Paradiso

Recently rereleased by Dalkey Archive, Paradiso was first published in Cuba in 1966 and quickly hailed as a masterpiece by writers such as Julio Cortázar and Mario Vargas Llosa. It is the story of José Cemí, who, in the wake of his father's premature death, comes of age in turn-of-the-century Cuba, "an island paradise where magic and philosophy twist the lives of the old Cuban bourgeoisie into extravagant wonderful shapes" (Washington Post).

"Lezama Lima has aptly been called 'A Proust of the Caribbean." . . . Paradiso triumphs as a work of pure aestheticism, of absolute digression and linguistic tour de force."—Nation

"An extraordinary novel written by Cuba's leading poet. . . . A masterpiece of modern Spanish Baroque."—Edmund White, New York Times

An excerpt from the first chapter of Paradiso,
Baldovina started back to the boy, hoping that meanwhile someone had carried off his small body with which for some mysterious reason she had been burdened, forcing her to babble explanations and be extremely solicitous; at any given moment his welts and asthma might intensify and fill her with terror. Then the Colonel would turn up, and she would become the target of a volley of questions to which she would respond, nervously distracted, with a counterpoint of curtsies, starts and lies, so that while the Colonel baritoned his laugher, Baldovina tried to make herself invisible bit by bit; and when he spoke to her again, his voice had to penetrate a forest so dark and with so many obstacles that he would be forced to amplify it with echo upon echo until he seemed to be summoning the entire household. And Baldovina, who was only a household fragment, would be reached by such a small particle of his voice that he would now have to reinforce it with a more peremptory tone to carry the force of a command.

Both the Dalkey Archive Press and the Review of Contemporary Fiction were created to establish a safe haven for literary art that will protect it from its uncertain fate in the marketplace. While the Review existed to create interest in the work of these writers, many of their books were not available. So, in 1984, Dalkey Archive Press was established to restore such works and to publish new books by contemporary authors. As of 1999, the Press has published nearly 200 books. Visit www.dalkeyarchive.com for more information.

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