The Gold Seekers – Augusto Monterroso
The Gold Seekers by Augusto Monterroso, translated by Jessica Sequeira / small 144-page paperback, 5 x 7 inches / ISBN 9781955190589 / published by Sublunary Editions
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In The Gold Seekers (Los buscadores de oro, 1993), Augusto Monterroso embarks on a journey in search of his most remote memories, stopping along the way to reflect on his current life as a citizen somewhere on the planet and the activity he chose to make sense of his path: writing. As he puts it, “you start off in a small world, no matter where you happen to be born; it only grows bigger if you manage to leave the place where you have to leave in time, physically or with the imagination.” This book, abounding in images, invites the reader on an exploration of the writer’s personality, with his anxieties, interests and points of view described from the moment he became conscious of his individuality. With Monterroso’s narrative alchemy, The Gold Seekers transforms from an account of childhood into an intense novella, a living family portrait whose author and principal protagonist rediscovers the characters and emotions, both painful or happy, that formed a part of his life.
Augusto Monterroso (1921-2003) was a Honduran writer of adopted Guatemalan nationality who lived much of his adult life in Mexico after running afoul of the regime of Guatemalan dictator Jorge Ubico. Monterroso was an integral part of the period known as the Latin American “boom”, becoming well known for his often brief stories included in volumes like Complete Works and Other Stories (Obras completas (Y otros cuentos), 1959), Black Sheep and Other Fables (La oveja negra y demás fábulas, 1969), and Perpetual Motion (Movimiento perpetuo, 1972). He died in Mexico City in 2003 at the age of 81.
Jessica Sequeira is a writer, editor, and translator based in Santiago, Chile. As a writer, she has published The Furious Oyster, A Luminous History of the Palm, A Golden Jackyl, Rhombus and Oval, and Other Paradises: Poetic Approaches to Thinking in a Technological Age, and her latest novella, Jazz of the Affections is forthcoming from Sublunary Editions. She has translated numerous authors, most recently, Daniel Guebel’s novel The Absolute.
