Uselessness

A Novel

Fiction & Literature, Literary
Cover of the book Uselessness by Eduardo Lalo, University of Chicago Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Eduardo Lalo ISBN: 9780226207650
Publisher: University of Chicago Press Publication: October 11, 2017
Imprint: University of Chicago Press Language: English
Author: Eduardo Lalo
ISBN: 9780226207650
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Publication: October 11, 2017
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Language: English

The streets of Paris at night are pathways coursing with light and shadow, channels along which identity may be formed and lost, where the grand inflow of history, art, language, and thought—and of love—can both inspire and enfeeble. For the narrator of Eduardo Lalo’s Uselessness, it is a world long desired. But as this young aspiring writer discovers upon leaving his home in San Juan to study—to live and be reborn—in the city of his dreams, Paris’s twinned influences can rip you apart.

Lalo’s first novel, Uselessness is something of a bildungsroman of his own student days in Paris. But more than this, it is a literary précis of his oeuvre—of themes that obsess him still. Told in two parts, Uselessness first follows our narrator through his romantic and intellectual awakenings in Paris, where he elevates his adopted home over the moribund one he has left behind. But as he falls in and out of love he comes to realize that as a Puerto Rican, he will always be apart. Ending the greatest romance of his life—that with the city of Paris itself—he returns to San Juan. And in this new era of his life, he is forced to confront choices made, ambitions lost or unmet—to look upon lives not lived.

A tale of the travails of youthful romance and adult acceptance, of foreignness and isolation both at home and abroad, and of the stultifying power of the desire to belong—and to be moved—Uselessness is here rendered into English by the masterful translator Suzanne Jill Levine. For anyone who has been touched by the disquieting passion of Paris, Uselessness is a stirring saga.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The streets of Paris at night are pathways coursing with light and shadow, channels along which identity may be formed and lost, where the grand inflow of history, art, language, and thought—and of love—can both inspire and enfeeble. For the narrator of Eduardo Lalo’s Uselessness, it is a world long desired. But as this young aspiring writer discovers upon leaving his home in San Juan to study—to live and be reborn—in the city of his dreams, Paris’s twinned influences can rip you apart.

Lalo’s first novel, Uselessness is something of a bildungsroman of his own student days in Paris. But more than this, it is a literary précis of his oeuvre—of themes that obsess him still. Told in two parts, Uselessness first follows our narrator through his romantic and intellectual awakenings in Paris, where he elevates his adopted home over the moribund one he has left behind. But as he falls in and out of love he comes to realize that as a Puerto Rican, he will always be apart. Ending the greatest romance of his life—that with the city of Paris itself—he returns to San Juan. And in this new era of his life, he is forced to confront choices made, ambitions lost or unmet—to look upon lives not lived.

A tale of the travails of youthful romance and adult acceptance, of foreignness and isolation both at home and abroad, and of the stultifying power of the desire to belong—and to be moved—Uselessness is here rendered into English by the masterful translator Suzanne Jill Levine. For anyone who has been touched by the disquieting passion of Paris, Uselessness is a stirring saga.

More books from University of Chicago Press

Cover of the book Fast, Easy, and In Cash by Eduardo Lalo
Cover of the book Erotic Attunement by Eduardo Lalo
Cover of the book The Price of Prestige by Eduardo Lalo
Cover of the book Mies van der Rohe by Eduardo Lalo
Cover of the book Tales of E. T. A. Hoffmann by Eduardo Lalo
Cover of the book The Spirits and the Law by Eduardo Lalo
Cover of the book The Cell by Eduardo Lalo
Cover of the book Rave On by Eduardo Lalo
Cover of the book Scientific Babel by Eduardo Lalo
Cover of the book The Mourner by Eduardo Lalo
Cover of the book An Anthropology of the Machine by Eduardo Lalo
Cover of the book Locations of Buddhism by Eduardo Lalo
Cover of the book Against Fairness by Eduardo Lalo
Cover of the book Message to Our Folks by Eduardo Lalo
Cover of the book Timing and Turnout by Eduardo Lalo
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy