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The Things We Don't Do
"Good readers will find something that can be found only in great literature, the kind written by real poets, a literature that dares to venture into the dark with open eyes and that keeps its eyes open no matter what . . . . The literature of the twenty-first century will belong to Neuman and a few of his blood brothers."—Roberto Bolaño
Playful, philosophizing, and gloriously unpredictable, Andrés Neuman's short stories consider love, lechery, history, mortality, family secrets, therapy, Borges, mysterious underwear, translators, and storytelling itself.
Here a relationship turns on a line drawn in the sand; an analyst treats a patient who believes he's the real analyst; a discovery in a secondhand shop takes on a cruel significance; a man decides to go to work naked one day. In these small scenes and brief moments Neuman confounds our expectations with dazzling sleight of hand.
With a variety of forms and styles, Neuman opens up the possibilities for fiction, calling to mind other greats of Latin American letters, such as Cortázar, Bolaño, and Bioy Casares. Intellectually stimulating and told with a voice that is wry, questioning, sometimes mordantly funny, yet always generously humane, The Things We Don't Do confirms Neuman's place as one of the most dynamic authors writing today.
Andrés Neuman was born in Buenos Aires, but grew up and lives in Spain. He was included in Granta's "Young Spanish-Language Novelists" issue and is the author of almost twenty works, two of which—Traveler of the Century and Talking to Ourselves—have been translated into English. Traveler of the Century won the Alfaguara Prize, the National Critics Prize, was longlisted for the 2013 Best Translated Book Award, and was shortlisted for the 2013 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and the 2014 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.
Playful, philosophizing, and gloriously unpredictable, Andrés Neuman's short stories consider love, lechery, history, mortality, family secrets, therapy, Borges, mysterious underwear, translators, and storytelling itself.
Here a relationship turns on a line drawn in the sand; an analyst treats a patient who believes he's the real analyst; a discovery in a secondhand shop takes on a cruel significance; a man decides to go to work naked one day. In these small scenes and brief moments Neuman confounds our expectations with dazzling sleight of hand.
With a variety of forms and styles, Neuman opens up the possibilities for fiction, calling to mind other greats of Latin American letters, such as Cortázar, Bolaño, and Bioy Casares. Intellectually stimulating and told with a voice that is wry, questioning, sometimes mordantly funny, yet always generously humane, The Things We Don't Do confirms Neuman's place as one of the most dynamic authors writing today.
Andrés Neuman was born in Buenos Aires, but grew up and lives in Spain. He was included in Granta's "Young Spanish-Language Novelists" issue and is the author of almost twenty works, two of which—Traveler of the Century and Talking to Ourselves—have been translated into English. Traveler of the Century won the Alfaguara Prize, the National Critics Prize, was longlisted for the 2013 Best Translated Book Award, and was shortlisted for the 2013 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and the 2014 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.
190 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
38 people are currently reading
1267 people want to read
About the author
Andrés Neuman
94 books508 followersHijo de músicos argentinos exiliados (de madre violinista, de origen ítalo-español, y padre oboísta, de origen judío alemán), tiene la ciudadanía argentina y española. La historia novelada de su familia, infancia argentina y ancestros europeos puede leerse en su libro Una vez Argentina. A los catorce años se trasladó a Granada, donde realizó sus estudios secundarios, obtuvo la licenciatura en Filología Hispánica por su Universidad, cursó el doctorado e impartió clases de literatura hispanoamericana.
Neuman debutó en la literatura como poeta y narrador breve. Su primera publicación fue un cuaderno de poemas titulado Simulacros, aparecido a principios de 1998 en una pequeña editorial de Granada. A finales de 1999 se publicó su primera novela, Bariloche, que resultó finalista del Premio Herralde y fue recibida como una de las óperas primas del año. Sus siguientes novelas, que también obtuvieron distinciones, lo confirmarían como uno de los más destacados escritores contemporáneos en lengua castellana. El propio Roberto Bolaño, en su libro de ensayos Entre paréntesis, declaró sobre el joven autor:
"Tocado por la gracia. Ningún buen lector dejará de percibir en sus páginas algo que sólo es dable encontrar en la alta literatura, aquella que escriben los poetas verdaderos. La literatura del siglo XXI pertenecerá a Neuman y a unos pocos de sus hermanos de sangre".
La consagración definitiva como novelista le llegó con El viajero del siglo (2009), obra que obtuvo entre otros el Premio Alfaguara y el Premio de la Crítica; además de resultar elegida entre las 5 mejores novelas del año en lengua española en sendas votaciones convocadas por el diario El País entre 50 críticos y periodistas, y por el suplemento El Cultural del diario El Mundo.
Neuman ha desarrollado una intensa labor de divulgación del relato breve. Además de sus libros de cuentos, que incorporan apéndices teóricos sobre el género, ejerció como coordinador del proyecto Pequeñas resistencias, serie de antologías sobre el relato actual escrito en castellano en todo el mundo, publicada entre 2002 y 2010 por la editorial Páginas de Espuma. Cabe en este sentido destacar su prólogo al libro de Horacio Quiroga Cuentos de amor de locura y de muerte, para la editorial Menoscuarto.
Ha trabajado asimismo como columnista en numerosos medios de España y Latinoamérica. Fue guionista de tiras cómicas en el diario Ideal de Granada, colaborando con el dibujante Kicus en una serie de tiras semanales titulada Los quietos. Escribe regularmente en el suplemento cultural del diario español ABC, en la Revista Ñ del diario argentino Clarín y en su blog personal, Microrréplicas.
En 2007, mediante una nueva votación convocada por el Hay Festival y Bogotá Capital mundial del libro, Neuman fue incluido en la selección Bogotá-39. Más tarde, en 2010, fue seleccionado por la revista británica Granta entre Los 22 mejores narradores jóvenes en español.
Neuman debutó en la literatura como poeta y narrador breve. Su primera publicación fue un cuaderno de poemas titulado Simulacros, aparecido a principios de 1998 en una pequeña editorial de Granada. A finales de 1999 se publicó su primera novela, Bariloche, que resultó finalista del Premio Herralde y fue recibida como una de las óperas primas del año. Sus siguientes novelas, que también obtuvieron distinciones, lo confirmarían como uno de los más destacados escritores contemporáneos en lengua castellana. El propio Roberto Bolaño, en su libro de ensayos Entre paréntesis, declaró sobre el joven autor:
"Tocado por la gracia. Ningún buen lector dejará de percibir en sus páginas algo que sólo es dable encontrar en la alta literatura, aquella que escriben los poetas verdaderos. La literatura del siglo XXI pertenecerá a Neuman y a unos pocos de sus hermanos de sangre".
La consagración definitiva como novelista le llegó con El viajero del siglo (2009), obra que obtuvo entre otros el Premio Alfaguara y el Premio de la Crítica; además de resultar elegida entre las 5 mejores novelas del año en lengua española en sendas votaciones convocadas por el diario El País entre 50 críticos y periodistas, y por el suplemento El Cultural del diario El Mundo.
Neuman ha desarrollado una intensa labor de divulgación del relato breve. Además de sus libros de cuentos, que incorporan apéndices teóricos sobre el género, ejerció como coordinador del proyecto Pequeñas resistencias, serie de antologías sobre el relato actual escrito en castellano en todo el mundo, publicada entre 2002 y 2010 por la editorial Páginas de Espuma. Cabe en este sentido destacar su prólogo al libro de Horacio Quiroga Cuentos de amor de locura y de muerte, para la editorial Menoscuarto.
Ha trabajado asimismo como columnista en numerosos medios de España y Latinoamérica. Fue guionista de tiras cómicas en el diario Ideal de Granada, colaborando con el dibujante Kicus en una serie de tiras semanales titulada Los quietos. Escribe regularmente en el suplemento cultural del diario español ABC, en la Revista Ñ del diario argentino Clarín y en su blog personal, Microrréplicas.
En 2007, mediante una nueva votación convocada por el Hay Festival y Bogotá Capital mundial del libro, Neuman fue incluido en la selección Bogotá-39. Más tarde, en 2010, fue seleccionado por la revista británica Granta entre Los 22 mejores narradores jóvenes en español.
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May 12, 2019
E narrare è come sedurre: non devi mai del tutto soddisfare la curiosità del lettore
come nei racconti dove si ricomincia da zero ogni volta, come fosse sempre la prima volta.
Piacevolissima raccolta di Andrés Neuman, poliedrico autore argentino che vive in Spagna, traduttore, blogger e docente universitario in filologia, che si destreggia tra vari generi: racconti poesia e romanzo.
Pare che ad un concorso letterario in Sudamerica avesse addirittura stregato un certo Bolaño il quale disse di lui che il futuro della letteratura gli appartiene….
“Quando incontro questi giovani scrittori mi viene voglia di mettermi a piangere. Ignoro il futuro che li attende. Non so se una notte verranno travolti da un automobilista ubriaco o se all’improvviso smetteranno di scrivere. Se nulla di tutto questo accadrà, la letteratura del XXI secolo apparterrà a Neuman e ad alcuni suoi fratelli di sangue”.
Racconti, brevi, anzi brevissimi alcuni non arrivano alle due pagine, rapidi e ficcanti, fuori dai soliti temi della - coppia che scoppia - alcool - disagio - non arrivo a fine mese – mi taglio le vene – lui mi ha lasciato.
Anche se IL tema della morte, sebbene in chiave lievemente surreale aleggia su tutta la raccolta.
Racconti dal taglio originale senza però scadere nell’assurdo, attraversati da un filo sottile di ironia, li definirei racconti tragicomici, scritti in un linguaggio moderno, ma curato e pulito, con alternanza di stile, senza mai l’affannosa ricerca d’effetto che se c’è viene ma a volte no, come l'orgasmo.
Random:
C'è un depresso tragicomico in cura da una analista, un giorno le telefona minacciandola di suicidarsi per poi scoprire che lei stessa ha una vita drammaticamente più difficile della sua.
C'è uno scrittore di racconti che osservando i panni stesi dei propri vicini ritiene possa ottenere molte più informazioni su di loro che chiacchierandoci direttamente insieme, la biancheria è trasparente ed eloquente e non ha quei fraintendimenti che connotano invece le parole.
C'è il poeta costretto ogni volta a fermarsi, ovunque si trovi, per non far scappare l'ispirazione e fissarla sul foglio mentre che il suo poema, gelosamente conservato a casa, finirà bruciato in un incendio.
Ci sono alcuni racconti, gli ultimi, che sono riflessioni di metaletteratura in chiave di racconto, belli e istruttivi a loro modo.
Neuman autore da pedinare con attenzione, e grazie a @Patrizia per la segnalazione e l’approvvigionamento :-)
come nei racconti dove si ricomincia da zero ogni volta, come fosse sempre la prima volta.
Piacevolissima raccolta di Andrés Neuman, poliedrico autore argentino che vive in Spagna, traduttore, blogger e docente universitario in filologia, che si destreggia tra vari generi: racconti poesia e romanzo.
Pare che ad un concorso letterario in Sudamerica avesse addirittura stregato un certo Bolaño il quale disse di lui che il futuro della letteratura gli appartiene….
“Quando incontro questi giovani scrittori mi viene voglia di mettermi a piangere. Ignoro il futuro che li attende. Non so se una notte verranno travolti da un automobilista ubriaco o se all’improvviso smetteranno di scrivere. Se nulla di tutto questo accadrà, la letteratura del XXI secolo apparterrà a Neuman e ad alcuni suoi fratelli di sangue”.
Racconti, brevi, anzi brevissimi alcuni non arrivano alle due pagine, rapidi e ficcanti, fuori dai soliti temi della - coppia che scoppia - alcool - disagio - non arrivo a fine mese – mi taglio le vene – lui mi ha lasciato.
Anche se IL tema della morte, sebbene in chiave lievemente surreale aleggia su tutta la raccolta.
