Publication Date: 31/10/2024 ISBN: 9781913512569 Category:

The Novices of Lerna

Angel Bonomini, Jordan Landsman

Publisher: Peninsula Press Ltd
Publication Date: 31/10/2024 ISBN: 9781913512569 Category:
Paperback / Softback

£10.00

Become the envy of all book lovers with your own Mr B’s sticker to show off where you do your shopping.

Quantity:

Description

When unambitious scholar Ramon Beltra receives a mysterious invitation to a lucrative six-month fellowship at the University of Lerna in Switzerland, he reluctantly complies with the unusual qualifying paperwork requiring several pages of detailed measurements and photographs of his entire body. Beltra soon finds himself in the deserted university town of Lerna, together with twenty-three other ‘novices’ subject to the same undisclosed project – all of them doppelgangers of Beltra himself. At first, Beltra is the only one to bristle at the school’s dizzying array of rules and regulations, but this all changes with the onset of an uncontrollable epidemic, and the fellows begin dying off one by one…

The Novices of Lerna is a meditation on identity, surveillance, and isolation that remains eerily relevant. Shot through with wry humour and tender absurdity, this novella offers a perfect introduction to Angel Bonomini’s incomparable body of work.

Publisher Review

‘I’m so enthralled by the book that one night, when Borges came over, I proposed we read the only story I hadn’t read yet: “The Novices of Lerna.” We were dazzled. The story is admirably told, with much wisdom, everything is spot on.’ – Letter from Adolfo Bioy Casares to A ngel Bonomini, September 18, 1972

‘A ghost of a book that haunts and perplexes, enticing each reader in with its mastery of language and craft.’ – Asymptote

‘A compelling balance of heady high concepts with pulp thrills…a welcome addition to Argentinian literature in translation – and to Weird fiction the world over.’ – Tobias Carroll

Find this book on the following lists

Book experts at your service

What are you looking for?

A recommendation
Something specific
  • Mr B's Recommendation Station
  • Fill in the three questions below, along with your name and email address, and our book experts will be in touch soon with their personal recommendations

  • I'm after something specific
  • Tell us about the book, author or subject you're looking for, along with your name and email address and our book experts will be in touch as soon as possible