by Eloy Urroz
Translated by Ezra Fitz
Publication Date: 08/01/2006
ISBN: 9781564784278
One of the most remarkable books of contemporary Mexican literature, The Obstacles is the story of young writers coming of age in a world dominated entirely by their own fictions. It tells, in alternating chapters, the stories of two teenagers, Ricardo and Elias, who are characters in each others' novels.Blurring our notions of reality and fiction, Eloy Urroz takes the reader into a world where characters invent characters and challenge their creators. And the book's conclusion--in which a surprising connection between Ricardo and Elias is revealed--shows that not even fiction can be controlled in a world of such incredible unpredictability.
Eloy Urroz is the author of The Obstacles and Friction, both available from Dalkey Archive Press, along with several other volumes of poetry and literary criticism. He was one of the authors of the “Crack Manifesto,” a statement by five Mexican writers dedicated to breaking with the pervading Latin American literary tradition. Born in New York in 1967, Urroz is currently a professor at The Citadel in South Carolina, where he teaches 20th century Latin American Literature, 20th century Spanish Poetry, and Creative Writing.