Racconti dal taglio originale senza però scadere nell’assurdo, attraversati da un filo sottile di ironia, li definirei racconti tragicomici, scritti in un linguaggio moderno, ma curato e pulito, con alternanza di stile, senza mai l’affannosa ricerca d’effetto che se c’è viene ma a volte no, come l'orgasmo.
Random:
C'è un depresso tragicomico in cura da una analista, un giorno le telefona minacciandola di suicidarsi per poi scoprire che lei stessa ha una vita drammaticamente più difficile della sua.
C'è uno scrittore di racconti che osservando i panni stesi dei propri vicini ritiene possa ottenere molte più informazioni su di loro che chiacchierandoci direttamente insieme, la biancheria è trasparente ed eloquente e non ha quei fraintendimenti che connotano invece le parole.
C'è il poeta costretto ogni volta a fermarsi, ovunque si trovi, per non far scappare l'ispirazione e fissarla sul foglio mentre che il suo poema, gelosamente conservato a casa, finirà bruciato in un incendio.
Ci sono alcuni racconti, gli ultimi, che sono riflessioni di metaletteratura in chiave di racconto, belli e istruttivi a loro modo.
Neuman autore da pedinare con attenzione, e grazie a @Patrizia per la segnalazione e l’approvvigionamento :-)
March 23, 2019
Sembrano quasi delle miniature questi racconti brevi in cui l’ordinario sconfina nell’incubo o nell’improvvisa illuminazione. Una scrittura asciutta, priva di sbavature, conduce in mondi diversi, analizzando relazioni, affetti, ossessioni, con la capacità di emozionare, far sorridere e sorprendere.
Morte, vita, dolore e violenza, gesti sospesi, domande mai poste popolano le centocinquanta pagine di questa raccolta, illuminando un universo di personaggi alle prese con i propri demoni; con lo spaesamento determinato dalla nascita di un figlio, che provoca una confusione di ruoli e di sensazioni; con l’incapacità di accettare la morte dei genitori o della compagna, che si traduce in un tempo interrotto, che vede il ripetersi di riti quotidiani nel vano tentativo di rimettere a posto le cose; con i silenzi che caratterizzano la vita di una coppia; col peso delle parole dette o taciute.
“Mi piacciono tutti i propositi, dichiarati o segreti, che disattendiamo insieme. È questo che preferisco della vita a due. La meraviglia aperta sull’altrove. Le cose che non facciamo”.
Chiudono la raccolta i “dodecaloghi” sul racconto
“per giudicare tecnicamente un racconto, converrebbe fare attenzione al modo in cui l’autore è riuscito a rappresentare lo spazio all’interno di uno stampo minuscolo, e in cui ha riassunto il tempo immaginario in pochi minuti reali”.
Morte, vita, dolore e violenza, gesti sospesi, domande mai poste popolano le centocinquanta pagine di questa raccolta, illuminando un universo di personaggi alle prese con i propri demoni; con lo spaesamento determinato dalla nascita di un figlio, che provoca una confusione di ruoli e di sensazioni; con l’incapacità di accettare la morte dei genitori o della compagna, che si traduce in un tempo interrotto, che vede il ripetersi di riti quotidiani nel vano tentativo di rimettere a posto le cose; con i silenzi che caratterizzano la vita di una coppia; col peso delle parole dette o taciute.
“Mi piacciono tutti i propositi, dichiarati o segreti, che disattendiamo insieme. È questo che preferisco della vita a due. La meraviglia aperta sull’altrove. Le cose che non facciamo”.
Chiudono la raccolta i “dodecaloghi” sul racconto
“per giudicare tecnicamente un racconto, converrebbe fare attenzione al modo in cui l’autore è riuscito a rappresentare lo spazio all’interno di uno stampo minuscolo, e in cui ha riassunto il tempo immaginario in pochi minuti reali”.
September 6, 2018
[2.5] I've been avoiding Andrés Neuman's books for a while; he's been popular on recent long- and short- lists for the Best Translated Book Award and the lately-defunct Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, as well as among various bloggers & reviewers I read - and, more influential for many friends on Goodreads, he was praised by Bolaño. Latin American authors aren't generally short of attention from other readers, so I didn't feel guilty in suspecting I wouldn't find Neuman's works very interesting. It's not quite that simple as it turns out: I can't remember when I've been so bored, and so entertained, by stories in the same book. The Things We Don't Do, a collection of very short stories divided into six sections, was published in the UK in 2014 by Pushkin Press and by Open Letter in the USA in 2015. In the last few months, I've loved several collections of very short stories (including Dorthe Nors' Karate Chop, Bessarabian Stamps by Oleg Woolf, and The Elephant by Slawomir Mrozek) and had started to wonder if I might like ultra-short stories by default. Not these, however.
I wrote the following paragraph yesterday, and today finished the book having re-read an article on Marlon James' speaking out about publisher expectations: his phrase is at least as good as any for describing what was dull and cliched in this collection: "astringent, observed, clipped, wallowing in its own middle-style prose and private ennui". (It could arguably describe the Nors as well, but I really liked that - this I didn't.)
There is a fair amount of litfic stock blah here, especially in the first section, 'Things We Don't Do', about conventional couples in conventional relationships, with various twists and quirks in the telling; this probably is engaging to a lot of readers in the age bracket I share with the author. At least it won't make you feel like you're missing much if that's not your life. I can still be interested in some of this sort of thing where there's a strong sense of place, but there isn't one here, whether it's the characters' local environment, or something about Spain or Latin America. Neuman has both Spanish and Argentinian nationality; contemporary globetrotting authors too often produce bland books which either lack the strong flavour of a particular place, as do these (or else there are tropes of international travel and homes in more than one country). Later in the collection, another well-worn theme that emerges is the apparent decline of literature.
The working-class voice of a US customs officer in 'Monologue of the Customs Officer' felt too close to patronising pastiche - but, curiously, I found his opinions echoed soon afterwards in another book I was reading, in which American immigration staff also thought of Western Europeans as spoilt and possessed of a habitual tendency to assume that rules shouldn't apply to them.
