Description
The Instant
Book Summary
Ten texts, ten instants, ten characters. Albert Mestres, an author who has explored poetry, narrative, theater, and essays, offers us in this volume a collection of prose with a captivating fleetingness. The reader must be attentive to retain the essence of each story and discover the mechanism that articulates them. Accidents, kidnappings, murders, rapes, fires, extortions, and overflowing sexuality form situations of enormous intensity and tension, provoking a unique verbal expansion, a flow of words that intertwine, overlap, avoid each other, break, and sometimes collide. A work that explores the limits of short narrative.
What is it about?
The book brings together ten independent prose pieces that function as narrative flashes. Each text captures a specific instant, a limit situation in a character's life. The work delves into moments of high dramatic tension: accidents, kidnappings, murders, rapes, fires, extortions, and intense sexual encounters. The main characteristic of these stories is their fleeting nature; they require careful reading to grasp their aroma and understand the unique mechanism that structures them. Language expands in an unusual way, creating a dense and complex verbal flow where words intertwine, overlap, avoid each other, break, and collide, reflecting the intensity of the narrated situations.
Main themes
- The fleeting nature of the instant and its capacity to concentrate a complete life experience.
- Violence in its multiple forms: physical, psychological, and sexual.
- Narrative tension as a motor for prose and the expansion of language.
- The exploration of the limits of short narrative and formal experimentation.
- Overflowing sexuality as a primary force and generator of conflict.
Who is it recommended for?
This book is aimed at readers interested in high-intensity short narrative, formal experimentation, and poetic language. It is ideal for those looking for a read that challenges traditional narrative conventions and offers a concentrated and powerful literary experience. It will also be of interest to followers of Albert Mestres' work and those who appreciate prose that explores the limits of verbal expression.
What this book offers
- An intense and concentrated reading experience, where each text is a world in itself.
- A sample of Albert Mestres' versatility and mastery in the short prose genre.
- An exploration of the limits of language and narrative through limit situations.
- Ten literary pieces that invite re-reading to discover new layers of meaning.
Technical specifications
- Author: Albert Mestres
- Publisher: Cossetània Edicions
- Language: Catalan
- Subject: Modern and contemporary fiction
- Collection: La gent del llamp (V·ria)
- Binding: Paperback
- Number of pages: 64
- Weight: 140 g
Editorial review
L'instant is a unique literary proposal that demonstrates Albert Mestres' ability to work with short formats without losing depth. The work offers a demanding yet rewarding reading experience, ideal for an audience seeking narrative that transcends the conventional. The collection of prose, with its intensity and verbal experimentation, represents a valuable addition for readers interested in contemporary literature in Catalan and in the exploration of the limits of narrative language.