غرفة الرئيس

by Ricardo Romero, محمد الفولي (Translator)

لا يوجد قبو. تخلو كل بيوت الحي من الأقبية. إنها ممنوعة منذ حقبة جديَّ. يقولون إن الأقبية شهدت أمورًا فظيعة فيما سبق، لهذا تَقرر ألا يُبنى المزيد منها. بالنسبة إلى البيوت القديمة، من الحقب السابقة للمنع، فقد أُغلقت أقبيتها. رغم أنها بيوت كبيرة، فإنها رخيصة ويسهل شراؤها. لا يحب الناس الآن أن يعيشوا في هذه البيوت. إنه أمر مفهوم. من الذي قد يود أن يعيش فوق غرفة لا تبصر النور؟
قبل منع الأقبية بوقتٍ طويل، بدأت غرف الرئيس تُبنى. إنها موجودة في كل البيوت؛ أو على الأقل كل البيوت كبيتنا. إنها ليست موجودة في العمارات الواقعة في وسط المدينة. تخسر هذه العمارات امتيازات غرفة الرئيس لأنها ليست موجودة فيها. لا أعرف جيدًا ما هي هذه الامتيازات. لا أعرف أيضًا ما إذا كان أبواي يعرفانها، لكن لا أحد يُشكك في وجودها. يحتوي كل بيت في حيِّنا على غرفة للرئيس. مع ذلك، لم يأتِ الرئيس لزيارتنا قط. ليست المسألة أننا ننتظره، ففي الواقع، نحن ننسى في أغلب الوقت أن هذه الغرفة موجودة هنا. نحن ننسى، في أغلب الوقت.
******
ريكاردو روميرو: وُلد في مدينة بارانا الأرجنتينية، في مقاطعة إنتريريوس، في عام 1976. حصل على ليسانس الآداب الحديثة من جامعة كوردوبا الوطنية ويعيش منذ 2002 في العاصمة الأرجنتينية بوينوس آيرس. عمل مديرًا لمجلة "أوليبيرا" الأدبية بين عامي 2003 و2006. من رواياته: "لا مكان" و"متلازمة راسبوتين" و"كلاب المطر". تُرجمت أعماله إلى البرتغالية والإيطالية والفرنسية والإنجليزية.

Genres: Fiction, Dystopia, Novella, Latin American, Spanish Literature, Science Fiction, Mystery

160 pages, Paperback

First published July 31, 2015

About the author

Ricardo Romero was born in the province of Entre Ríos, in northern Argentina, in 1976. He studied Literature at the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba and has been living in Buenos Aires since 2002. Between 2003 and 2006 he directed the literary journal Oliverio and between 2006 and 2010 he was one of the members of the ‘El Quinteto de la Muerte’ (The Lethal Quintet) with which he published two books: 5 and La fiesta de la narrativa (Fiction’s Party). He has also published a book of short stories, Tantas noches como sean necesarias (As Many Nights as may be Necessary, 2006) and the novels Ninguna parte (Nowhere, 2003), El síndrome de Rasputín (Rasputin’s Syndrome, 2008), Los bailarines del fin del mundo (The Dancers of the End of the World, 2009), Perros de la lluvia (Rain Dogs, 2011), El spleen de los muertos (The Spleen of the Dead, 2013) and Historia de Roque Rey (The Tale of Roque Rey, 2014). The President’s Room (2015) is his latest novel.

Reviews

[Henk · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thought crimes, the appeal of what should not be spoken of, disorientation and breakdown of familial ties. The President’s Room touches on a lot, but leaves more to be desired.
Who’d want to live above a sealed room, devoid of all light?

The narrator of this book lives in a country where every respectable house has a room furbished for the president of the nation. This head of state is old, not especially impressive, and only rarely there are accounts of him visiting a citizen. Our narrator is the middle brother of the family, and seems detached from his homelife and the world at large. His obsession with the room that shouldn’t be in a real home (and some offhand comments about closed off basements where terrible things used to happen) drives the book forward but couldn’t dispel for me the feeling that I was reading an extended short story.
The atmosphere is quite akin to The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa, with things disappearing/losing their normal context, but the people around them just moving on like nothing is amiss.

