BOOK / CARACTERES. Roberto Artl

Journalism / Narrative

The boredom of Sunday afternoons, the hustle and bustle of downtown, the bars where the underworld gathered, marriage, public parties, the endearing relationship of the unemployed with the cinema... Life in its entirety could be found in the "Aguafuertes Porteñas," the titles of the acclaimed columns that Roberto Arlt published from 1928 until the day after his death in 1942, in the Buenos Aires newspaper El Mundo.

Here, we bring together a selection of 55 columns, focusing on characters for whom Arlt felt a special fascination: rascals, idlers, gamblers, and losers of all kinds. Undoubtedly, these portraits are the irrefutable testament to the talent for seeing and hearing what happens in the city, the stories and the individuals the chronicler encounters in his daily wandering. Beyond the eccentricity of the "cork man," the "brick thief," or the cross-eyed lover, the result is a human map in which it is impossible not to recognize oneself.

What kept Arlt relevant and saved him from oblivion were the readers. He has always been read, and he is still read today. For the past 50 years, he has been a contemporary writer. —Ricardo Piglia.

Title: CARACTERES
Author: Roberto Artl
Arlt Size: 22x14 cm.
Binding: Paperback
Genre: Journalism
Weight: 320 grams
Language: Spanish
Publisher: Hueders
Year: 2017
Pages: 218