Her name is Golondrina, «swallow». When she walks, the wind carries a slight scent of violets. For Pampa Union, a mirage mining city in the desert, Golondrina is a real angel. She accompanies films in a working cinema and learns Chopin on the piano with schoolgirls.
Her name is Golondrina, «swallow». When she walks, the wind carries a slight scent of violets. For Pampa Union, a mirage mining city in the desert, Golondrina is a real angel. She accompanies films in a working cinema and learns Chopin on the piano with schoolgirls. Now her thoughts are busy with the city square: it would be nice if it ceased to be a dump and there were trees, benches and a playground on it. The golondrina is about thirty.
Yes, her city looks like a hangout and it’s not even on the map. Yes, her father not only vehemently stigmatizes President Ibanez del Campo, for whose visit the city orchestra is preparing, but also hides explosives in the cellar for him. Yes, Golondrina’s lover (the trumpeter from the orchestra) acquired the fame of a reveler and a Don Juan. But she really loves them. Hernan Letelier paints a free, anarchic world, intuitively drawn to pure beauty and goodness. And Fata Morgana, this optical mirage and confusion, does not fool anyone here. At first glance, it seems otherwise: the concerto that the whole novel is rehearsing will never be played; from the city, for the sake of whose status the concert is being started, there will be a skeleton in the desert; love, miraculously surviving in brothels and drunken fights, will not save anyone, and the drum roll of the revolution, calling for happiness for everyone, will destroy the fragile world with an awkward movement. But, despite the tragic ending of the battle between life and the system, the writer’s memory remains — historical and private. It is she who allows you to return the exact meaning of life values, so that love remains love, good — good, courage — courage. Fata Morgana, which you can safely rely on.
Translation from Spanish by Daria Sinitsyna
Ivan Limbakh Publishing House, 272 p.