The Dark

by Sergio Chejfec, Heather Cleary (Translation)

Opening with the presently shut-in narrator reminiscing about a past relationship with Delia, a young factory worker, "The Dark" employs Chejfec s signature style with an emphasis on the geography and motion of the mind, to recount the time the narrator spent with this multifaceted, yet somewhat absent, woman. "The Dark" is the most captivating example of Chejfec s unique narrative approach."

Genres: Fiction, Spanish Literature, Novels, Literature

143 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Sergio Chejfec is an Argentine Jewish writer. He was born in Buenos Aires in 1956. From 1990 to 2005 he lived in Venezuela, where he published Nueva sociedad, a journal of politics, culture and the social sciences. He currently lives in New York City and teaches in the Creative Writing program in Spanish at New York University.

Chejfec has written novels, essays and a poetry collection. His works include Lenta biografía (1990), Los planetas (1999), Boca de lobo (2000), Los incompletos (2004), Baroni: un viaje (2007), Mis dos mundos (2008), and La experiencia dramática (2012). He has been compared to Juan José Saer, which he finds flattering but not accurate. His novels usually feature a slow-paced narration that interweaves a minimal plot with reflection. Memory, political violence, and Jewish-Argentine culture and history are some of the recurring themes in his work.

Reviews

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

My review is published in the recent online edition of Rain Taxi: http://www.raintaxi.com/the-dark/

[jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

the third of sergio chejfec's works to appear in english translation, the dark (boca de lobo) is a rich, sometimes rueful rumination on a relationship gone by. the argentine novelist's well-read and nameless narrator recalls his time with delia in an attempt to understand her "proletarian nature" and their myriad moments together. chejfec's distinctive prose style lends his narrative a warm, emotional tone in spite of his narrator's hyper-analytical, often detached musings and reminiscences. while not much seems to happen in chejfec's novels, his writing has an uncanny ability to lure and enchant the reader - as an invitation that one cannot help but accept.

to great avail, chejfec's narrator frequently likens his memories of delia and aspects of their relationship to novels he's read previously:

i've read many novels in which the dark is an inverted reflection of light. this was not the case here. if there is beauty in the world, delia and i thought, if something moves us to the point we are unable to breathe; if something presses our recollections to the very limits of memory, so they can never be as they were, that something lives in darkness and only rarely makes itself known.

the dark teems with eminently quotable passages...

the things we fear and willfully ignore, what we turn our backs on because we'd rather not know, the infinite facts we avoid and want to do away with, choosing ignorance instead; what ends up happening is that all this comes back to surprise us in the moment of our greatest solitude.

perhaps more of chejfec's works (and hopefully some of his poetry) will soon make their way into english translation, as he is composing some of the most interesting, engaging, and unique fiction to come out of south america in recent years.

one doesn't write to uncover what is hidden, but rather to obscure it further. if that is what i'm doing now, it is because everything about delia and all the rest of it speaks for itself with absolute clarity; given the eloquence of the events themselves, i can fall silent.

*rendered from the spanish by heather cleary (chejfec's the planets)

[Christopher Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

“And so the two of us, but not only us, were at the mercy of contradictory signs in which the recent and distant past intermingled with the long-term and the immediate future, the ephemeral present, and an intolerable perpetuity. I should say that I’ve never again felt the presence of time so deeply. Sometimes it seemed as definitive as the heavens: implacable, permanent, and constant. Other times it could slip, or string itself out like a lie, a hurried vertigo of contradictory associations. Time was a black hole; it tore us apart and then consumed us, only to leave us—though there was no way to prove this—in the same place from which we were taken.” p. 128

And:

“I’ve read novels in which places disappear once the character, or protagonist, abandons them. This, which might be called one of the laws of art, can sometimes leave one profoundly uneasy, among other things because geography is never simply a backdrop; the movement of people through it, even when this falls in the realm of fiction, is what marks the variability and the persistence of the world.” p. 134-135

Chejfec simply amazes me. This is the second of his books I’ve read, after the equally stunning The Planets, and it certainly won’t be the last. The ends to which he deploys fairly simple language leave me in awe. His is a prose that demands and deserves to be savored; it forces me to slow down and read carefully, closely, and rewards the extra attention in spades. Though fairly slim, his books can’t be (or shouldn’t be, anyway) rushed through.

If you enjoy being closely cooped up with unusual, obsessive narrators, I highly recommend having a serious look at The Dark.

[Camila Tagle · Rating 5 out of 5]

//Porque podemos leer o escuchar acerca de la vida en las fábricas, enterarnos de las tareas que se desarrollan, los procesos que se cumplen, las normas que se obedecen, pero la prueba de que sabemos muy poco es que cada nueva información la recibimos con avidez, sedientos sin satisfacción. Así miraba yo el traje de Delia cuando se bajaba las mangas; quería tener el detalle revelador, la marca providencial que, junto con alguna otra pista recibida tiempo atrás, me permitiera armar su jornada.//

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found it difficult to rate this rather remarkable book.

