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In the Beginning Was the Sea

Part of Pushkin Collection

Author Tomas Gonzalez
Translated by Frank Wynne
Ebook
Steerforth Press | Pushkin Press
On sale Feb 24, 2015 | 224 Pages | 9781782271116
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The first-ever English translation of the classic Latin American novel—dubbed ‘Sisyphus in the Caribbean’—for fans of Paul Theroux’s Mosquito Coast and Alex Garland’s The Beach.

A couple experiences a downward spiral on the Caribbean coast in this “taut, uncompromising study of the fault lines in all of us,” hailed as “‘the best-kept secret of Colombian literature’” (The Guardian).

The young intellectuals J. and Elena abandon the parties, the drinking, and the money of the city to start a new life on a remote tropical coast. Among mango trees, hot sands, and everlasting sunshine, they plan to live the Good Life—self-sufficient and close to nature.

But with each day comes small defeats and imperceptible dramas. Gradually, paradise turns into hell, as brutal weather, mounting debts, the couple’s brittle relationship, and the sea itself threaten to destroy them.

Based on a true story, In the Beginning Was the Sea is a dramatic and searingly ironic account of the disastrous encounter of the imagined life with reality—a satire of hippyism, ecological fantasies, and of the very idea that man can control fate.
Tomás González was born in 1950 in Medellín, Colombia. He studied Philosophy before becoming a barman in a Bogotá nightclub, whose owner published his first novel in 1983. González has lived in Miami and New York, where he wrote much of his work while making a living as a translator. After twenty years in the US, he returned to Colombia, where he now lives. His books have been translated into six languages, and his previous novel, The Storm, was published by Archipelago with translator Andrea Rosenberg. View titles by Tomas Gonzalez

About

The first-ever English translation of the classic Latin American novel—dubbed ‘Sisyphus in the Caribbean’—for fans of Paul Theroux’s Mosquito Coast and Alex Garland’s The Beach.

A couple experiences a downward spiral on the Caribbean coast in this “taut, uncompromising study of the fault lines in all of us,” hailed as “‘the best-kept secret of Colombian literature’” (The Guardian).

The young intellectuals J. and Elena abandon the parties, the drinking, and the money of the city to start a new life on a remote tropical coast. Among mango trees, hot sands, and everlasting sunshine, they plan to live the Good Life—self-sufficient and close to nature.

But with each day comes small defeats and imperceptible dramas. Gradually, paradise turns into hell, as brutal weather, mounting debts, the couple’s brittle relationship, and the sea itself threaten to destroy them.

Based on a true story, In the Beginning Was the Sea is a dramatic and searingly ironic account of the disastrous encounter of the imagined life with reality—a satire of hippyism, ecological fantasies, and of the very idea that man can control fate.

Author

Tomás González was born in 1950 in Medellín, Colombia. He studied Philosophy before becoming a barman in a Bogotá nightclub, whose owner published his first novel in 1983. González has lived in Miami and New York, where he wrote much of his work while making a living as a translator. After twenty years in the US, he returned to Colombia, where he now lives. His books have been translated into six languages, and his previous novel, The Storm, was published by Archipelago with translator Andrea Rosenberg. View titles by Tomas Gonzalez

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