{"product_id":"yesterday-9780811231572","title":"Yesterday","description":"In the city of San Agustín de Tango, the banal is hard to tell from the bizarre. In a single day, a man is guillotined for preaching the intellectual pleasures of sex; an ostrich in a zoo, reversing roles, devours a lion; and a man, while urinating, goes bungee jumping through time itself--and manages to escape. Or does he? Witness the weird machinery of \u003cem\u003eYesterday\u003c\/em\u003e, where the Chilean master Juan Emar deploys irony, digression, and giddy repetitions to ratchet up narrative tension again and again and again, in this thrilling whirlwind of the ecstatically unexpected--all wed to the happiest marriage of any novel, ever. \u003cp\u003eBorn in Chile at the tail end of the nineteenth century, Juan Emar was largely overlooked during his lifetime, and lived in self-imposed exile from the literary circles of his day. A cult of Emarians, however, always persisted, and after several rediscoveries in the Spanish-speaking world, he is finally getting his international due with the English-language debut of \u003cem\u003eYesterday\u003c\/em\u003e, deftly translated by Megan McDowell. Emar's work offers unique and delirious pleasures, and will be an epiphany to anglophone readers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eEmar, Juan:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eJuan Emar\u003c\/strong\u003e is the pen name of Chilean writer, painter, and art critic Álvaro Yánez Bianchi. Born in Chile in 1893, he was a strong advocate of the artistic avant-garde of the 1920s and 30s, and his critical writings helped revolutionize the art scene in his country. Under-appreciated in his time, he is now considered to be one of the most important 20th-century Latin American writers.\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMcDowell, Megan:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eMegan McDowell\u003c\/strong\u003e lives in Santiago, Chile. She has translated many of the most important contemporary Spanish language authors, including Alejandro Zambra, Samanta Schweblin, Mariana Enríquez, and Lina Meruane. She has been nominated four times for the International Booker Prize, and was the recipient of a 2020 Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eZambra, Alejandro:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eAlejandro Zambra\u003c\/strong\u003e is the author of \u003cem\u003eBonsai\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe Private Lives of Trees\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eWays of Going Home\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eNot to Read\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eMy Documents\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eMultiple Choice\u003c\/em\u003e, among other books. Zambra is the recipient of a New York Public Library Cullman Center fellowship, and his stories and essays have appeared in publications like \u003cem\u003eThe New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Paris Review, Granta, The Believer\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eHarper's\u003c\/em\u003e. His latest novel is called \u003cem\u003eChilean Poet\u003c\/em\u003e and has just been published by Viking. He lives in Mexico City.","brand":"New Directions Publishing Corporation","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50533787304210,"sku":"9780811231572","price":10.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_47c3e6e0-a0e0-49ea-a4ff-8207bd0d4298.jpg?v=1731411533","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/yesterday-9780811231572","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}