Technically, as a work of art "The Dark" is easily five stars. On the other hand, everything about the narrator is repellent including his use of language as an elaborate means of obfuscation, and evasion of his own thoroughly repugnant character flaws and descpicable behavior.

This relentless, deliberate use of language in the service of mystifying and obscuring rather than explicating and clarifying events and states of mind makes for laborious reading but is also utterly fascinating as a brilliantly different example of the unreliable narrator.

Chejfec does something unique within my reading experience here and if you're willing to do the work of getting through this book the payoff can be huge. (It was for me.)

[Reagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Dark is a novel that manages to constantly startle its reader. The prose flows elegantly with almost excruciatingly detailed descriptions of even the most minute elements of an anecdote. These scenes then alternate with tiny developments in the plot, gradually revealing the narrator's despicable decisions and consequent regrets.

I was surprised by Chejfec's ability to draw me in despite the almost nonexistent plot and odious protagonist. Chejfec's prose is elegant and deliberate. The marathon-long paragraphs create a unique and immersive reading experience.

The two main characters in the novel frequently meander through the night. This is reflected in the book's use of language. When reading this book, you might sometimes find yourself wondering whether it's actually going anywhere. I assure you that it is. The conclusion of this book is stunning. There is no shocking plot twist, but Chejfec masterfully and unexpectedly synthesizes the various themes and leitmotifs that are woven throughout the novel into something exquisite, thought-provoking, and entirely unique.

Cleary's translation is careful, clear, and serves Chejfec's style very well.

[Chad Post · Rating 5 out of 5]

DISCLAIMER: I am the publisher of the book and thus spent approximately two years reading and editing and working on it. So take my review with a grain of salt, or the understanding that I am deeply invested in this text and know it quite well. Also, I would really appreciate it if you would purchase this book, since it would benefit Open Letter directly.

Some of my favorite quotes all related to the "like in novels" thread that runs through this book:

"Put like this, I'm not sure the metaphor reveals anything; still, there is little to reveal. One doesn't write to uncover what is hidden, but rather to obscure it further."

"I've read many novels in which characters draw arbitrary conclusions about other people. These ideas may be wrong, in fact, they almost always are, and so they generate all manner of irreparable misunderstandings, suspicions, and opinions. This, which is so common in novels, is even more so in real life."

"I've read more than one novel in which misfortune helps someone's bad luck along; I mean, there are people in these novels whose luck is worse than they deserve. This excess of adversity, like a surplus of evil, frees one's character of contradictions: the innocent become more innocent, the conniving more conniving; the lazy man is driven to the heights of laziness. Nuances and traits are, in the end, redundant: to give a simple example, it is of little use to the generous man to be uniquely benevolent if he ultimately turns out to be at the mercy of his luck. What I mean is, what happens in novels is deceptive."

[Dustin Kurtz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chejfec's novels are invariably, it seems, among the best books published in any year in which they are published. This is no exception. It's slow to get it's feet under it, even by Chejfec's standards. But my god once this book begins to layer on the scenes which, as in his previously translated novels, are more accurately described as experiments in fictionalizing a specific perceptive mood, a specificity in which the scenery itself is crucial, at those points nobody can outdo this author.
The narrator is more of a character in this novel, and his voice more apparently fictionalized. It's an interesting change and serves as armor against the too-pat adjective I and others leveled at his My Two Worlds: Sebaldian.
Anyhow, a damn good book, this.

[Leonard Klossner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first I've read of Chejfec, and with any luck I'll be reading more of him soon. This is an interesting novel - there is not a single line of dialogue and there is very little characterization between the few characters.

The prose casts a sweeping shadow over all things in the novel. All potential for action hesitates on the border of its realization. Thoughts often wander into the darkness of the mind into abstraction. The main character's reflections on his ex Delia betrays a vague pretense of a person - she is all abstraction, she is barely there, barely real. It is only industry that makes her real, her labor in the factory and the machines that vibrate with technical purpose that reveal any trace of humanity in Delia. Even the child she is pregnant with exists as nothing more than a vague promise, perhaps a threat, that will linger as well on the safer side of the border of possibility, never to be realized, never to be born.

I usually dislike novels that skimp on characterization or present a feeble pretense of purpose or resolution (see my post on Dennis Cooper's My Loose Thread), but Chejfec presents the absence of these things in a way that is all too real and relatable; it is the reader's own melancholy and sadness that underscores what is left unsaid, what is left in the dark.

The sparseness and the delicacy of the prose perfectly illustrates in only the bleakest grayscale a portrait of two disparate subjects who seem infinitely distant, who, despite their earlier intimacy, remain isolated from one another, each unto their own lonely corner of the world (indeed, Delia is only watched through a window or a fence or seen in memories).

I only remember there being two mentions of light sources in the book, yet the light they provide is purposed only to cast a shadow. Neither is there any sense of movement afforded from the disaffecting prose. Rather, any movement implied seems to occur as one might imagine viewing a stock-motion video - each movement itself mirroring stillness in its portraitesque passage.

