Titles like Cyrano de Bergerac's prototype science fiction picaresque, Journey To The Moon and Giuseppe Garibaldi's staggeringly exciting memoir, My Life (which was never rendered into English until Hesperus did so) are among a sea of others equally lost and then found.
Their books are handsome productions that often contain enlightening introductions, afterwords or supplemental readings that all shed light on the importance of the work.
They are not easy to get a hold of these days.
To say their books are hard to come by these days in the States is an understatement. Once upon a time there were cardboard displays housing Hesperus titles in nearly every Barnes & Noble. Over the last couple years the titles have been increasingly hard to order.
Nonetheless here are three titles that Hesperus "found" this year. I think you'll understand my profuse praise after one glance at these titles. I hope to review a couple of them more thoroughly once I can actually have one in my clutches.
Hesperus Press' Found Books
The Topless Tower by Sylvina Ocampo. Translated by James Womack. Fiction. Hesperus Press. Trade paperback. ISBN: 1843918552. $14.95.
Hesperus Press synopsis...
When a mysterious stranger arrives laden with paintings, Leandro finds his quiet life instantly and mysteriously disrupted. Awakening locked in a windowless room in a topless tower, he finds himself trapped—the subject in one of the stranger’s eerie paintings. Heavily influenced by nonsense literature such as Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and the surrealist movement in South America, The Topless Tower features all the typical hallmarks of Silvina Ocampo’s fantastical writing. With subtle inflections of language and tremendous displays of imagination running riot, Ocampo’s writing is beautifully translated here by James Womack.
DA's comment...
Ocampo was a brilliant editor and writer who often collaborated with fellow Argentines Jorge Lois Borges and Adolfo Bioy Casares. Her work has often been overlooked in translation but with this fresh translation by Hesperus English language readers will have a chance to enjoy her innovative approach to the fantastical.
On Deception by Harry Houdini. Foreword by Derren Brown. Essays. Hesperus Press. Trade paperback. ISBN: 1843916134. $12.95.
Hesperus Press synopsis...
Throughout his life, the world’s most famous escapologist strove to expose the methods and tricks of illusionists and sham spiritualists. Studying entertainers and criminals alike, Houdini investigates the tricks of the mind and sleights of hand that have deceived people throughout history. The magician’s writings caused a public sensation; legend has it that his book The Right Way to Do Wrong was bought in bulk by burglars in an attempt to guard the tricks of their trade. This collection also includes Houdini’s revelations about the methods behind some of his own most famous tricks, and articles he wrote to expose his imitators.
DA's comment...
Are you kidding me? This has to be one of the coolest republications of the year. The master of misdirection and, well, lying sets forth the principles and blue prints of his trade. I've ordered this book twice and still haven't got it yet. How it pains me to wait.
The Devil's Disciple by Shiro Hamao. Translated from the Japanese by Keith Vincent. Fiction. Hesperus Press. ISBN: 1843918579. Releases in October of 2010.
Hesperus Press synopsis...
The first English language translation of a chilling murder mystery by a prolific Japanese detective novelist
‘Prosecutor Tsuchida, I am being held here as a murderer. But the truth is that I am probably not that murderer. That’s right. Probably.’
While Shimaura Eizo sits in jail awaiting trial for the murder of a beautiful young woman, his erstwhile lover and initiator into a sinister, restless existence has risen in the ranks of the legal profession and is now the prosecutor on the case. Spinning a complex web of events and influences in this chilling murder mystery, Hamao probes the notion of guilt—both psychological and legal.
DA's comment...
Combine the words prolific detective novelist and first English language translation and you have the attention of this plot loving monoglot.
Hopefully this one can be a tipping point for the good firm from the UK.
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