Scliar: The centaur in the garden
The next meeting of Sonoma State University Library’s Jewish Literature Reading and Discussion Series is this Thursday from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm in room 3001 of the University Library. The topic of the lecture and discussion is Moacyr Scliar’s (pictured) The Centaur in the Garden. If you plan to attend I can email the questions compiled by Professor Anne Goldman to give some ideas for discussion.
As this very same book is also featured in our book discussion group (in February 2009) I am inclined not to tell you much about the story in advance. As of this moment I am 3/4th way through it right now and it has been a great ride and read. It is “a novel about a centaur who is Brazilian and Jewish, who falls in love and marries, who is loved by another creature as delightful as he, and who possibly discovers the mystery of his life.” This description is from the cover of the library’s copy, which happens to be the first English edition from 1984. The book was written in 1980 in Portuguese.
A literary critic, Ilan Stavans, described the work in these words, “Scliar is a world-class fabulist with a solid and distinguished oeuvre awaiting discovery by a larger audience. I’ve seen The Centaur in the Garden compared to works by Franz Kafka, Nikolai Gogol, Philip Roth, Mordecai Richler, and even John Updike. … Scliar pushes the tragic destiny of Tartakowsky through an infusion of comedy. Its style is vintage Scliar: crisp, speedy, cinematic, succinct.”
Whether you are going tomorrow to SSU or join our bookclub discussion in February or not I am sure you will have a multifaceted experience if you read this book. It is tragedy, comedy, fantasy, family-drama, love story, all in one.
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