There were a number of stories throughout that were almost-interesting takes on domestic themes, but weren't: 'Theory of Lines' in which a writer draws inspiration from neighbours' washing; 'Clothes' - a colleague starts turning up to work naked (a scenario with shades of Kafka or Buñuel); 'Delivery', a man gives birth in hospital (the inspiration was quoted as a news story from a Spanish newspaper; certain details also evoked the odd reproduction of spotted hyenas). Yet for some reason, I very much liked a story that, to another reader also not enamoured of this type of writing, could seem blander than any of these, 'A Line in the Sand', which a sunbathing woman literally draws between herself and her husband.
A set of stories about death, grouped as 'The Last Minute', were quite interesting, but again could have been so much more. 'After Elena' evoked an old grudge of mine, originating from childhood and teenage years, in which fiction created certain expectations of the world, then unknown to me as unrealistic: the narrator has heart-to-hearts with a number of people who've had grudges against him, or he against them; they actually all understand him, and they basically turn into friends.
Many of the pieces in Things We Don't Do follow a current fashion in short-story writing: the twist or punchline at the end. Occasionally this can work, but as I said about Naja Marie Aidt's Baboon, it could be more interesting to incorporate that info into the story and character development by having it in the middle instead. Besides, the rhythm of this structure becomes hackneyed and tired when you've read three collections that use it within a couple of months. Here, it particularly emphasises the fable-like quality of the stories, unmoored as they often are already from place.
Other subtly recurring themes included watching/following and a concomitant paranoia that seems easy to relate to countries with dictatorships in their recent past. Readers who know other Argentinian writers, especially Borges, may find other references here besides the one story which is specifically about him (and which opens with a couple of the more appealingly strange sentences in the book: It was one of those evenings that only some kitsch writers describe as concave. The seven o’clock sun seemed to want to linger over things, and plunged into the Foundation’s courtyard.). The character name Aristides recurs several times, which must be a reference to something. (And was a Japanese character called Kenzaburo named after Mr Oe?) I suspected an allusion to Juan José Saer - whom I've not read - in one of my favourites of this collection, titled simply 'Juan José', an ingeniously recursive piece about psychotherapy (another minor recurring theme) which raises questions about how readers determine the reliability of narrators, and about the way authority is ascribed, among other things.
Other favourites included the long 'An Argentinian Memoir', in part about the author's great-grandparents who fled Ukraine and Lithuania for Argentina (it had a stronger sense of place and time, but I also noticed, as some will not approve of, how the introduction of places I'm more interested in reading fiction about automatically made me more attentive, regardless of style).
In 'Sor Juana's Private Hell', a former nun in her forties establishes a wild sex life.
'A Terribly Perfect Couple', amused me greatly, as I've been told more than once that I had a habit of going out with people too similar to myself... But I liked it that way! Even if apparently some of the other people ultimately preferred contrast. The following sounds all very well and comfortable: They had the same habits. Their political views did not clash even over incidental details. They enjoyed similar music. They laughed at the same jokes. In whatever restaurant they ate, either of them could easily order two of something without consulting the other. But taken to its logical conclusion as it is here, similarity may result in situations like this: In practice, it was more common for them to find themselves tied up in knots, created by their always simultaneous desire to be on top or beneath the other.
And 'How I Killed John Lennon' worked as an oblique take on the anecdotes most people of the right age have about where they were when Lennon died (or in a few cases how they predicted it) - a welcome pop-culture reference in a book short of them, its presence unexpected from an author who was a small child in 1980, and its subject seeming fresh in a way it surely wouldn't have in the eighties.
Those few were great, but among things I won't do: read more Neuman ASAP.
I wrote the following paragraph yesterday, and today finished the book having re-read an article on Marlon James' speaking out about publisher expectations: his phrase is at least as good as any for describing what was dull and cliched in this collection: "astringent, observed, clipped, wallowing in its own middle-style prose and private ennui". (It could arguably describe the Nors as well, but I really liked that - this I didn't.)
There is a fair amount of litfic stock blah here, especially in the first section, 'Things We Don't Do', about conventional couples in conventional relationships, with various twists and quirks in the telling; this probably is engaging to a lot of readers in the age bracket I share with the author. At least it won't make you feel like you're missing much if that's not your life. I can still be interested in some of this sort of thing where there's a strong sense of place, but there isn't one here, whether it's the characters' local environment, or something about Spain or Latin America. Neuman has both Spanish and Argentinian nationality; contemporary globetrotting authors too often produce bland books which either lack the strong flavour of a particular place, as do these (or else there are tropes of international travel and homes in more than one country). Later in the collection, another well-worn theme that emerges is the apparent decline of literature.
The working-class voice of a US customs officer in 'Monologue of the Customs Officer' felt too close to patronising pastiche - but, curiously, I found his opinions echoed soon afterwards in another book I was reading, in which American immigration staff also thought of Western Europeans as spoilt and possessed of a habitual tendency to assume that rules shouldn't apply to them.
There were a number of stories throughout that were almost-interesting takes on domestic themes, but weren't: 'Theory of Lines' in which a writer draws inspiration from neighbours' washing; 'Clothes' - a colleague starts turning up to work naked (a scenario with shades of Kafka or Buñuel); 'Delivery', a man gives birth in hospital (the inspiration was quoted as a news story from a Spanish newspaper; certain details also evoked the odd reproduction of spotted hyenas). Yet for some reason, I very much liked a story that, to another reader also not enamoured of this type of writing, could seem blander than any of these, 'A Line in the Sand', which a sunbathing woman literally draws between herself and her husband.
A set of stories about death, grouped as 'The Last Minute', were quite interesting, but again could have been so much more. 'After Elena' evoked an old grudge of mine, originating from childhood and teenage years, in which fiction created certain expectations of the world, then unknown to me as unrealistic: the narrator has heart-to-hearts with a number of people who've had grudges against him, or he against them; they actually all understand him, and they basically turn into friends.
