For me it’s gotta be “Morte e Vida Severina”/ “Severino Death and Life”. It’s an epic poem narrating the journey of a poor man from Northeastern Brazil, a famously poor and segregated region that’s frequently affected by severe droughts, fleeing from his home and walking to the big city to survive the season. On the way he describes all the misery he experiences and sees.

One stanza that has stuck with me for years goes something like this "And all of us Severinos/With the same lives/Will die of the same/Severe Severino death,/The death died of/Old age before thirty/Of an ambush before twenty/And of hunger day by day/(Of weakness and plague/The Severino death/attacks at all ages/even those not born)

  • GavilanQlo@alien.topB
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    As a chilean i’d say bolaño, but he’s well known already. Aside from him, Manuel Rojas has a special place in my heart with Hijo de ladrón (Born Guilty in the UK, acording to Wikipedia). Vivir Abajo, by Gustavo Faverón (peruvian) has been my favorite novel since 2020, it’s so good in so many levels. I dont know of any translation yet, but I wish everyone could read it.