Mad Toy

Arlt Roberto Arlt, Aynesworth Michele Aynesworth

Description

Roberto Arlt, celebrated in Argentina for his tragicomic, punch-in-the-jaw writing during the 1920s and 1930s, was a forerunner of Latin American "boom" and "postboom" novelists such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Isabel Allende. Mad Toy, acclaimed by many as Arlt's best novel, is set against the chaotic background of Buenos Aires in the early twentieth century. Set in the badlands of adolescence, where acts of theft and betrayal become metaphors for creativity, Mad Toy is equal parts pulp fiction, realism, detective story, expressionist drama, and creative memoir.An immigrant son of a German father and an Italian mother, Arlt as a youth was a school dropout, poor and often hungry. In Mad Toy, he incorporates his personal experience into the lives of his characters. Published in 1926 as El juguete rabioso, the novel follows the adventures of Silvio Astier, a poverty-stricken and frustrated youth who is drawn to gangs and a life of petty crime. As Silvio struggles to bridge the gap between exuberant imagination and the sordid reality around him, he becomes fascinated with weapons, explosives, vandalism, and thievery, despite a desperate desire to rise above his origins. Flavored with a dash of romance, a hint of allegory, and a healthy dose of irony, the novel's language varies from the cultured idiom of the narrator to the dialects and street slang of the novel's many colorful characters.Mad Toy has appeared in numerous Spanish editions and has been adapted for the stage and for film. It is the second of Arlt's novels to be translated into English.

Informations

• Publié par: Duke University Press
• Date de parution: 18 juillet 2002
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780822383338
• Langue: English

Extrait

MAD TOY

MAD TOY Roberto Arlt n n n n n n n n

Translated and introduced by

Michele McKay Aynesworth

                  

                

This work is a translation ofEl juguete rabioso

© copyright by the heirs of Roberto Arlt,

copyright renewed n English translation ©

copyright by Duke University Press, 

n Printed in the United States of America on

acid-free paper  n Designed by Rebecca M.

Giménez n Typeset in Carter & Cone Galliard

by Tseng Information Systems, Inc. n Library

of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

appear on the last printed page of this book.

To Naomi, Dan, Rowena, Max, and Ray

Y si se delata a Roberto Arlt?

Rosa de cobreis not a Rose, is not a Kiss, en la Máquina polifacética de Arlt—

Grabador de fuegos artificiales, Fleurs de la banalité moderne (‘‘I am not Hamlet nor was meant to be’’),

Paralelepípedos rascando cielos, Phantasmagoríaen cobre y zinc.

—‘‘¿Qué hiciste de mi vida?’’ preguntan, inocentes, Siete Chiflados buscando Autor—

Títeres ahorcados Soldados de plomo Juguetes rabiosos A-Luzinados.

Michele: ‘‘¿Y si se delata al Inventor?’’

Arlt: ‘‘Yo no tengo la culpa.’’

And If I Accuse Roberto Arlt?

Copper rose is not a Rose, is not a Kiss, in Arlt’s many-sided Machine—

Recorder of fireworks, Fleurs de la banalité moderne (‘‘I am not Hamlet nor was meant to be’’),

Parallelepipeda scraping the skies, Phantasmagoriain zinc.

‘‘What did you do with my life?’’ ask Seven Stooges seeking their Author—

Hanged puppets Tin soldiers Mad toys sans Sight—

Michele: ‘‘And if I accuse the Inventor?’’

Arlt: ‘‘It’s not my fault.’’

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Introduction n

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. Works and Days n

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. Mad Toy n

Acknowledgments n

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Works Cited n

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. Judas Iscariot n

Appendix. The Neighborhood Poet

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Notes n

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A Note on the Translation n

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. The Band of Thieves n

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CONTENTS

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Arlt’s Dedication to Ricardo Güiraldes

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