I did expect more upfront of The President's Room, and think this would have been better as a short story, encapsulated in a bundle with other stories grappling with the same theme, than as a stand-alone novella. Still I love Charco press and the daring, innovative books they bring to us. 2.5 stars rounded down.

[merixien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Çok kısa ve bir çocuğun gözünden anlatıldığı için basit bir dile sahip. Ancak buna rağmen alegorik anlatımıyla bir oda, yüksek ateş hezeyanları ve kardeş karakterleri üzerinden faşizmin ve diktatörlüğün siyasetten, evdeki özel hayata nasıl sızabildiğini çok kısa bir şekilde anlatıyor. En etkileyici yanlarından birisi de anlatıcıya nereye kadar güvenebileceğinizi bilemediğiniz gerçeği. Çok beğendim.

[Paul Fulcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

In our neighbourhood, all then houses have a president’s room. And yet the president has never been to visit us. It’s not that we are expecting him, because to be honest, most of the time we forget the room’s even there. Most of the time, we forget.

Charco Press are an exciting new small independent press, focusing on literature from Latin America:

We select authors whose works feed the imagination, challenge perspective and spark debate. Authors that are shining lights in the world of contemporary literature. Authors whose works have won awards and received critical acclaim. Bestselling authors. Yet authors you perhaps have never heard of. Because none of them have been published in English.

Until now.

One of their first books, Ariana Harwicz's Die My Love deservedly featured in the 2017 Republic of Consciousness Prize (my review) and Ricardo Romero's The President's Room, as translated by Charlotte Coombe, is another striking addition.

Told in the voice of a child, it is, at face value, a short and simple allegorical tale, but one which will stay with the reader.

Our narrator describes in detail the layout of his family house, commenting:

There’s no basement…They’ve been banned since my grandparents were around. People say that terrible things used to happen before, in the basements.

And, as with every other house, there is the president's room, one set aside for his use, should he visit. Except in reality there is only one boy at school who is rumoured to have had a visit and:

They say that’s something went wrong in his house, and that for quite a while afterwards he had a fearful look about him.

The room itself contains objects the family have placed their over the years:

My mother says it's not good to put photos of the dead presidents in the president's room. But I know, and everyone in our house knows, that at the very back of the right-hand drawer of the desk, there's a revolver. (one we later find comes with 6 bullets)

The air of menace and allegory continues with the mysterious fevers that strikes members of the boy's family, himself included, the occasional disappearances of his younger brother (who at least returns) and classmates (who don't), as well as the boy's dislike of terraced houses (houses stuck to one another) and flats (entombed in the air), an emotion driven by more than simple social snobbery.

And, inevitably, the president one day does come to visit, witnessed, seemingly only, by the boy, who can't bring himself to discuss it with his family or his schoolfriends:

That would make me the boy the president visited. I don't want to become that boy.

Recommended.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charco Press is an exciting new, small UK publisher which “focuses on finding outstanding contemporary Latin American literature and bringing it to new readers in the English-speaking world” – this was one of their first three novels produced in 2017/early 2018 – all by Argentinian authors.

It is the third book by an Argentinian author I have read in the last 12 months (and possibly the fourth of my life, following on from the Man Booker International Shortlisted Fever Dream and the Republic of Consciousness Prize shortlisted and Man Booker International longlisted Die, My Love (also by Charco Press).

Both of these had an underlying sense of danger and menace and served as an examination of motherhood. For “Fever Dream” the underlying themes were: the longlasting effects of pesticides on animals and humans; and the tendency of mothers to be haunted by the “worst case scenario” for their children. For “Die, My Love” it was the potential for motherhood (particularly in the countryside) to become a trap of conventionality and banality.

