The Disappearance: A Novella and Stories

Latino Voices

by Ilan Stavans

Hailed as one of the most important Hispanic writers of his generation, Ilan Stavans is mostly known for his penetrating essays on culture. He is also a celebrated storyteller whose work has been translated into a dozen languages and has garnered numerous international awards. The A Novella and Stories contains three small, masterful gems. The novella "Morirse está en hebreo," is a thought-provoking meditation on continuity and tradition among Mexican Jews that takes place just as a decades-long one-party dictatorship is crumbling down. The volume also features "Xerox Man," an intriguing story about a book thief with a bizarre theological obsession, which was commissioned and broadcast by the BBC and has been widely anthologized. The title story "The Disappearance" is the resonant tale of a Belgian actor who kidnaps himself in an attempt to respond to neo-Nazi groups. Together, these three pieces offer an unforeseen vista of Jewish-Hispanic relations and confirm Stavans' reputation as a lyrical, daring, and original literary voice.Together, these three pieces offer an unforeseen vista of Jewish-Hispanic relations and confirm Stavans' reputation as a lyrical, daring, and original literary voice.

144 pages, Hardcover

First published September 19, 2006

About the author

Ilan Stavans is the Lewis-Sebring Professor in Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College. An award-winning writer and public television host, his books include Growing Up Latino and Spanglish. A native of Mexico City, he lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Reviews

[Amber · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to wait and review this after meeting with my book club to discuss it because usually that helps me understand and enjoy the book more fully, but not in this case. Pretty much the whole group disliked it. There were two short stories and a novella, I only liked the last short story. The other two pieces I found unbearable.

Reading about the Mexican Jewish experience seemed like it would be intriguing. But it seemed to me that the understandable alienation that the author felt growing up (the pieces being somewhat autobiographical) has made him bitter and seems to want to punish the reader by making us feel excluded, rather than illuminating and breaking down barriers through explanation/education.

I feel the author and his work comes across as snobby and pretentious. This is completely typified by a moment in the novella where he is describing the home of one character and in the process lists the books on his coffee table. The author lists some classic and important works that are there and among them he decides to slip in one of his own titles! Lame.

The last short story, Xerox Man, was intriguing to me and I thought it had the best voice of the collection. But still, not enough for me to recommend this title to anyone.