El padre muerto. (The Dead Father)

Pennsylvania-born Barthelme's fiction, the short stories in particular, are postmodernist works; as such, the narrative develops as postmodernist narrative are wont to do. To wit, the author uses stream of consciousness or rambling, winding sentences to weave the plot. The title character is the Dead Father, who is the very old embodiment of fatherhood. The other two main characters, Thomas and Julie, have recruited a group of people to haul the Dead Father to a specific location, a final resting place of sorts. It's a tough haul, too, so that the reader gets the sense that it's a pilgrimage of sorts. Throughout the journey, the Dead Father alternates between being all animated exuberance (walking around, fighting, and even slaughtering animals) to being an invalid (hence the need to haul him on the difficult trek). Taking the aforementioned into consideration, and keeping in mind that this work is one part Waiting for Godot and three parts One Hundred Years of Solitude, it must be noted that the translator truly rose to the challenge. Translating run-on sentences and deconstructed thoughts (the final chapter, in particular, is a good example of deconstructed narrative) is no easy feat and the translation manages to provide both clear, correct Spanish and a remarkable preservation of the author's voice and intent. Readers not accustomed to postmodernist work will not enjoy the novel. Therefore, the book is strongly recommended for undergraduate and graduate collections of literature in translation.—Vivian Gómez, Brooklyn, NY