The President’s Room continues this sense of underlying menace – although in a much more understated way, and by contrast to the other two is written from a child’s point of view.

Since long before basements were banned, people were building rooms for the president. Every house has one. Or at least houses owned by people like us. The blocks of flats in the City Centre don’t. And because they don’t, they lose their privileges. I don’t really know what these privileges are, or even whether our parents know what they are, but nobody doubts they exist. In our neighbourhood, all the houses have a president’s room. And yet the president has never been to visit us. It’s not that we’re expecting him, because to be honest, most of the time we forget the room’s ever there. Most of the time we forget

As this short novella unfolds – we learn more about the President’s Room: his mother solemnly opens it once a week to clean it; from time to time family members acquire and propose objects to be added to the room; a boy at the narrator’s school is believed to have been visited by the President and the narrator is wary of the boy, who seems to carry a worry or burden. We also learn from the narrator that: basements are banned in building, because of terrible things that used to happen there; he uses the attic as a hiding place and for solitude, and a tree outside the house to observe the President’s room; his younger brother goes missing from time to time.

Eventually the boy believes he observes a number of visits from the President, but his family do not acknowledge them and he does not mention it to them – becoming increasingly distant as a result and eventually living in isolation in the room.

This is clearly a deeply allegorical novel – and one that seems to be based around a rigid, right-wing, dictatorial state – for me the basements alluded to torture centres, his younger brother to the “disappeared” and his increasing breach from his family to the use of children to inform on their parents.

Overall this is a short, easy to read but memorable and powerful novella with what reads as a very natural translation by Charlotte Coombe.

[محمد الفولي · Rating 5 out of 5]

عجيبة وغريبة.

رواية قصيرة جدا يحدث فيها كل شيء ولا شيء. الراوي طفل يرغب في حل لغز واحد: لماذا توجد في كل بيت في بلاده غرفة مخصصة للرئيس؟

تجربة جميلة وعمل مختلف يدفع المرء للتفكير كثيرا في تأويلاته المتنوعة. أتمنى ترجمته مستقبلا

[Ratko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Чудњикаво.

У свакој кући у предграђу неименованог града у коме живи наш неименовани наратор постоји једна соба резервисана за председника државе. Соба се редовно одржава и чисти, иако председник можда никада неће ни доћи.
Наратор, ипак, сведочи посетама председника њиховој кући, које су углавном ноћу и протекну без било какве изговорене речи и о томе се сутра током дана не говори, нити се то јавно спомиње.
Не зна се ни да ли је посета председника добар или лош знак, нити шта је сврха свега тога.

Није лоше, брзо се чита, али нисам нешто уживао.

[Tommi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Small is big in the case of Ricardo Romero’s The President’s Room, a novel of sparse paragraphs, each having their own page, surrounded by white space which the reader fills in an attempt to make sense of the little book. Each house in the boy narrator’s neighborhood has a room reserved for the president who may or may not visit. The boy is fascinated by the closed room. One kid at school claims the president once visited their home. Another kid went missing. What does this all mean? I don’t know, and that’s partly why I love it. Romero, in Charlotte Coombe’s smooth translation, is a minimalist who suggests rather than explains.

To put a semi-pretentious theoretical spin on it, I’m tempted to see the book as a combination of Henri Lefebvre’s notion of space as social and therefore power-related (The Production of Space – the president’s political space invading domestic space) and Gaston Bachelard’s love of every nook and cranny of the house (The Poetics of Space – Romero is clearly fascinated by what all different rooms of the house mean for human beings).

More importantly, it’s a great read.

