7.8 /10 1 Votes
Original title Insensatez Language Spanish Published in English May 15, 2008 Originally published 2004 Publisher New Directions Publishing Published in english 15 May 2008 | 3.9/5 Goodreads Translator Katherine Silver Publication date 2004 ISBN 978-84-8310-314-2 Country El Salvador OCLC 62752401 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Similar Horacio Castellanos Moya books, Catholic Church books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Senselessness is the English translation of the 2004 novel Insensatez, originally written in Spanish by Salvadoran writer Horacio Castellanos Moya. Senselessness was translated by Katherine Silver and published in 2008 by New Directions Publishers. The translation was short-listed for the 2009 Best Translated Book Award.
Plot
A sex-obsessed lush of a writer is employed by the Catholic Church to edit and tidy up a 1,100 page report on the army's massacre and torture of the indigenous villagers a decade earlier. The writer becomes mesmerized by the poetic phrases written by the indigenous people and becomes increasingly paranoid and frightened, not only by the spellbinding words he must read, but also by the murders and generals that run his country. The country, never named, is identifiable as Guatemala through the mention of two presidents, Vinicio Cerezo Arevalo and Efrain Rios Montt.