Many of the pieces in Things We Don't Do follow a current fashion in short-story writing: the twist or punchline at the end. Occasionally this can work, but as I said about Naja Marie Aidt's Baboon, it could be more interesting to incorporate that info into the story and character development by having it in the middle instead. Besides, the rhythm of this structure becomes hackneyed and tired when you've read three collections that use it within a couple of months. Here, it particularly emphasises the fable-like quality of the stories, unmoored as they often are already from place.
Other subtly recurring themes included watching/following and a concomitant paranoia that seems easy to relate to countries with dictatorships in their recent past. Readers who know other Argentinian writers, especially Borges, may find other references here besides the one story which is specifically about him (and which opens with a couple of the more appealingly strange sentences in the book: It was one of those evenings that only some kitsch writers describe as concave. The seven o’clock sun seemed to want to linger over things, and plunged into the Foundation’s courtyard.). The character name Aristides recurs several times, which must be a reference to something. (And was a Japanese character called Kenzaburo named after Mr Oe?) I suspected an allusion to Juan José Saer - whom I've not read - in one of my favourites of this collection, titled simply 'Juan José', an ingeniously recursive piece about psychotherapy (another minor recurring theme) which raises questions about how readers determine the reliability of narrators, and about the way authority is ascribed, among other things.
Other favourites included the long 'An Argentinian Memoir', in part about the author's great-grandparents who fled Ukraine and Lithuania for Argentina (it had a stronger sense of place and time, but I also noticed, as some will not approve of, how the introduction of places I'm more interested in reading fiction about automatically made me more attentive, regardless of style).
In 'Sor Juana's Private Hell', a former nun in her forties establishes a wild sex life.
'A Terribly Perfect Couple', amused me greatly, as I've been told more than once that I had a habit of going out with people too similar to myself... But I liked it that way! Even if apparently some of the other people ultimately preferred contrast. The following sounds all very well and comfortable: They had the same habits. Their political views did not clash even over incidental details. They enjoyed similar music. They laughed at the same jokes. In whatever restaurant they ate, either of them could easily order two of something without consulting the other. But taken to its logical conclusion as it is here, similarity may result in situations like this: In practice, it was more common for them to find themselves tied up in knots, created by their always simultaneous desire to be on top or beneath the other.
And 'How I Killed John Lennon' worked as an oblique take on the anecdotes most people of the right age have about where they were when Lennon died (or in a few cases how they predicted it) - a welcome pop-culture reference in a book short of them, its presence unexpected from an author who was a small child in 1980, and its subject seeming fresh in a way it surely wouldn't have in the eighties.
Those few were great, but among things I won't do: read more Neuman ASAP.
January 7, 2020
1000 Watt
Neuman può essere un autore con intuizioni interessanti, ma i suoi racconti non mi piacciono. Sono testi scartavetrati, che immagino recitati da una voce narrante su un palco vuoto, con uno sfondo neutro. Talmente neutro che non li ricordo, più, dopo pochi giorni dalla fine della lettura. E' giusto che un autore cerchi un suo stile, ma l'operazione di Neuman mi sembra molto artificiosa e alla fine sgradevole.
In fondo al libro, c'è una parte, diciamo teorica, dedicata alla scrittura del racconto. Non mi piace neanche questa, perchè inizia con una serie di aforismi , anzi 4 dodecaloghi dello scrittore di racconti, cosa che mi sembra un po' troppo supponente. Segue un discorso più disteso, riporto un brano:
“Uno scrittore di racconti non può accontentarsi di nascondere i ben noti sette ottavi della sua storia. Ha anche bisogno che i suoi silenzi rafforzino ciò che dice. Ogni centimetro di narrazione lesinato dovrebbe servire per dare risalto al profilo del materiale visibile, verbalizzato.
In altre parole, non sempre meno è più. Può benissimo capitare che, a forza di sottrarre, un racconto risulti asfittico. A dispetto degli imitatori di una certa tradizione nordamericana, non è che con tanto tacere si suggerisca meglio. Proprio come gli individui, i racconti per essere sani devono avere un peso minimo di sopravvivenza. Al di sotto di questo peso, la loro voce si può spezzare e diventare impercettibile.”
Direi che la mia percezione è appunto quella descritta: mi pare che la sottrazione di sfondo, caratterizzazione dei personaggi eccetera, non abbia avuto l'effetto di contrastare l'immagine quanto di accendere una lampada talmente accecante da abbagliare il lettore. Mai trovato un autore nordamericano che sottragga con tanto vigore: Carver in confronto è puro barocco.
Neuman può essere un autore con intuizioni interessanti, ma i suoi racconti non mi piacciono. Sono testi scartavetrati, che immagino recitati da una voce narrante su un palco vuoto, con uno sfondo neutro. Talmente neutro che non li ricordo, più, dopo pochi giorni dalla fine della lettura. E' giusto che un autore cerchi un suo stile, ma l'operazione di Neuman mi sembra molto artificiosa e alla fine sgradevole.
In fondo al libro, c'è una parte, diciamo teorica, dedicata alla scrittura del racconto. Non mi piace neanche questa, perchè inizia con una serie di aforismi , anzi 4 dodecaloghi dello scrittore di racconti, cosa che mi sembra un po' troppo supponente. Segue un discorso più disteso, riporto un brano:
“Uno scrittore di racconti non può accontentarsi di nascondere i ben noti sette ottavi della sua storia. Ha anche bisogno che i suoi silenzi rafforzino ciò che dice. Ogni centimetro di narrazione lesinato dovrebbe servire per dare risalto al profilo del materiale visibile, verbalizzato.
In altre parole, non sempre meno è più. Può benissimo capitare che, a forza di sottrarre, un racconto risulti asfittico. A dispetto degli imitatori di una certa tradizione nordamericana, non è che con tanto tacere si suggerisca meglio. Proprio come gli individui, i racconti per essere sani devono avere un peso minimo di sopravvivenza. Al di sotto di questo peso, la loro voce si può spezzare e diventare impercettibile.”
Direi che la mia percezione è appunto quella descritta: mi pare che la sottrazione di sfondo, caratterizzazione dei personaggi eccetera, non abbia avuto l'effetto di contrastare l'immagine quanto di accendere una lampada talmente accecante da abbagliare il lettore. Mai trovato un autore nordamericano che sottragga con tanto vigore: Carver in confronto è puro barocco.
