Stick and Bone

Juan José Saer

SHORT STORIES, 1965. SEIX BARRAL NEW EDITION, 2000. 192 PAGES.

The four stories that make up the volume Palo y hueso (Stick and Bone), written between 1960 and 1961, first appeared in 1965. Already, Saer was exploring what would become the centre of the writer's universe: perception, or ‘the thick virgin forest of reality', as he once described it.

The inconsistency of what is described, reality and the fluctuations of a gaze that perceives only uncertainly are the foundations of the poetic fiction found in the stories Por la vuelta (Arounf the Corner), Palo y hueso (Stick and Bone), El balcón (The Balcony) and El taximetrista (The Taxi Metre Man). They provide glimpses of Saer's legendary setting by the shore of the river and some of his iconic characters: Barco, Tomatis and Pancho Exposito.

"The future is as misleading as a vampiress: it shows much more than it is ever willing to give," says one of the characters. This isn't true of reading Saer, who reveals much less than what he writes and therein lies the secret to his mastery: he stimulates the most challenging reader, creating a new way of reading.

Completely lacking in elaborate didacticism, linear narratives, artifice and conventional realism, Juan José Saer's writing seduces with its intelligence and moves with its perfection.

PUBLISHED BY: Latin America SEIX BARRAL

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