Thoughts on Sabato's The Tunnel? I thought it was a pretty compelling read...

Cheers

it was very well written, as is the rest of his work. sabato is one of the most underrated south american authors imo. did you know he was a renowned physicist as well? he is the living proof that a man can practice both the sciences and the arts notably. i would recommend checking out his essays about the dangers of technology. that, and abbadon , or as anglos call it, the angel of darkness.

I don't remember the prose being particularly special, but I suppose it's a skill in itself to be snappy and to the point. The dialogue, though, was fantastic. Felt ridiculously natural.

Her husband was a blind man and blind people are evil. It's part of Sabato's blindness trilogy

>the heroes book is ok, but the report is probably his best work, by far, ever.
On Heroes and Tombs is en excellent work, not just "ok". And Abaddón el exterminador is his best work, period. The Informe sobre ciegos is an essay in the broadest sense of the word, and Abaddón is the culmination of that assay.

themontrealreview.com/2009/the-tunnel.php
This is fucking amazing.

>We have seen our fair share of indecisive procrastinators in literature from Hamlet on, and their scuppered self-analysis and pensive to-ing and fro-ing only works when it is not entirely rudderless and, by extension, when the author is able to cap it and afford his character a renewed sense of direction through a cathartic burst of clarity. Sábato prefers to let Castel stew. For most of the novel he is 'filing and classifying ideas', sifting ontological thoughts, drafting contingency plans, wrestling with his 'sterile reasoning, my savage deductions'. We the reader are continually being told, not shown, how he feels. When he pauses for thought the narrative pace becomes sluggish; when his thoughts coalesce the narrative stalls. The result is that Castel gets nowhere fast, but the reader also, since we have elected to follow him and his every non-move.
This is definitely a negative aspect to consider in the writing, but overall it's a good book.

this might be one of the best critique articles I've read in years, no joke

>This is definitely a negative aspect to consider in the writing
On the contrary, I should argue that precisely that is what makes the narrative so effective. It has thematic importance, and since the book is so short it can hardly be said to "stall" or become "sluggish". I don't know how it reads in English, but in Spanish the narration is quite rapid thanks the style it is written in.

Its just my opinion bro. Ive read almost everything that guy has written, even some obscure essays on some long forgotten latin american magazine he published at. Abadon is pretty cool, and its a very well rounded continuation of his literary universe. But informe sobre ciegos is bar none his best work. Its the best self insert he has ever done and he pretty much was a real character in abadon. Im not talking in the literary criticism sense. Im trying to say that informe represents his personal mythos like nothing else he wrote before or after. The dream sequence says it all, he is describing for everyone the most deep shit he ever envisioned in his dreams through a character that is probably the best and most despicable persona he ever created. The whole piece is highly symbolical of his mind at the time, and imo he never ever went that far and that deep again. Abadon reads beautifully but its more like a closure to his nightmares. You can feel the defeat and surrender in his words there, while informe is just madness.
And dont get me wrong, heroes y tumbas is prob one of my favorite books from my childhood, the story moved me deeply back then, but there are better written things. Also Arlt.

>but there are better written things
Whatever that means, "bro"

>all he really gets is information from his warped and estranged view. he is a loner and somewhat crazy, thinking one little tiny detail of his art, seen as he wants it to be seen, unravels his whole persona to someone else
Wouldn't you say it's the same with all of us? I mean, the need for recognition, and even the need for an impossible 'complete' recognition, is kinda universal. I see The Tunnel as a heir to Notes from Underground and The Stranger, and I'm not sure if Castel being a painter obsessed with the understanding of his painting, or just being crazy, makes such a difference in itself.

Oh for sure, i belive it is an angst we all have to love through/with in most of pur life. Castel i think is just a very fucked up/extreme/lost variation of that reality. I also agree with what you say about there not being any difference between his insanity and his obsession, its a dichotomy in a sense, or a vulgar consequence on another. He strives for something un-achievable, that perfect light in wich everything is understood. Sabaton himself often talked about how his exile in france (he was somewhat of a political refugee for a while, abadon covers that) and findong solace in physics and math, in perfect abstractions, felt to him like reaching “some blinding perfect light of truth and meaning”. He then began writing his essays (uno y universo, hombres y engranajes) which read perfectly similar to notes from underground, gog from papini and similar estranged and obssesed characters; all of them looking for a way out of the personal hell of rejection and anger they were inmersed in. Its no coincidence his most terrible dream was to become blind and he often wrote about how blind people frightned them, since they traverse the world surrounded by shadows (again, the same motifs from notes)
Why not share your opinion instead? It is an open forum bro.

Angst we have to live*
Although love through is also an interesting image