Rodrigo Fresán's Novels Subvert Time and Genre

Argentine author Rodrigo Fresán's novels "Le Fond du ciel" (Éditions du Seuil) and "Vie de saints" (Passage du Nord-Ouest) challenge linear time and blend science fiction with literary critique. "Le Fond du ciel" follows cousins Isaac and Ezra, science fiction fans who create a fanzine called Planet and befriend wealthy Jeff Darlingskill. They all fall for a beautiful girl, for whom they build a snow planet. Isaac becomes the literary executor of a writer he despises, while Ezra, with multiple identities, appears in Cuba, Afghanistan, and Iraq. They reunite in a tower as the first plane hits on September 11, 2001. The novel asserts that time is all times simultaneously. "Vie de saints," first published in 1997 and revised twice, is more hallucinatory. It features a Saint Hunter born of a virgin with vaginal aplasia, who works for a Vatican department verifying saints and steals the Dead Sea Scrolls to return them to Canciones Tristes, a place resisting cartography. Characters include serial killer Sebastián Coriolis, bluesman Robert Johnson, and a meeting between Glenn Gould and Oppenheimer. Both novels explore gnosis and Kabbalah, celebrating interpretation and disorienting time.