Kociancich, Vlady

New York. 1991. Morrow. 1st American Edition. Very Good in Dustjacket. Red Remainder Dot On Bottom Edge. 0688104320. Translated from the Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa. 298 pages. hardcover. Jacket design and illustration by Jim McMullen. keywords: Literature Translated Argentina Latin America Women. FROM THE PUBLISHER - THE LAST DAYS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE is a novel set in the capital of an unnamed South American country during the so-called Campaign of Cultural Reconstruction. A foreign journalist, writing an article on the acclaimed National Theater, finds that although the authorities stress the magnificence of the building and the quality of the plays, no one knows where the theater is. He eventually discovers it in a decaying basement in a vegetable market; a peeling notice on the wall reads: HAMLET-LAST FEW DAYS-BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. The article he writes has dramatic consequences, for the government pledges to restore the lost glory of the nation and its culture. What begins as a farcical struggle for power backstage takes over the streets, the city, and, finally and tragically, in an explosion of violence, the country itself. Vlady Kociancich is at the forefront of Argentina's new generation of writers. Powerful, funny, and fiercely ironic, The Last Days of William Shakespeare explores with exceptional wit and imagination the peculiar madness of South American politics. inventory #23295 ISBN: 0688104320.