Ithaca, A Novel

by Guillermo Arbe

This is a story about power and freedom. It’s about living and love and hurting and hate. It's about beauty and bridges and death and drugs and domination. About philosophy and dance and discovery. The scope of discovery that opens up to us at college. Discovering the limits of knowledge, but also discovering a new world, a new society full of new people, each one a new slate on which to write. It’s about what it means to strive to be like God, and whether it is or not a good thing to try to do. Philosophy student Damon S. Attanleigh has built a view of the world, of God, and of power that rationalizes taking over the free will of others. If possible, to the point of their self-destruction. Many surrounding him are hurt, but Troy is the most vulnerable. Tadeo observes Damon with fascination, even as he witnesses the casualties left along the way. Is Damon’s project feasible? Cornell is, after all, known for its beauty and bridges… and for its suicides. At Ithaca, Tadeo discovers a new world. A world which includes Penny, the girl he has sought after, but who creates a life with him that is very different from the one in his dreams. There is a common theme between Penny’s bond with Tadeo and Damon’s relationship with Troy. Namely, the exercise of power. Young and in college, with so much knowledge at their fingertips, it just seems natural to feel that they can take over the world. Or at least (for Damon) the minds of others. And maybe, just maybe, their free will. This book is a homage to Vladimir Nabokov and his love affair with the English language.

340 pages, Paperback

First published September 2, 2015

About the author

Guillermo Arbe Carbonel
Born in Callao, Peru. I moved to the outskirts of Washington D.C. when not yet a year old, and went to grade school in Hyattsville, Maryland. At nearly ten years of age, I returned to Peru for high school, and then went back to the U.S. for college at Cornell from 1977 to 1981. At Cornell, I began studying biology and ended up studying economics. I also met Damon. Sort of. After college I returned to Peru where I lived mostly in Lima, with brief spells in Cusco and Mexico and fairly frequent trips to the U.S. In April, 2000 I returned briefly to Ithaca as a preview to this novel. I am a father of four.