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He was falling in love, in the profoundly selfish way men often do. He wanted her for himself.
— Daniel Alarcón, The King Is Always Above the People
NEW POST! Everything I Read, Watched, and Listened to in November
Have I got a discovery for you! This little gem, THE BOOK OF EMMA REYES, is a posthumous memoir told in 23 letters that were published ten years after the author’s death. This woman survived a childhood of abject poverty – abandoned by her mother, raised by a garbage heap in Bogota, Colombia, subjected to a full work shift by the age of five – to become a painter who rubbed shoulders in Europe with Jean-Paul Sartre, Frida Kahlo and Pier Paolo Pasolini. Gabriel Garcia Marquez phoned her to encourage her! In the first 30 pages you’ll watch slum children erect a god out of garbage, and the first nightmarish automobile arrive in town – electrifying moments. Here’s an example, the author as a child talking to a child friend: “he asked me if I had a dad and a mom, and I asked him what those were, and he said he didn’t know either.” It’s a physically gorgeous little book, with a cover featuring art by Emma Reyes, and interior pages with samples of her longhand script and several unforgettable drawings. Translated and introduced by Daniel Alarcon, a brilliant young writer on his own. Are you looking for a woman writer with determination, talent, and some unforgettable tales to tell? Meet Emma.
THE BOOK OF EMMA REYES
by Emma Reyes
(translated by Daniel Alarcon)
Regular price $24
20% off at University Book Store
Our price $19.20
CHILDHOOD NEAR A GARBAGE HEAP IN BOGOTA
Emma and her older sister, Helena, grew up abandoned by their mother, living near the garbage heap in a windowless room without toilet or water or electricity.
Illiterate until her late teens, Emma made her way across South America to Europe, working and learning and painting, until she was befriended by Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Pier Paolo Pasolini.
This posthumous memoir composed of 23 letters was first published ten years after Emma Reyes’ death. It’s a truthful, child’s-eye view of abject poverty and the grim unfairness of life, and how they shape a strong woman artist.
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Come discuss the book with us!
Nick’s Picks Book Club
UNIVERSITY BOOK STORE
4326 University Way NE
The bookstore café
Monday, September 25, 6 pm
Only 175 pages, gorgeous images, swift, honest style from a determined writer – really, what more could you ask for? – Nick
Geography is an accident, he said. The place you are born is simply the first place you flee.
— Daniel Alarcón, The King Is Always Above the People
Grown men with hurt feelings are awkward creatures; grown men who feel dimly that they have done something wrong are positively opaque. It would've been much simpler if we'd all come to blows.
— Daniel Alarcón, The King Is Always Above the People
There are no cynics in this town—that is something you learn when you travel. When you live in the capital and become corrupt. One cannot be rude to these people; one cannot make fun of them. They know almost nothing about you anymore, but they love you.
— Daniel Alarcón, The King Is Always Above the People
His politics affirmed that all work held an inherent dignity. This was what he'd always repeated, but of course no ideology can protect a son from the unwelcome inheritance of his father's ambitions.
— Daniel Alarcón, The King Is Always Above the People
This corruption, the only kind of commerce that had thrived during the war, was also the only kind we could always count on. Why he found it so disconcerting, I couldn't figure. Nothing could have been more ordinary.
— Daniel Alarcón, The King is Always Above the People