[Banu Yıldıran Genç · Rating 3 out of 5]

latin amerika edebiyatının çocuk anlatımına da çocuk gözünden anlatımına da bayılırım. bu kitapta da bir çocuğun gözünden evler, duvarlar, yasaklanan bodrum katlar derken her evde olması gereken, içine özenle eşyalar konan başkanın odasına geliyoruz.
latin amerika uzun süre totaliter rejimleri yaşadı, yaşıyor. biz başkan kelimesini bile yeni yebi kullanmaya başlıyoruz. ama her gün televizyona çıkıp konuşan, ölünce yerine yenisinin geldiği bu başkanlar bize hiç yabancı değil.
çocuğun anlattığı başkan güçsüz, kambur duran, yalnız gezen bir başkan. ama acaba öyle mi? anlatıcımız son derece istikrarsız ve neyin doğru neyin yanlış olduğunu bilmiyoruz.
durmaksızın kaybolan çocuklardan, zamanında kötü şeyler yaşandığı için yasaklanan bodrumlardan bahseden bu romanda ne neyin alegorisi biraz anlıyoruz ama biraz.
epey olay, durum ve kişi tam anlaşılamıyor bence. yoksa ben mi anlamadım :) ben biraz daha açık olmasını isterdim bazı şeylerin. mesela villalobos'un "tavşan deliğinde fiesta" mükemmeldir alefori konusunda.
ama anlatıcı seçimi, dilin doğallığı, bakış açısının ustalığı gayet iyi. emrah imre'nin çevirisi de öyle.

[Agustina de Diego · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelente.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting novel where do you believe the narrator but have to admit the prose is nice and does make you think

[Olivia (Stories For Coffee)]

Love when a home haunts the narrative

[Rachel Louise Atkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. The President’s Room has been described as Romero’s answer to Camus and Kafka. In every house in our unnamed narrators town, families must always keep one room in the house which is reserved for the president. The room must be kept clean and never used for anyone else except for if the president ever decides to visit. No one knows where the tradition started, why or if the president demands the tradition keep going or what happens if he does visit, but these unanswered questions are what lies at the heart of this novel which is all about the allure of the unknown, adulthood, masculinity and the poetics of space.

The unnamed narrator is the middle child of a family who live in a two story house and have the privilege of keeping a tidy and well attended room for the president. The child as narrator is ultimately unreliable and it becomes apparent quickly that through the eyes of this boy we are not going to be given answers to the information clearly held by a lot of the adults around him. For example, the fact that all basements have been banned as a result of a dark tragic event which happened during his grandfathers lifetime - it is a confusing reveal in the novel as we’re given no more information that this but it is clear that there are secrets maybe literally buried underneath the town that only certain generations are allowed to know, and the inability to uncover any of the answers becomes the eventual horror of this little book. The fever which continuously grips the narrator and his brothers that we are given no expansion on, the boys who go missing at the school - what are all these town tragedies and why aren’t they being explained?

Initially my first reaction was that the novel was harnessing a deeply political message giving that its author is Argentine and the country has had its fair share of political upheavals. However the more I read the more I am convinced this book is about masculinity, it’s terrors and the unknowingness of growing up into adult manhood. Consider the descriptions of the presidents face - it is described as large, large bug eyes with a huge nose and a bushy moustache. It made me think of the face of Big Brother from 1984, one of the most well know symbols of anonymous masculine oppression inside of literature. One of the boys who has been visited by the president at the narrators school quickly becomes violent, starting fights and lashing out to anyone who tries to bring it up. And then there is the domineering image of the grandfather that looms over the text just like the president - although the grandfather is dead the narrator continuously imagines he can hear him moving about the house and is haunted by the sounds of his beatings and the hard smack of his grandfathers hand against his skin. The house, although an open, maternal space which is kept in order by the narrators mother, is forever burdened by the president’s room which becomes a symbol of a constant dominating masculine presence where the narrator can never find relief. Like the inevitable burden of adulthood the narrator can never escape the fear of presidents possible visit even inside his supposed safe space.

This book would be brilliant to analyse alongside the poetics of space particularly looking at how the paragraphs are constructed on the page. We are left with so much white space in this novel - perhaps an invitation to make our own space inside the text in which to decode its messages. Yet the novel constantly reinforces the danger of spaces with the fear attached to the presidents room and basements. There is a suggestion then that the white space gifted to us to allow us the room to step with-in the text will only reinforce this anxiety - in other words, trying to unravel the secrets of the novel will reveal its ultimate horror.