July 27, 2019
Frammenti di vita racchiusi in piccoli racconti che sanno essere carezza e pugno allo stomaco.
In questo omaggio alla brevità e con stile garbato, Neuman celebra l’amore, nelle sue contradditorietà, l’incapacità di accettare la morte, i sentimenti interroti, il tempo sospeso.
In questo omaggio alla brevità e con stile garbato, Neuman celebra l’amore, nelle sue contradditorietà, l’incapacità di accettare la morte, i sentimenti interroti, il tempo sospeso.
May 2, 2015
the extreme freedom of a book of short stories derives from the possibility of starting from zero each time. to demand unity from it is like padlocking the laboratory.andrés neuman has been (and remains) one of the most promising spanish-language writers of his generation. with some twenty books to his name, the scope and diversity of his talents appear limitless (having composed novels, short stories, poems, aphorisms, and travel writing). the things we don't do, the first collection of neuman's short stories to be appear in english translation, reaffirms the breadth of both his imagination and literary stylings.
traveler of the century and talking to ourselves , the first of neuman's works brought to english-speaking audiences, while entirely disparate from one another, demonstrated the prodigious gifts of this young, confident writer. both of those novels mesmerize in their own way, but read as if they could have been written by the hand of two different authors. neuman's creative universe seems still to be in its inflationary stage - which quite nearly boggles the mind, given how much he has already accomplished.
the things we don't do collects thirty of neuman's short stories and four dodecalogues which are "simply reflections on short-form narrative," "personal observations that arose during the writing process." neuman's stories are wonderfully diverse, offering a range of themes, subjects, and ideas that are so seldom encountered within a single collection (let alone an author's entire body of work). taken individually, some of these stories surely shine more brightly than others, but when considered as a whole, the things we don't do is a remarkable assortment.
of neuman's many admirable literary qualities, it is perhaps his compassion that is most noteworthy. it's nearly as if neuman animates his characters and lets their rich emotional life unfold as it might. yielding control, his characters (and the stories they inhabit) feel lively and natural, constructed of little else save for the constituent elements that abound in the off-page world. the affluence of neuman's writing consists, in part, in his acumen, empathy, and most enviable storytelling prowess. the things we don't do, especially when considered alongside traveler of the century and talking to ourselves, proves true every kind, prescient, and oft-quoted word roberto bolaño had to say about this gentleman writer.
read neuman. and then share him with everyone you know.
our belief that important decisions are taken gradually, that they evolve over time, reassures us. but time doesn't make anything evolve. it only erodes, retracts, ruptures.
August 7, 2016
La voglia di rileggere ogni racconto di Andrés Neuman è provocata dal fatto che la sua scrittura nasconde storie fra le parole, crea universi in piccoli mondi sconvolgendo l'animo del lettore che si ritrova completamente disarmato davanti a pagine che tentano di metterlo a nudo, di far risaltare ogni suo piccolo ma grande errore, fingendo ironia e fantasia per parlare di ciò che è reale e vivido, di ciò che non si vuole mai ammettere soprattutto quando c'è di mezzo quella cosa terribile ma indispensabile eppure contraddittoria: l'amore. https://justanotherpoint.wordpress.co...
June 1, 2018
Videorecensione e reading: https://youtu.be/AsvJG3XaQhM
January 24, 2016
"In the short story, a minute can be eternal and eternity can unfold in a minute."
Every so often, you find a book that contains vast expanses, wisdom, insight, transcendence. It is even rarer to find all of those qualities in the span of two pages.
Andrés Neuman here presents short stories, except they are even shorter than convention, with common page lengths 1-5 for each story. Think late Borges--a comparison impossible to not make, especially given that a meeting with Borges is the subject of one of the standout stories (one is tempted to believe that that particular story is 100% true).
The only other comparison I can make is Roberto Bolaño--here I reference the tenderness and grace shown in A Little Lumpen Novelita or The Savage Detectives, rather than the (haunting, mesmerizing) brutality of 2666. Neuman finds meaning in a range of situations and milieus, from spying on a neighbor's laundry to a trip to the beach. The sheer humanity of these stories, to me, provides a refreshing contrast to a certain strand of modern western literature (think DeLillo, DFW), with dignity and restraint in place of irony and cleverness.
I was immediately taken with this book, but made sure to savor the stories, trying to only read one or two at a sitting. I'll be sure to follow up with his two novels.
Every so often, you find a book that contains vast expanses, wisdom, insight, transcendence. It is even rarer to find all of those qualities in the span of two pages.
Andrés Neuman here presents short stories, except they are even shorter than convention, with common page lengths 1-5 for each story. Think late Borges--a comparison impossible to not make, especially given that a meeting with Borges is the subject of one of the standout stories (one is tempted to believe that that particular story is 100% true).
The only other comparison I can make is Roberto Bolaño--here I reference the tenderness and grace shown in A Little Lumpen Novelita or The Savage Detectives, rather than the (haunting, mesmerizing) brutality of 2666. Neuman finds meaning in a range of situations and milieus, from spying on a neighbor's laundry to a trip to the beach. The sheer humanity of these stories, to me, provides a refreshing contrast to a certain strand of modern western literature (think DeLillo, DFW), with dignity and restraint in place of irony and cleverness.
I was immediately taken with this book, but made sure to savor the stories, trying to only read one or two at a sitting. I'll be sure to follow up with his two novels.
April 4, 2017
150 pagine x 26 mini racconti.
Spesso un po’ troppo ristretti per i miei gusti. Hai appena capito dove ti trovi ed è già finito. Come dare solo un morso alla tua fetta di torta preferita.
Non posso dire di averlo amato ma devo ammettere che lungo la strada ha iniziato a guadagnarsi una sua fiducia.
