Al acecho.
Case, Thomas E.
Long recognized as a master short-story writer, Isidoro Blaisten
(formerly Blaistein) will not disappoint readers familiar with his tales
with this new volume, Al acecho. Born in 1933 in Concordia, Entre Rios,
Blaisten is the author of some twelve books, principally collections of
short stories. He has been heralded by some as the successor of Borges
and Cortazar in this genre. He has also worked extensively in journalism
and photography.
The eight stories in Al acecho have in common the violence and
deception of contemporary life and somewhat the debunking of nostalgia
for what once was considered the "Age of Aquarius." The title
story is the introspective analysis of a clever young man who entices a
lonely young woman into inviting him to her apartment, where he then
kills her. "El principe de los vikingos" pairs the fantasy of
a child with the pretensions of grown-ups who are unable to see through
the phony character of a long-awaited dinner guest. "Un domingo
oscuro" juxtaposes the slow death of a hit-and-run accident with
the driveling conversation and gorging at a social gathering.
"Cosecha el dia" and "Despues de la presentacion"
present a view of life devoid of depth and feeling played out with the
humdrum and routine. Delving further into the human psyche,
"Version definitiva del cuento de Pigue" details the
psychopathic life of a man who drifts from relationship to relationship
and from one kind of therapy to another, until we learn that the root of
his problem is his concealed murder of his father.
The most delightful, and most insightful, tale in the collection
could be "Desde el alma," about a well-adjusted couple of the
"flower generation" who operate a delicatessen which serves
the needs of its snobbish intellectual clients. The overweight and
politically incorrect "baby boomers" happily romp about their
stocks of cheeses, hams, matambre, and olives and in no way miss their
former concerns over Sartre, Levi-Strauss, Lukacs, Durkheim, and the
rest. The closer is "El crimen del diputado Estigmetti," which
portrays the violence, corruption, and malice of a present-day
politician.
In his scathing analyses of current Argentine culture, Blaisten
deftly wields current vernacular language, psychology, and irony to
create marvelous satire in the philosophical sense, not directed at
anyone in particular but pointing to the follies and illusions of his
generation. If a new era was ushered in with structuralism, neo-Marxism,
and the rise of liberation movements, there were also concomitant
results such as the breakup of family structure and the advent of
political correctness, all which produced its own bubble of illusion and
deception which Blaisten so mercilessly bursts. Humor is a most
effective needle.
Thomas E. Case San Diego State University
