status. Things will get worse when he visits him in his apartment, and discovers that it is a mirror copy of his apartment itself, with its contents and arrangement.
In the novel “The Tenant,” Javier Cercas writes in a graceful and enjoyable narrative, a breathtaking story that we have no choice but to follow page after page to find out the fate of its hero, and how he will face his new circumstances, while everyone warns him after he checks on his ankle: “The stupidest things can get complicated.” Life sometimes."
With a suitcase in hand, and the wrap in which her daughter Kaya sleeps on her back, Ingrid Barrowe sets off from the island that bears her name, on a journey across Norway to search for her child's father. And everywhere you go, you ask one question: Does anyone remember a Russian who fled across the mountain during the last winter before the war ended?
During her journey, and through her meetings with many people, Ingrid realizes that war leaves its scars on people, but peace also works with memory. Will you find the person you are looking for? How well does she really know about the man she's risking everything to find?
"The Eyes of Rigel" is a poetic and harsh story about a post-war people, and about people's destinies, told from the perspective of an extraordinary woman who slowly discovers that the truth is the first casualty of peace.
