Strange Pilgrims by Edith Grossman (English) Paperback Book

Description: Strange Pilgrims by Edith Grossman, Gabriel García Márquez In Barcelona, an aging Brazilian prostitute trains her dog to weep at the grave she has chosen for herself. In Vienna, a woman parlays her gift for seeing the future into a fortunetelling position with a wealthy family. In Geneva, an ambulance driver and his wife take in the lonely, apparently dying ex-President of a Caribbean country, only to discover that his political ambition is very much intact.In these twelve masterly stories about the lives of Latin Americans in Europe, Garcia Marquez conveys the peculiar amalgam of melancholy, tenacity, sorrow, and aspiration that is the emigre experience. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description In Barcelona, an aging Brazilian prostitute trains her dog to weep at the grave she has chosen for herself. In Vienna, a woman parlays her gift for seeing the future into a fortunetelling position with a wealthy family. In Geneva, an ambulance driver and his wife take in the lonely, apparently dying ex-President of a Caribbean country, only to discover that his political ambition is very much intact. In these twelve masterly stories about the lives of Latin Americans in Europe, García Márquez conveys the peculiar amalgam of melancholy, tenacity, sorrow, and aspiration that is the émigré experience. Author Biography Gabriel García Márquez was born in Colombia in 1927. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982. He is the author of many works of fiction and nonfiction, including One Hundred Years of Solitude, Love In The Time Cholera, The Autumn Of The Patriarch, The General In His Labyrinth, and News Of A Kidnapping. He died in 2014.This book is translated by Edith Grossman, widely recognized as the preeminent Spanish to English translator of our time. Table of Contents Prologue:Why Twelve, Why Stories, Why PilgrimsBon Voyage, Mr. PresidentThe SaintSleeping Beauty and the AirplaneI Sell My Dreams"I Only Came to Use the Phone"The Ghosts of AugustMaria dos PrazeresSeventeen Poisoned EnglishmenTramontanaMiss Forbess Summer of HappinessLight Is Like WaterThe Trail of Your Blood in the Snow Review "A triumph of storytelling." –San Francisco Chronicle"Full of relish at lifes oddness. . . . García Márquezs sheer ability to hold and enthrall makes Strange Pilgrims fascinating and memorable." –The New York Times Books Review"Psychologically sharp . . . altogether ingratiating."–The Washington Post"Nothing short of brilliant—each of these tales is a gem."–The Seattle Times"García Márquez at his best. With a surreal phrase or a magic image, he allows us to see reality, grave and comic at once, in a unique light." –Los Angeles Times Book Review Review Quote "A triumph of storytelling." -"San Francisco Chronicle" "Full of relish at lifes oddness. . . . Garcia Marquezs sheer ability to hold and enthrall makes "Strange Pilgrims" fascinating and memorable." -"The New York Times Books Review" "Psychologically sharp . . . altogether ingratiating."-"The Washington Post" "Nothing short of brilliant--each of these tales is a gem."-"The Seattle Times" "Garcia Marquez at his best. With a surreal phrase or a magic image, he allows us to see reality, grave and comic at once, in a unique light." -"Los Angeles Times Book Review" Excerpt from Book Bon Voyage, Mr. PresidentHe sat on a wooden bench under the yellow leaves in the deserted park, contemplating the dusty swans with both his hands resting on the silver handle of his cane, and thinking about death. On his first visit to Geneva the lake had been calm and clear, and there were tame gulls that would eat out of ones hand, and women for hire who seemed like six-in-the-afternoon phantoms with organdy ruffles and silk parasols. Now the only possible woman he could see was a flower vendor on the deserted pier. It was difficult for him to believe that time could cause so much ruin not only in his life but in the world.He was one more incognito in the city of illustrious incognitos. He wore the dark blue pin-striped suit, brocade vest, and stiff hat of a retired magistrate. He had the arrogant mustache of a musketeer, abundant blue-black hair with romantic waves, a harpists hands with the widowers wedding band on his left ring finger, and joyful eyes. Only the weariness of his skin betrayed the state of his health. Even so, at the age of seventy-three, his elegance was still notable. That morning, however, he felt beyond the reach of all vanity. The years of glory and power had been left behind forever, and now only the years of his death remained.He had returned to