The Novel of the Tupinamba Indian

(Paperback)

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Picaresque novel of the Spanish Civil War written by one of the most important post-WWII members of the Surrealist Movement.

Written by Galician surrealist artist and revolutionary E.F. Granell, The Novel of the Tupinamba Indian is a picaresque, Cervantes-influenced allegory of the Spanish Civil War. Set against a cruel landscape peopled by generals, priests, conquistadors, poets, witches, and nuns, Tupinamba Indian embodies Granell's wartime experiences while transforming them through his lush and incendiary surrealist imagination.

Praise for The Novel of the Tupinamba Indian:

"In an ever-shifting world populated by nameless, iconic stock figures, the Tupinamba Indian (whose head, slashed off by a conquistador, remains detachable/attachable in a brilliant metaphor for colonialism) wanders, stumbles, and thrives in a war landscape where time and space morph. A war novel, a political allegory not only of the late '30s but also our current political moment "Gillian Conoley

"Granell's Tupinamba Indian magnificently registers the author's experience with the didactic inferno of war and his ability to imaginatively ascend above it."Will Alexander

"An exceptional sense of humor filters through [Granell's] war experience, fleecing expectations and convictions, and freeing him to levitate this personal and collective history into a madcap romp through a violated landscape. Where tragedy emerges with the Fascist victory, prologue to World War Two, laughter curdles its edges then burns it up. No group is sacrosanct, no one beyond reproach, priests, intellectuals, and leader (aka Franco, our 'tiny Grand Turk'), included."Allan Graubard, co-editor of Invisible Heads: Surrealists in North America - An Untold Story

Artist, writer, musician, socialist, professor, and veteran of the Spanish Civil War, Eugenio F. Granell (1912-2001) was one of the leading figures of the post-World War II international surrealist movement.

Translator David Coulter is an artist who currently divides his time between Berkeley, CA and Coimbra, Portugal, where he particpates with the Cabo Mondego Section of Portuguese Surrealism.

Reviews

"E. F. Granell's The Novel of the Tupinamba Indian, often cited as the most crucial surrealist novel of the Spanish Civil War, is brought to its fullest hallucinatory powers in this exquisite translation by David Coulter. In an ever-shifting world populated by nameless, iconic stock figuresthe Priest, the Conquistador, the Bishop, the General, the Grand Turkthe Tupinamba Indian (whose head, slashed off by a conquistador, remains detachable/attachable in a brilliant metaphor for colonialism) wanders, stumbles, and thrives in a war landscape where time and space morph. At once horrific and humorous, the book is gifted by Granell's light touch and dry wit, his natural facility for an unstraining surrealism, unlike any other. A war novel, a political allegory not only of the late '30s but also our current political moment, and prefaced by the brilliant Benjamin Pret (who claims that in Granell's voyage 'chance replaces the compass'), The Novel of the Tupinamba Indian arrives in English, for the first time, and is, most importantly, an absolute delight to read."Gillian Conoley

"Eugenio Granell's The Novel of the Tupinamba Indian exists not unlike an arcane planetary body floating outside the dictation of an over-arching solar gravitas, thereby invoking verbal hallucination via clairaudient spontaneity. Singed by the disruption and scandal that fuels conflict, Granell's Tupinamba Indian magnificently registers the author's experience with the didactic inferno of war and his ability to imaginatively ascend above it. We, in the English-speaking world are now showered with Granell's authentic verbal grace so artfully rendered from the Spanish original by the lingual respiration of David Coulter."Will Alexander

