Moya and Pauls: Fable and Myth in New Novels

Two new novels by Latin American authors are reviewed. Horacio Castellanos Moya's 'Le bal des vipères' is a surreal fable set in an unnamed Latin American city. The story follows Eduardo Sosa, who kills an old man living in a yellow Chevrolet and takes his place, only to find the car infested with vipers that become his companions. The narrative blends road movie freshness with social commentary, exploring identity and mutation. Alan Pauls' 'La vie pieds nus' is a phenomenological reflection on the beach, examining it as a space of dream, primitive values, and cultural mythology. Pauls draws on films, his childhood, and the history of tourism to argue that the beach is an eschatological space, a tabula rasa. The book is written in a Proustian style with lightness and humor, and could accompany photographs by Richard Misrach.