In coda 4 dodecaloghi per uno scrittore di racconti. Diversi sarebbero da scolpire nella pietra. [69/100]
Vivo seduto alla scrivania, davanti alla finestra. La vista non è quel che si dice un paesaggio alpino: cortile stretto, mattoni sporchi, persiane chiuse. Potrei leggere. Potrei alzarmi. Potrei fare un giro. Ma niente è paragonabile a questa generosa mediocrità che contiene il mondo intero.
Mi piacciono tutti i propositi, dichiarati o segreti, che disattendiamo insieme. È questo che preferisco della vita a due. La meraviglia aperta sull’altrove. Le cose che non facciamo.
Spesso un po’ troppo ristretti per i miei gusti. Hai appena capito dove ti trovi ed è già finito. Come dare solo un morso alla tua fetta di torta preferita.
Non posso dire di averlo amato ma devo ammettere che lungo la strada ha iniziato a guadagnarsi una sua fiducia.
In coda 4 dodecaloghi per uno scrittore di racconti. Diversi sarebbero da scolpire nella pietra. [69/100]
Vivo seduto alla scrivania, davanti alla finestra. La vista non è quel che si dice un paesaggio alpino: cortile stretto, mattoni sporchi, persiane chiuse. Potrei leggere. Potrei alzarmi. Potrei fare un giro. Ma niente è paragonabile a questa generosa mediocrità che contiene il mondo intero.
Mi piacciono tutti i propositi, dichiarati o segreti, che disattendiamo insieme. È questo che preferisco della vita a due. La meraviglia aperta sull’altrove. Le cose che non facciamo.
December 5, 2025
The most striking part of this book is the contradictory feeling each story leaves you with. When a story ends on a positive note, you remember the title of the book "The Things We Don't Do" which means the happy ending is more of a wish that wasn't actually fulfilled due to actions that were not taken. While a story that ends on a negative note makes you feel restless but when the title comes to mind, you tend to relax thinking this was not actually done by the protagonists...
In this sense, 'The Things We Don't Do' is a special book by an author par brilliance.
You can read my indepth analysis of the book here: https://medium.com/pen-with-paper/how...
In this sense, 'The Things We Don't Do' is a special book by an author par brilliance.
You can read my indepth analysis of the book here: https://medium.com/pen-with-paper/how...
September 5, 2014
Any collection of short stories is likely to have some pieces you like more than others, so do you base a five star review on an overall impression? Or a faultless hit rate? Overall, this is a very solid collection, with some absolute gems, and a good mix of humour and emotional depth. Hard to know what else you could ask of it, although my enthusiasm grew for it from about half way through. Whether this is because the better stuff is at the end, or whether it's a cumulative effect of getting into the writer's voice, I'm not sure, but in any event, a v enjoyable selection.
April 9, 2016
Andrés Neuman comes highly recommended, and who am I to argue with the praise of Roberto Bolaño, among others? The short stories collected in The Things We Don’t Do dig into the fundamental depths of what men and women, friends, colleagues, rivals, and you and your ego do—and don’t do—to one another. Bursts of dogma appear. Perhaps it is meta dogma. Neuman is steeped in tradition; so every step he takes outside the established trajectory of literary fiction seems earned and true.
July 30, 2016
"Far more urgent that to knock a reader out is to wake a reader up."
This could be the best book I have read this year. I can't wait to read more of Andres Neuman and to check out more from Open Letter press. Highly highly recommended for lovers of Lydia Davis, Dorothy Parker, and excellence in literature in general.
This could be the best book I have read this year. I can't wait to read more of Andres Neuman and to check out more from Open Letter press. Highly highly recommended for lovers of Lydia Davis, Dorothy Parker, and excellence in literature in general.
December 3, 2015
Andres Neuman only has three books that have been translated to English, but even with this limited opus it's clear he is quickly becoming one of the most defining voices of 21st century literature.
This most recent book is a collection of some of his short stories, and together they constitute a must-read for any aspiring author in this or any language.
Can't wait for the next book!
This most recent book is a collection of some of his short stories, and together they constitute a must-read for any aspiring author in this or any language.
Can't wait for the next book!
March 25, 2016
Some absolutely beautiful little short stories, some scattered stories that feel unfinished. Andrés Neuman's style is very poetic, retrospective and moreish however, and I'm very interested in reading his novels. The first short story collection The Things We Don't Do (where the book gets its title from), about the small things in life, was breathtaking.
April 26, 2016
When I reviewed Andrés Neuman’s “Talking to Ourselves”, also translated by Nick Caistor and Lorenza Garcia, I spoke of the relationship theme, that work being in three different voices told of a single family and their interactions, and Neuman continues the delving into relationships here with a collection gleaned from many sources and over many years. As a blurb of this work says; “Inspired by Borges and Cortazar, and echoing Vila Matas and Zarraluki, Neuman regards both life and literature's big subjects - identity, relationships, guilt and innocence, the survival of extreme circumstances, creativity and language - with a quizzical, philosophical eye. Shining from the page with both irony and mortal seriousness, these often tragicomic 'stories of ideas' vacillate between the touching and the absurd, in the best tradition of Spanish storytelling.”
Here we still have the proving of oneself to another, “for once I had been good enough for her.” We have the perfect relationships, “what a perfect couple, two halves of the same little orange.” (from ‘a terribly perfect couple), fractured relationships “why would her husband pawn his present from the Christmas before last?” (from ‘secondhand’), new relationships as described in ‘delivery’ a single sentence rant over 10 pages taking place in a delivery theatre, about birth, creation, parenthood, a frantic replication of the thoughts that take place when a birth is underway.
The book is split into six different sections, each with a theme. As pointed out in the accompanying subscriber’s letter by Director of Open Letter Chad W. Post, that came with this book, “Andrés pulled these stories from a number of collections, both because they are some of his best stories, and because they work together in broad thematic strokes to create a collection that builds on itself from stories about relationships, to one about the final moments of life, to pieces about the ‘end and beginning of lexis.’” Very similar to “Arvida” in that although these are stand-alone works, the collection works a whole, those “broad thematic strokes” painting a vivid holistic picture.
For my full review go to http://messybooker.blogspot.com.au/20...