"A man endures a brutal civil war in Spain that turns his life upside down. A former violinist, become journalist and combatant, suffers defeat and exile. Escaping into France, he finds his way to the Americas, settling for a time in Puerto Rico. There, an exceptional sense of humor filters through his war experience, fleecing expectations and convictions, and freeing him to levitate this personal and collective history into a madcap romp through a violated landscape. Where tragedy emerges with the Fascist victory, prologue to World War Two, laughter curdles its edges then burns it up. Where the sentimental gathers tears, magic takes over. With a twist of the wrist this water turns red; a delicious bloody drink to spice an afternoon game. No group is sacrosanct, no one beyond reproach, priests, intellectuals, and leader (aka Franco, our 'tiny Grand Turk'), included. The 'man,' our author, of course, is Eugenio F. Granell, acclaimed surrealist artist and writer. Now his dark, funny, penetrating expose of what the civil war meant, and what other like-wars can mean, comes to us in a fine English translation."Allan Graubard, co-editor of Invisible Heads: Surrealists in North America - An Untold Story

"This extraordinary novel by the last Spanish surrealist is finally available in English, in David Coulter's dazzling translation. Literally inverting the colonial gaze, the beheaded-re-headed Tupinamba Indian has a 360 view of the savageries of western civilization. While the main focus of Granell's parodic travelogue is on Spain's fascism and the brutality of the Civil War, no '-ism' escapes his critique, certainly not Soviet-style communism, and not even surrealism itself. A brilliant, bloody carnivalesque, this novel is most outrageously funny when the history it reflects is at its most devastatingly tragic. Translations into American English often defang the original's sarcasm or dull its critical edge. But David Coulter's translation renders powerfully both the novel's kaleidoscopic multiple perspectives and its deliciously caustic notes."Chana Kronfeld, author of On the Margins of Modernism; co-translator (with Chana Bloch) of Yehudi Amichai's Open Closed Open (winner of the 2001 PEN Translation Prize)

"One of the finest of all novels written by surrealists."Michael Richardson, editor of The Dedalus Book of Surrealism

Author Bio

Artist, musician, socialist, veteran of the Spanish Civil War, writer, and professor, Eugenio F. Granell (1912-2001) was one of the leading figures of the post-World War II international surrealist movement. He formed close friendships with such figures as Marcel Duchamp, Andr Breton, Wifredo Lam, Benjamin Pret, Toyen, and the revolutionary writer Victor Serge. Upon the defeat of the Republican government in 1939, Granell was exiled from Spain for 46 years, living in the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Puerto Rico and New York City where he resided from 1957-1985. Beginning with his participation in the exhibition Surrealism in 1947 (Galerie Maeght, Paris), curated by Duchamp and Breton, Granell participated in every exhibition mounted by the Paris group. He is the author of two novels, short stories, and the poetic treatise Isla Cofre Mtico, among others. Returning to Spain in 1986 Granell exhibited throughout Spain, Portugal, and Europe. In 1995 the Fundacin Granell was established in Santiago de Compostela, dedicated to the study of surrealism, mounting exhibitions and performances as well as providing library and archives for research.

David Coulter is an educator, artist, and translator. He has participated in surrealist exhibitions such as Harvest of Evil (Ti Rojo Studio, Columbus, OH 1983); Magnets of the Polar Horn (San Francisco, CA 1984); The Secret Face of Scandal Group Hydra (New York City 1986); Voyage to Arcturus (Estremoz, Portugal 2007); The Reverse of the Look (Coimbra, Portugal 2008); Men Are Machines for Making Apples (Guimares, Portugal); Optic Ocultations (Beyond Baroque, Venice, CA 2015); and most recently At the Light of a Glazed Castle (Figueira da Foz, Portugal 2016). His work has appeared in Le Vertebre et le Rossignol (Montreal, Canada 2015 and 2016); Spectra (Los Angeles, CA 2016); The Annual (New York City 2015); A Phala 3 (So Paulo, Brasil 2015); and What Will Be Almanac of the International Surrealist Movement (2014). He is the illustrator of the novella Targets (Anon Editions 2013) by Allan Graubard. His work is included in the anthology Invisible Heads: Surrealists in North America An Untold Story (Anon Editions 2011). In the 1980s he was the co-director/publisher of MDS Editions. He currently divides his time between Berkeley, CA and Coimbra, Portugal where he participates with the Cabo Mondego Section of Portuguese Surrealism.