Cuentos autobiográficos : Volumen II

In this second volume of his autobiographical stories, Álvaro Pombo brings together thirty-two tales in which familiar figures and tailor-made characters once again evoke memories and paint scenes from a life captured in all its moments. Reality and fiction merge and blur freely, for what is relevant is what underlies the layering —linguistic, narrative, and reflective— that the author unfolds in each text. In this kaleidoscopic reading, Pombo puts his meticulous prose and ironic gaze at the service of questioning the meaning of life, always elusive and unattainable. With his restless and meandering style, full of humor and depth, Pombo portrays himself in vignettes and projects himself onto characters, thus traversing the entire arc of a life. In childhood and youth, character and aspirations are shaped here in the shadow of a colorful family, but also of other guiding figures, and by certain foundational experiences and readings; Past eighty, a life of seclusion leads to analyzing one's relationships from new perspectives, in a time still capable of providing some luminous encounters. In Autobiographical Tales, Volume II, everyday realism intertwines with philosophical and religious speculation in an attempt to capture an elusive essence. Evoking adult frustrations and losses alongside all the colors of childhood, Álvaro Pombo continues to trace, with a free and fluid style, confident and uninhibited, the contours of a possible self-portrait.