El Hombre de Alambre: (Novela para armar) (Textos B)

by Ramón Gómez de la Serna

Professor Charpentier Saitz's edition of El Hombre de alambre , a hitherto unpublished novel by Ramn Gmez de la Serna, is based on the notes and fragments of the work preserved in the Special Collections section of the Hillman Library, University of Pittsburgh. The introduction describes the state of the manuscript and indicates the difficulties posed by the the barely decipherable handwriting of the author, and the arbitrary numbering of the notes and fragments, which appears to be by another hand. The edition presents the notes and fragments organized in the form of the novella structure which Ramn Gmez de la Serna used in his short narratives.
The central character is a lonely emigrant, who, old and disillusioned, metaphorically transforms his essential being into wires in order to make himself immune to sorrow. As death approaches, he begins an interior dialogue in which he finds the meaning of life and reconciles himself both to himself and to the idea of death, finally dying in a state of peace. The edition also presents the transcription of the notes and fragments in the original order and pagination, respecting Ramn's erasures and deletions.
HERLINDA CHARPENTIER SAITZ is Associate Professor in the Department of Languages at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.

156 pages, Hardcover

First published February 3, 1994

About the author

Ramón Gómez de la Serna y Puig (July 3, 1888, Madrid - January 13, 1963, Buenos Aires) was a Spanish writer, dramatist and avant-garde agitator. He was especially known for "Greguerías" - a short form of poetry that roughly corresponds to the one-liner in comedy. The Gregueria is especially able to grant a new and often humorous perspective.He strongly influenced surrealist film maker Luis Buñuel.

He was a partner of Carmen de Burgos

Gómez de la Serna published over 90 works in all literary genres. In 1933, he was invited to Buenos Aires. He stayed there during the Spanish Civil War and the following Franco regime and died there.