Boxwood / Camilo José Cela ; translated by Patricia Haugaard.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cela, Camilo José, 1916-2002.

Contributor:

Gotham Book Mart Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Haugaard, Patricia.

Standardized Title:

Madera de Boj. English

Language:

English

Spanish

Penn Provenance:

Gotham Book Mart (former owner) (Gotham Book Mart Collection copy)

Physical Description:

211 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : New Directions, [2002]

Language Note:

Translated from the Spanish.

Summary:

Boxwood, which can perhaps best be described as a non-novel, has none of the structural signposts readers generally expect: there is no exposition, no crux, no denouement. Instead we have a mix of folklore, tradition, superstition, autobiographical snatches, cooking directions, a litany of nautical disasters on the coast of Death -- ships from afar with cargoes of oranges, typewriters, iron ore, oil, spices -- elements of nature both cruel and beautiful, of man both saint and sinner, whales, witches, mermaids, ghosts, the exquisite, the crass all against the background of Cela's birthplace, Galicia. In one of the early exchanges between reader and author that occur randomly in the text the reader understandably asks:

"Isn't this getting a little jumbled?" / "Just a shade jumbled." /

"Like life itself?." / "Yes, though I try not to say so."

Reader bear with him. There's gold to mine!

Local Notes:

Gotham Book Mart Collection copy has dustjacket retained.

ISBN:

0811214974

OCLC:

48013273