Here we still have the proving of oneself to another, “for once I had been good enough for her.” We have the perfect relationships, “what a perfect couple, two halves of the same little orange.” (from ‘a terribly perfect couple), fractured relationships “why would her husband pawn his present from the Christmas before last?” (from ‘secondhand’), new relationships as described in ‘delivery’ a single sentence rant over 10 pages taking place in a delivery theatre, about birth, creation, parenthood, a frantic replication of the thoughts that take place when a birth is underway.
The book is split into six different sections, each with a theme. As pointed out in the accompanying subscriber’s letter by Director of Open Letter Chad W. Post, that came with this book, “Andrés pulled these stories from a number of collections, both because they are some of his best stories, and because they work together in broad thematic strokes to create a collection that builds on itself from stories about relationships, to one about the final moments of life, to pieces about the ‘end and beginning of lexis.’” Very similar to “Arvida” in that although these are stand-alone works, the collection works a whole, those “broad thematic strokes” painting a vivid holistic picture.
For my full review go to http://messybooker.blogspot.com.au/20...
April 9, 2016
"The Things We Don't Do" by Andres Neuman is a collection of short stories, and he takes the "short" part very seriously, as many are extremely brief and read more like moments than full-blown stories. There's definitely a poetry to this collection.
Not every story blew me away, but there were definitely some high points, and at his best Neuman was moving and beautiful in his writing. There are a few of the stories that have stuck with me.
Some moments are bizarre and some are funny, while others are very serious. There's a little bit for everyone when it comes to subject matter, but the common thread is that they all celebrate language — if you don't love language and the form of the short story, this collection is probably not for you.
This is the type of collection that felt like an onion, in which reading it only once could only possibly peel off one layer. I came away with the distinct feeling that additional readings would unearth new meanings and joy, possibly totally different ones from what I carried away with me the first time. To me, that's exciting, as it feels like a book that can offer even more and evolve over time.
For fans of short short stories, language and a little bit of experimenting, with some beautiful writing and a mixture of heartbreak, comedy and WTF.
Not every story blew me away, but there were definitely some high points, and at his best Neuman was moving and beautiful in his writing. There are a few of the stories that have stuck with me.
Some moments are bizarre and some are funny, while others are very serious. There's a little bit for everyone when it comes to subject matter, but the common thread is that they all celebrate language — if you don't love language and the form of the short story, this collection is probably not for you.
This is the type of collection that felt like an onion, in which reading it only once could only possibly peel off one layer. I came away with the distinct feeling that additional readings would unearth new meanings and joy, possibly totally different ones from what I carried away with me the first time. To me, that's exciting, as it feels like a book that can offer even more and evolve over time.
For fans of short short stories, language and a little bit of experimenting, with some beautiful writing and a mixture of heartbreak, comedy and WTF.
October 14, 2015
This was a delightful, thoughtful collection of short pieces that read like prose poems even more than short stories. Reminded me a little of Yasmina Reza's Happy Are the Happy (and just a little of Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being) in its depiction of human relationships and its ability to distill larger truths from smaller details and observations. For people who want something a bit deeper to muse upon but who may not have the time and energy to invest in a larger work.
May 19, 2016
I like Neuman. And this collection only reinforced that. Short stories (almost all less than 10 pages) that just grabbed me and kept me reading.
March 2, 2016
beautiful. Short stories that are neither short nor necessarily stories.
June 22, 2018
Neuman is, all at once, insightful, humorous, dark and creatively cerebral - quite a complex offering for a mere 190 pages!
October 24, 2025
"L'estrema libertà di un libro di racconti risiede nella possibilità di cominciare da zero ogni volta. Pretenderne l'unità, sarebbe come chiudere con un lucchetto il laboratorio."
September 22, 2015
I sat with one hand on the wheel, one on Andrés Neuman’s short story collection. My eyes were locked into a vertical loop that found them darting downwards towards the book, upwards towards the road, and then furiously back down again to devour more. Trapped between cars. Trapped between realties. In one I was lost in rapture, experiencing the excruciatingly painful joys of a fictional childbirth. In the other, I was trapped in the monotonous routine I’d repeated almost daily for weeks, waiting for the twisting herd of vehicles in the car-rider line at my actual child’s school to begin moving.
My child. As if I somehow owned them. My child. As if I had actually given birth to them. Men don’t do that. At least not the ones who occupy the very real physical space outside of Andrés Neuman’s head. However in Delivery, Neuman explores this what-if angle with abandon, violently birthing a baby from the most distressing orifice imaginable, while at the same time asking delicate, probing questions about the true nature of innocence, our maddening quest for rebirth, and the repetitive cycle of life and death that we’re all forced to endure. And he does this all within the space of a single ten page sentence.
READ MORE:
http://www.typographicalera.com/the-t...
My child. As if I somehow owned them. My child. As if I had actually given birth to them. Men don’t do that. At least not the ones who occupy the very real physical space outside of Andrés Neuman’s head. However in Delivery, Neuman explores this what-if angle with abandon, violently birthing a baby from the most distressing orifice imaginable, while at the same time asking delicate, probing questions about the true nature of innocence, our maddening quest for rebirth, and the repetitive cycle of life and death that we’re all forced to endure. And he does this all within the space of a single ten page sentence.
READ MORE:
http://www.typographicalera.com/the-t...
November 24, 2020
A delightful yet dark, and perceptive, book of stories I found in one of those Little Free Libraries
May 11, 2019
This is a solid 4.5+ and one of the most unpredictable and satisfying short story collection I've ever read. The form and style vary and the result is thoughtful and thought-provoking stories. I also love the perspectives of people from other countries on issues such as love, violence, monogamy, etc. and how it juxtaposes with the American psyche. Great read.
August 6, 2020
An interesting collection of short stories. The voices/narration techniques used in some of the stories were really new and unique from what I am used to reading. Really refreshing, and I enjoyed many stories, as well as some not so much. But a very creative collection, no doubt. It made me think a lot about the process of writing and storytelling.
Read
April 29, 2020Reminded me of my adoration for short stories. Quality literature as you progress through.
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