Donoso, Jose

New York. 1992. November 1992. Grove Press. 1st American Edition. A Few Very Small & Very Slight Stain Marks On Top Edge,Otherwise Very Good in Dustjacket . 0802112382. Translated from the Spanish by Hardie St. Martin. 243 pages. hardcover. Jacket illustration and design by John Alcorn. Author photograph by Jerry Bauer . keywords: Literature Translated Chile Latin America. FROM THE PUBLISHER - A Chilean writer named Julio and his wife, Gloria, are at a low point in their lives Constantly bickering, the pair are beset by worries about money, their writing, and their son (who may or may not be plying the oldest profession in Marrakesh). When Julio's boyhood best friend, now a famous artist, lends the couple his luxurious Madrid apartment for the summer; it is an escape for both-but in particular for Julio, who fantasizes about the garden next door and the erotic life of the lovely young aristocratic woman who inhabits it. But Julio's life-and career-unravel in Madrid: he is rebuffed by a famous literary agent, Nüria Monclñs, who detests him and his novel; his son's friend from Marrakesh moves in and causes havoc; and Gloria begins to drink. In the face of pitiless adversity, Julio's talent inexorably begins to fade. The garden next door, however, is also Gloria, who has been doing some creating of her own. It is this twist that transforms Donoso's brilliant satire of the writer's life into something even greater: a carefully crafted and bitterly comic meditation on gardens, deceit, and the nature of a writer's muse. inventory #17350 ISBN: 0802112382.