Mephisto's Waltz

November 1, 2018
Although revered Mexican author Pitol (1933-2018) was himself an accomplished translator, his own works have been among the least translated into English. Considered one of the most significant Latin American writers of the last 50 years? Pitol achieved the pinnacle of recognition for his work in Spanish when he won the Cervantes Prize in 2005. Before his death, Pitol himself selected the stories for this collection, and they have been carefully and lovingly translated by Henson, also a prolific literary translator. In these exquisite tales, Pitol engages the reader in the creative process as he ranges the world from Beijing to Warsaw to Paris to Mexico City and traverses the human psyche from imagination to dream to memory, while language and literature maintain a steady axis. An essential purchase? especially for collections with an interest in Spanish and Latin American literature.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)