The Arid Sky

Described as “a literary atomic bomb” (Luisán Gámez), the Mexican literary star Emiliano Monge’s English-language debut is the Latin American incarnation of Cormac McCarthy: an artistically daring, gorgeously wrought and eviscerating novel of biblical violence as told through the story of a man “who, unbeknownst to him, was his century.”

“This is the story of a man who, unbeknownst to him, was his century, and of a place gathered under the name of Germán Alcántara Carnero. A story of violence both uncontainable and natural—one that demands to be told as a nonlinear biography, and which should not have begun here."

These lines open The Arid Sky, the story of Germán Alcántara Carnero, of the men and women who lived by his side, and of the plateau where Mexican literary rising star Emiliano Monge distills the essence of a ruthless Latin America.  This is an arid land whose only constants are loneliness, violence, loyalty, and the struggle to create an ethical code that will return some small measure of meaning to life.

Narrating the signature moments of Germán’s life—the escape of men to other countries, the interminable war, the disappearance of a young girl, the disenchantment of believers, the confrontation between a father and his son, the birth of a sick child, the loaded chamber of a gun, and murder—The Arid Sky is a journey to the core of humankind and a challenge of the kind only great literature can pose to its readers.

“Whoever nears these pages would do well to follow the advice Dante famously encountered as he passed through the gates of hell: ‘Abandon all hope, ye who enter here’”—Fernando Castenedo, Babelia

About the Author:

Emiliano Monge (Mexico City, 1978) studied Political Science at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, where he also taught until his move to Barcelona, where he currently resides. Though he has worked as a book and magazine editor, at present, he fully dedicates his time to this writing. His first short story collection Arrastrar esa sombra was published in 2008, followed by the novel Morirse de memoria; both were finalists for the Antonin Artaud award. With a wide array of non-fiction essays, reportage and book reviews, he has been an ongoing contributor to the Spanish newspaper El País, the Mexican newspaper Reforma, and prestigious magazines such as Letras Libres and Gatopardo. He was the two-time recipient of the Conaculta award Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, and is now a member of the “Orden del Finnegans”, a group of Spanish writers that gather annually on Bloomsday in Dublin in honour of Joyce’s Ulysses. In 2011, the Guadalajara International Book Fair chose him as one of the top 25 best-kept secrets in contemporary Latin American literature, and in 2013 was awarded the Corte Inglés prize “Otros ámbitos, otras voces”. Last but not least, he was selected for “México20”, a list of twenty important young Mexican authors (chosen by The British Council, the FIL, Hay Festival, Conaculta) who will be the guests of honour at the upcoming London Book Fair, with their work featured in an anthology to be published by Pushkin Press.

About the Translator:

Thomas Bunstead is a writer and translator based in East Sussex, England. He has translated some of the leading Spanish-language writers working today, including Agustín Fernández Mallo, Enrique Vila-Matas and Juan Villoro, and his own writing has appeared in publications such as The Paris Review, The White Review and The Times Literary Supplement. He is an editor at the literary translation journal In Other Words. Find him on Twitter: @thom_bunn