Geneva after two world wars, in search of a definitive answer to a pain that the doctors in Martinique could not identify. He had planned on staying no more than two weeks but had spent almost six in exhausting examinations and inconclusive results, and the end was not yet in sight. They looked for the pain in his liver, his kidneys, his pancreas, his prostate, wherever it was not. Until that bitter Thursday, when he had made an appointment for nine in the morning at the neurology department with the least well-known of the many physicians who had seen him.The office resembled a monks cell, and the doctor was small and solemn and wore a cast on the broken thumb of his right hand. When the light was turned off, the illuminated X ray of a spinal column appeared on a screen, but he did not recognize it as his own until the doctor used a pointer to indicate the juncture of two vertebrae below his waist."Your pain is here," he said.For him it was not so simple. His pain was improbable and devious, and sometimes seemed to be in his ribs on the right side and sometimes in his lower abdomen, and often it caught him off guard with a sudden stab in the groin. The doctor listened to him without moving, the pointer motionless on the screen. "That is why it eluded us for so long," he said. "But now we know it is here." Then he placed his forefinger on his own temple and stated with precision:"Although in strictest terms, Mr. President, all pain is here."His clinical style was so dramatic that the final verdict seemed merciful: The President had to submit to a dangerous and inescapable operation. He asked about the margin of risk, and the old physician enveloped him in an indeterminate light."We could not say with certainty," he answered.Until a short while before, he explained, the risk of fatal accidents was great, and even more so the danger of different kinds of paralysis of varying degrees. But with the medical advances made during the two wars, such fears were things of the past."Dont worry," the doctor concluded. "Put your affairs in order and then get in touch with us. But dont forget, the sooner the better."It was not a good morning for digesting that piece of bad news, least of all outdoors. He had left the hotel very early, without an overcoat because he saw a brilliant sun through the window, and had walked with measured steps from the Chemin du Beau-Soleil, where the hospital was located, to that refuge for furtive lovers, the Jardin Anglais. He had been there for more than an hour, thinking of nothing but death, when autumn began. The lake became as rough as an angry sea, and an outlaw wind frightened the gulls and made away with the last leaves. The President stood up and, instead of buying a daisy from the flower vendor, he picked one from the public plantings and put it in his buttonhole. She caught him in the act."Those flowers dont belong to God, Monsieur," she said in vexation. "Theyre city property."He ignored her and walked away with rapid strides, grasping his cane by the middle of the shaft and twirling it from time to time with a rather libertine air. On the Pont du Mont-Blanc the flags of the Confederation, maddened by the sudden gust of wind, were being lowered with as much speed as possible, and the graceful fountain crowned with foam had been turned off earlier than usual. The President did not recognize his usual cafe on the pier because they had taken down the green awning over the entrance, and the flower-filled terraces of summer had just been closed. Inside the lights burned in the middle of the day, and the string quartet was playing a piece by Mozart full of foreboding. At the counter the President picked up a newspaper from the pile reserved for customers, hung his hat and cane on the rack, put on his gold-rimmed glasses to read at the most isolated table, and only then became aware that autumn had arrived. He began to read the international page, where from time to time he found a rare news item from the Americas, and he continued reading from back to front until the waitress brought him his daily bottle of Evian water. Following his doctors orders, he had given up the habit of coffee more than thirty years before, but had said, "If I ever knew for certain that I was going to die, I would drink it again." Perhaps the time had come."Bring me a coffee too," he ordered in perfect French. And specified without noticing the double meaning, "Italian style, strong enough to wake the dead."He drank it without sugar, in slow sips, and then turned the cup upside down on the saucer so that the coffee grounds, after so many years, would have time to write out his destiny. The recaptured taste rescued him for an instant from his gloomy thoughts. A moment later, as if it were part of the same sorcery, he sensed someone looking at him. He turned the page with a casual gesture, then glanced over the top of his glasses and saw the pale, unshaven man in a sports cap and a jacket lined with sheepskin, who looked away at once so their eyes would not meet.His face was familiar. They had passed each other several times in the hospital lobby, he had seen him on occasion riding a motor scooter on the Promenade du Lac while he was contemplating the swans, but he never felt that he had been recognized. He did not, however, discount the idea that this was one of the many persecution fantasies of exile.He finished the paper at his leisure, floating on the sumptuous cellos of Brahms, until the pain was stronger than the analgesic of the music. Then he looked at the small gold watch and chain that he carried in his vest pocket and took his two midday tranquilizers with the last swallow of Evian water. Before removing his glasses he deciphered his destiny in the coffee grounds and felt an icy shudder: He saw uncertainty there. At last he paid the bill, left a misers tip, collected his cane and hat from the rack, and walked out to the street without looking at the man who was looking at him. He moved away with his festive walk, stepping around the beds of flowers devastated by the wind, and thought he was free of the spell. But then he heard steps behind him and came to a halt when he rounded the corner, making a partial turn. The man following him had to stop short to avoid a collision, and his startled eyes looked at him from just a few inches away."Senor Presidente," he murmured."Tell the people who pay you not to get their hopes up," said the President, without losing his smile or the charm of his voice. "My health is perfect.""Nobody knows that better than me," said the man, crushed by the weight of dignity that had fallen upon him. "I work at the hospital."His diction and cadence, and even his timidity, were raw Caribbean."Dont tell me youre a doctor," said the President."I wish I could, Senor. Im an ambulance driver.""Im sorry," said the President, convinced of his error. "Thats a hard job.""Not as hard as yours, Senor."He looked straight at him, leaned on his cane with both hands, and asked with real interest:"Where are you from?""The Caribbean.""I already knew that," said the President. "But which country?""The same as you, Senor," the man said, and offered his hand. "My name is Homero Rey."The President interrupted him in astonishment, not letting go of his hand."Damn," he said. "What a fine name!"Homero relaxed."It gets better," he said. "Homero Rey de la Casa-Im Homer King of His House."A wintry knife-thrust caught them unprotected in the middle of the street. The President shivered down to his bones and knew that without an overcoat he could not walk the two blocks to the cheap restaurant where he usually ate."Have you had lunch?" he asked."I never have lunch," said Homero. "I eat one meal at night in my house.""Make an exception for today," he said, using all his charm. "Let me take you to lunch."He led him by the arm to the restaurant across the street, its name in gilt on the awning: Le Boeuf Couronne. The interior was narrow and warm, and there seemed to be no empty tables. Homero Rey, surprised that no one recognized the President, walked to the back to request assistance."Is he an acting president?" the owner asked."No," said Homero. "Overthrown."The owner smiled in approval."For them," he said, "I always have a special table."He led them to an isolated table in the rear of the room, where they could talk as much as they liked. The President thanked him."Not everyone recognizes as you do the dignity of exile," he said.The specialty of the house was charcoal-broiled ribs of beef. The President and his guest glanced around and saw the great roasted slabs edged in tender fat on the other tables. Details ISBN1400034698 Short Title STRANGE PILGRIMS Language English Translator Edith Grossman ISBN-10 1400034698 ISBN-13 9781400034697 Media Book Format Paperback DEWEY FIC Year 2006 Birth 1928 DOI 10.1604/9781400034697 Place of Publication New York Country of Publication United States AU Release Date 2006-11-14 NZ Release Date 2006-11-14 US Release Date 2006-11-14 UK Release Date 2006-11-14 Author Gabriel García Márquez Pages 208 Publisher Random House USA Inc Series Vintage International Publication Date 2006-11-14 Imprint Random House Inc Audience General We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:158353812;

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