I recommend this for fans of Samanta Schweblin’s Fever Dream - there is the same use of terror through leaving the reader in the dark and a similar sense of unease. I wish there were more books like this but it looks like the majority of them are coming out of Argentina as this novel reminded me of Mariana Enriquez’s short stories too. It is an immensely literary work that I could go on thinking about for days and it’s a true triumph. Romero blows the Camus and Kafka comparisons out of the water with this one as he has created a work which says so much through having so little.

[G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es posible que el legado más importante de la modernidad no sea la ciencia ni la tecnología sino una noticia escalofriante que se parece a la locura: lo real es inaccesible al ser humano. Sólo nos quedan lenguajes que construyen realidades más o menos tranquilizantes que, en el fondo, de manera explícita o implícita sospechamos problemáticas, dudosas, limitadas o directamente impostadas. Sin embargo, necesitamos de esas realidades, de esas representaciones defectuosas para sobrevivir. La Habitación del Presidente de Ricardo Romero es una novela corta que trabaja sobre esa frontera del lenguaje desde la perspectiva narrativa de lo fantástico, un campo óptimo para tal propósito. Es por eso que el narrador es un niño curioso, agudo, introspectivo, que trata de entender las razones de esta locura, las justificaciones por las que sostenemos discursos rodeados de sombras en la vida cotidiana. El niño indaga con insistencia las razones por las que en su barrio todas las casas tienen una habitación para el presidente, se obsesiona con esa habitación, la explora y vigila en secreto. El personaje del presidente también es enigmático, evoca en mi opinión rasgos mitológicos, se mueve como una especie de ser humano animalizado. Pareciera que la casa con sus extrañas reglas es una especie de objeto psicótico, de un cuerpo extraño que repele cualquier intento de comprensión pero por exceso de significación, no por falta de sentido. Sin embargo, en lugar de asumir el silencio contemplativo místico hacia el que derivó Wittgenstein en el final del Tractatus al percibir este límite, Romero elige la palabra bajo la forma de narrativa poética. La fuerza tremenda de esta novela que tiene felizmente más aperturas que cierres radica en la conmoción permanente del niño narrador, en su estado de asombro luminoso que nos va llevando del otro lado del espejo a través de un portal literario. El final de la novela es sumamente inteligente. Queda abierto a diversas interpretaciones, de hecho admite infinitas interpretaciones. Opino que esta novela constituye una apuesta filosófica en la que la extrañeza fagocita al niño, lo transforma también a él en un agente clave de lo inefable de manera gradual. No se sabe ni se puede saber si ese desplazamiento culmina con una transmutación favorable para el niño. Tampoco se sabe si seguir ese camino es conveniente o es inconveniente en general. El niño se transfigura en el misterio que no pudo develar. O acaso esa transmutación es la develación misma. Opino que este libro de Romero es extraordinario. En lo personal, no me evocó para nada Casa Tomada de Julio Cortázar, sino Otra Vuelta de Tuerca de Henry James y un poco me recordó también al psicodélico libro de Huxley, Las Puertas de la Percepción. Creo que también comparte esa admiración por la disrupción de lo extraño en la vida cotidiana con el genial libro En las Nubes de Ian McEwan. La Habitación del Presidente es un libro impresionante. Opino que su lectura atenta es una experiencia estética luminosa, muy recomendable. Por momentos, los climas narrativos que logra Romero son incluso corporales. A mí me dio frío a medida que avanzaba la lectura, percibí una corriente helada que emanaba desde el libro abierto hacia mi cara. Sentí el frío en aumento junto con el entumecimiento de los dedos. No es metáfora. Lo mismo me ocurrió con Otra Vuelta de Tuerca. De Ricardo Romero creo que hay que leer todo. