Sleepless Summer Nights

Martín Kohan

SHORT STORIES. PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE, 2021. 128 PAGES.

The atmosphere of the stories featured in this collection is defined by a single phenomenon: the summer heat, which bears down oppressively on the villages and small towns where they're set, resulting in an oppressive, trapped sensation even, or especially, when out in the open air.
The summer is the omnipresent protagonist of several of these stories but it's a protagonist tired of life, feeling stifled and sick of itself. This sets the tone and perspective for the other characters as they struggle along towards their unpredictable fate. The climate even spreads into the stories set in different times and places. Together they create an intentional dissonance even in modern spaces such as an airport during the Cold War. It's a classic style: writing that leans heavily on readings of Cesare Pavese. This book is a virtuoso exercise that shows us how our different readings merge together and take on new meanings along the way.
Once again, Martín Kohan has put to one side the irreverence seen in some of his literature to present a masterclass in economy in which each painstakingly crafted line gets our pulses racing, whetting our appetite for more.

Interview on La Nación

«Martín Kohan has put his finger on the paradox of summer; its anxieties and desires, the crux of its elusive delights, exposing its generally accepted falsehoods.»

Luis Chitarroni

PUBLISHED BY: Spanish PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE | Chile BANDA PROPIA

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