As a final point, the narrator often speaks of having read multiple novels relating to a particular thought or idea. There is no certainty in his knowledge, only the recollection of some varying number of novels that have addressed the same idea presented, a sort of x-number-of-authors-can't-be-wrong assurance in his secondhand wisdom.

[Aaron McQuiston · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Dark" seemed like something of a chore to get through. The paragraphs are long. The sentences are thick. The ideas and descriptions are minute and filled with metaphor and observation. For me this was difficult to get through. I managed, with sheer willpower and grit and taking time to think about how much I hated the narrator. For someone seemingly so intelligent and observant and curious about the running of factories and jobs in society, his ability to be a dick is remarkable. Set as a reflection for love lost, he explores Delia and the way that he work and society has shaped her. I find in some ways, the narrator explores these things so that he can exploit them for his own gains, not for the gains of the two of them. This reminds me somewhat of "Lolita" where you're almost rooting for Humbert Humbert until you realize that he has been dabbling with sleeping potions and poisons so that he can have his was with Lo without her knowledge. "The Dark" turns into a deceptively evil story, wrapped in the complexities of what the exploration of a factory worker's life means.

I kind of caught myself saying that the whole narrative was a lie during several moments in the novel. The narrator was lying, trying to pull one over on the reader, trying to make him think that he is well-read and well versed on the philosophical connections between an inner being and the things she does outwardly. The narrator picked out various novels he had read to justify the actions he was taking or had taken(a Don Quixote strategy if there ever was one). He is able to seamlessly tell the stories of Dalia's friends and acquaintances that he meets only for a few minutes. And the things he does to Dalia does not really add up. It is as if he is trying to make the story sound better than it actually is, almost as if it was all a delusion, a moneylender that watched Dalia through the fence at her job and decided that he would make up a relationship that they had together. (He doesn't mention his money at all; only the money of others.)

In the end, the thread that run through this is that Chejfec is a strong, smart writer, telling a story that does not have an exact ending or beginning. No past or future, but a present. That present in "The Dark" is a great deal to digest, but definitely a satisfying meal.

[Editorial Alfaguara]

Un hombre y una mujer son los protagonistas de esta historia. Ella est� en edad de asistir al colegio, pero trabaja en una f�brica. �l es lo suficientemente mayor como para ser su padre, aunque por varios motivos no podr�a serlo nunca. Lo que hay entre ambos no es un amor prohibido y, aunque cumple con todas las condiciones para serlo, tampoco es clandestino. Es un amor necesario y desesperado. Estos elementos, que podr�an prometer una historia de degradaciones morales o incorrecciones pol�ticas, se someten al tono especulativo del protagonista, alguien que no se conmueve ante el significado de sus acciones, hacia las cuales vuelve con nostalgia y con un poco de curiosidad pero nunca con remordimiento. Una vez m�s, Sergio Chejfec construye una narraci�n sinuosa y persistente a la vez, que se desarrolla como una larga escena teatral. Boca de lobo impacta por la compleja e inocente psicolog�a de los actores y por sus paisajes vacilantes: una ciudad que no es tal, una naturaleza trastornada, y sobre todo el mundo de las relaciones sociales convertido en cruda f�bula.

[Ferris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't even consider reading this book unless you are prepared for a serious intellectual workout! Personally, I think I pulled a few muscles during this one! Enter the interior monologue of a man trying to understand the nature of relationship. What relationship, you might ask? Well, between man and woman, between social classes, and between man and machine. The narrator dissects his relationship with the mysterious factory worker, Delia. Throughout the dissection are allusions to the dark, the darkness, the night. "...Definite and intangible..." are words he uses to describe relationship, and that is at the beginning of the book. I think those are the two best words to describe the experience of reading this astute and intense novel.

[Olivia Yerovi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Libro denso, complejo, pero de una prosa inteligente y cautivante. Retador, que te empuja y obliga a reflexionar sobre lo aparentemente ordinario: la vida e interacciones de un grupo de un obreros, las dinámicas dentro y fuera de la fábrica, la geografía urbana que la rodea y, dentro de todo ello, la relación de un hombre anónimo, aparentemente mayor e intelectual y una obrera muy joven. Interesante la forma en que el autor inserta dentro de su mirada y reflexión la comparación de algunas situaciones reales con las narradas literariamente.

[Mario Soares · Rating 1 out of 5]

Conoci a Sergio Chejfek por su magistral cuento "El Testigo" y de pronto me animé a buscar una novela suya. Boca de Lobo (The Dark), fue así que esa novela calió en mis manos. La novela es tan tan tan densa que llega a ser impenetrable. Estoy en ela pagina 110 y me costará mucho llegar a la 180, final del libro. NO recomiendo a nadie la empresa. En una sola palabra la lectura es INSUPORTABLE!

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to follow.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully written, although not nearly as compelling as The Planets.

[Mills College Library]

Fiction C5158b 2009