The Diaries of Emilio Renzi: Formative Years

"e;Cognizant of his impending death, Piglia, the Argentine titan of letters who died of A.L.S. in January, prepared his 327 notebooks for publication in a trilogy.... Splendidly crafted and interspliced with essays and stories, this beguiling work is to a diary as Piglia is to "e;Emilio Renzi"e;: a lifelong alter ego, a highly self-conscious shadow volume that brings to bear all of Piglia's prowess as it illuminates his process of critical reading and the inevitable tensions between art and life."e; -Mara Faye Lethem, The New York Times Book ReviewA giant of contemporary Latin American literature, Argentine novelist Ricardo Piglia's secret magnum opus was a compilation of 327 notebooks that he composed over nearly six decades, in which he imagined himself as his literary alter ego, Emilio Renzi. A world-weary detective, Renzi stars in many of his creator's works, much like Philip Roth's Nathan Zuckerman. But the Renzi of these diaries is something more complex-a multilayered reconstruction of the self that is teased out over intricate, illuminating pages.As Piglia/Renzi develops as a reader and writer, falls in love, and tussles with his tyrannical father, we get eye-opening perspectives on Latin America's tumultuous twentieth century. Obsessed with literary giants-from Borges and Cortazar (both of whom he knew), to Kafka and Camus-The Diaries comprise a celebration of reading as a vital, existential activity.When Piglia learned he had a fatal illness in 2011, he raced to complete his mysterious masterwork as rumors about the book intensified among his many fans. First released in Spanish as a trilogy to tremendous applause, The Diaries of Emilio Renzi cements Piglia's place in the global canon.