The Left Parenthesis

(Paperback)

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Description

The narrator of this novel, a writer, arrives by train at Casetes Beach with her month-old daughter on her back. She prepares to spend a few weeks in one of the cottages by the sand. Her husband has recently passed away and she needs to open the parenthesis of her life: to forget something, and to discover something else. But the appearance of an overly assertive starfish precedes a series of disturbing events, and as the narrator begins to lose a hold on reality, we are immersed in the uncertain territory of allegory.

With a lively and direct style and overwhelming poetic force, Muriel Villanueva guides us through the daily motions of life, and at the same time a fantastic journey of a woman in search of her own maturity.

Reviews

"Round and moving, nourished by the author's identifiable style and a fascinating management of allegorical and fantastic elements. A world. Or, rather, a whole universe, that of the writer, polysemous and suggestive."--Xavi Aliaga, El Temps

"Poetic and allegorical. A very special atmosphere."--Anna Guitart, Tria 33

"A short novel of intense chill, of letting go with each sentence, of refined writing and with a universe that contains pain and doubts, with the overwhelming fantasy of the rawest reality."--Esteve Plantada, NaciDigital

"I started on a Sunday in the early afternoon and had already finished it in the evening. I couldn't get up from the couch. The rhythm of her prose caught me completely and surely it would have taken me less to finish it if it weren't for the fact that every two or three pages I had to stop and reread the excerpt to savor it again. You know what I'm talking about, right When you feel completely identified with a story and know that the reflections you are reading will serve you at one time or another and you need to emphasize them. The protagonist talks about maturity, relationships, and self-discovery. Reflections that are interspersed with a disturbing, visceral, and poetic story."--Elisenda Solsona

Author Bio

Muriel Villanueva (Valencia, 1976) is a writer of novels, short stories, poetry and children's and youth literature. She has a degree in Literary Theory and Comparative Literature from the University of Barcelona, as well as a diploma in Music Education from the University of Valencia. In addition to writing, she also teaches courses in writing and is a music teacher. Her latest publications have been La gatera, Motril 86, Duna, diario d'un estiu, and the trilogy L'Esfera.She has received several awards, including the JM Casero Award, the Valencian Writers' Critics Award, and The Talries Poetry Award.

Megan Berkobien holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Michigan. She holds a B.A. in Comparative Literature from the same university, where she founded the school's undergraduate translation journal, Canon Translation Review. She has worked as an assistant editor for the online magazine Asymptote as well as an editorial intern for Words Without Borders and Open Letter Books. Her translations have been published in Words Without Borders, B O D Y, and Palabras Errantes, Asymptote, and Catch & Release. She was chosen as an ALTA Fellow for the 2014 Annual Conference.

Mara Cristina Hall is a Mexican-American poet, translator, and immigration activist. She has a bachelor's in creative writing and political science from Columbia University and a master's in translation studies from Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. A Catalan and Spanish translator, she currently works at Institut Ramon Llull's office in New York City. Her translations can be found in Words Without Borders, Loch Raven Review, and Alchemy. Her poetry can be found in Sea Foam Mag, Leveler, The Fem, Reservoir, Apogee, and Brokn English.