Prodigios

by Angélica Gorodischer

Prodigios narra la historia de la casa natal del poeta Novalis tras su muerte, cuando se convierte en pensión del pueblo de Weissenfels.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Literature, Literary Fiction

174 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1994

About the author

Angélica Beatriz del Rosario Arcal de Gorodischer es una multipremiada autora argentina reconocida como una de las figuras femeninas más importantes dentro de la Ciencia-Ficción y Fantasía iberoamericana, aunque ha trabajado otros géneros.

Traducida al alemán y al inglés (en este idioma la traductora fue Ursula K. Le Guin), es autora de una docena de novelas y multitud de relatos.

Reviews

[Tijana · Rating 5 out of 5]

U romanu Virdžinije Vulf Ka svetioniku postoji jedno srazmerno kratko poglavlje, Time passes, i to je jedan od najbolje napisanih i najstrašnijih momenata i u njenom opusu i u engleskom modernizmu i uopšte uzev, ne znam za bolji prikaz toga kako protiču vreme i život niti mogu da se setim druge knjige u kojoj za smrt glavnog i najdražeg lika saznamo iz jedne uzgredne rečenice u zagradi.
Slušajte pažljivo: ovaj roman Anhelike Gorodišer je *ceo* takav.
Ovo je već treća njena knjiga koju čitam i nema nikakve veze sa prethodne dve, osim što je takođe sjajna-i-genijalna. Prodigies (u originalu Prodigios) nije SF kao Trafalgar, nije ni fentezi kao Kalpa imperijal, nije ni istorijski roman, nego tako… pitaj boga šta je. Povest prvog veka kuće sagrađene iste godine kad je Novalis umro? Recimo. Spori roman o ludo bogatom duhovnom životu dosadnih stanara u otmenom pansionu oko 1900. godine? I to. Jezičko-stilsko vaskrsavanje najdekadentnijeg visokog modernizma? Hm, da. Barokna poema u prozi o životu, smrti, onostranom i o natprirodnom, fantastičnom i jezivom naličju svakodnevice? Definitivno. Bezobrazno „ja to mogu bolje!“ pansionu Voker iz Čiča Gorija? Mo…žda?
U svakom slučaju: knjiga je veličanstvena. Nije za svaki dan i svako raspoloženje, i ne može se (ne treba se) čitati odjednom. Ali to je okej. Srećna sam što postoji i jednom ću kupiti dvadesetak komada da ih podelim ljudima koje najviše volim.

EDIT: Naknadno sam shvatila da nisam ni pomenula prevod Su Berk, što je vrlo ružno jer je u pitanju tečan i melodičan i uopšte odličan (čini mi se barem, ne mogu da poredim sa originalom) prevod vrlo zahtevnog teksta, pa kačim i link na njen esej o prevođenju ovog romana: http://www.asymptotejournal.com/blog/...

[Chris Haggqvist · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorodischer apparently considers this her best book, and it is a beautiful one, but in my opinion not her best novel to appear in English. That glory goes to Trafalgar... I fell into her work originally via Ursula LeGuin's translation of Kalpa Imperial: The Greatest Empire That Never Was and was stunned. This was quite possibly the best book of science fiction I had read since a book by LeGuin herself. But she upped her game even more with Trafalgar, which is laugh out loud funny and written in such an ingenious way that it reminds me of Invisible Cities. Anyhow, back to Prodigies, which is truly a great book. It feels like you are reading the thoughts of the inhabitants of the house from the point of view of the house. If that makes any sense... It's simply beautiful. Dense and difficult, but worth the time and energy.

[Rebecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the hardest 1 star rating I have ever had to give, because the book is brilliantly written and for a while, there were parts of it that I loved. But it is a very specific TYPE of book and it was not the right book for me, at this exact moment in my life. It is very meditative and philosophical and dense and I found that - for me, just for right now - I got to a sticking point and then had to start skimming. I wouldn't be surprised if I go back and re-read the last forty pages in a couple of months and love it. So I reserve the right to update this in the future :-)

[Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book, mysterious and strange. Left me feeling meditative every time I put it down.

[Kaushik · Rating 5 out of 5]

How do you review a book like Prodigies?

A book of sentences, where you read each chapter and each word, and read and read and read, and when you reach the end of a chapter, finally you can breathe. A book where you read a chapter and then go back and read it again, and read it again, and realize that you remember nothing of what you read beyond the emotion and movement of the words. So then you re-read it, but this time for plot, and you see that, well, nothing actually happened. But through these words you've grown comfortable, to feel like you could live at that house at Scheller Street, and meet Katja and Madame Helene and go on a walk with the General.

And then how do you review it knowing that what you're reading is translation, so what you're really experiencing is a work that captures the feeling of the original, but where the language and joy of the book comes from a different source.

Well, one option is to stop and to simply say: go and read this book. Read it with patience, read it slowly, and read it again and again.

[Leah Rachel von Essen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prodigies by Angélica Gorodischer, translated by Sue Burke, is a lovely book that reminded me of Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. We follow the pysches and inner lives of the collection of people who live in Helena Lundgren's boarding house, from the old man who collects toys to the servant who has mysterious whispers in her ear to the new tenant from Japan.

Its poetic, flowing language is compelling, and the character studies are interesting and engaging; the relationships and the narratives that slowly come together were lovely. A great book to read in big chunks, because once you get into the flow of it, it moves quickly. No fantastical elements to this one, but Gorodischer continues to be a deeply underrated author that should be included on more lists. It had a surprisingly emotional conclusion for a book without too much plot, and cut through the facades and respectability of the group to get to the more gnarly undersides.

Content warnings for misogyny, exotification, suicide/ideation.

[Mike Witcombe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Outstanding for the first half, a little too loosely experimental for my taste in the second. I like what the second half is trying to do - get inside the muddled unconscious of a network of characters who present themselves to the world in seemingly coherent ways - but the dense lyrical prose doesn't always yield the insight that I wanted it to. Which is a shame, because for the first half this novel is as brilliant as "Trafalgar" and "Kalpa Imperial", the other of Gorodischer's works I've read (and adored).

[Lindsay Smith-Munoz]

Narrative prose poetry laced with gothic images, at time overwrought. It required focus and concentration to read, but it was still alluring. I tried desperately to read it carefully enough to understand the key to the mysteries within the text (as all the reviewers on the back assured me this was a critical approach) but I finished knowing I had somehow missed something. If I have the gumption to read it a second time, I think my ambivalence about the book might just be turned to love.

[Jay David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorodischer’s three novels translated to English are "Kalpa Imperial" (Ursula K LeGuin; LeGuin was a close friend), "Trafalgar" (Amalia Gladhart) and "Prodigies" (Sue Burke);. The three are not comparable because they are so different from each other and from her other works in Spanish. "Trafalgar" is hard-core sci-fi; "Kalpa Imperial" is fantasy. "Prodigies" is like James Joyce’s "Dubliners" meets Borges. I love Joyce and Borges, so I loved "Prodigies. "

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of a boarding house and its occupants, in like a Woolf-style stream of consciousness; but a little too self-consciously crafted to be thoroughly affecting.

[The Geeky Writer · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://thegeekywriter.com/2017/07/22...

[scarlettraces]

Managed to read the entire book without clocking the Novalis thing. Lit fail (mine).

[John Devenny · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a hard slog. I loved her earlier book Trafalgar but found this one tedious. I really disliked the writing style which kept all the characters at a distance so that I was unable to relate to any of them.

[Ari · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved Kalpa Imperial so unreservedly I was sure I'd love this too, but, reader: I didn't. :(

[Matti]

Didn't work for me.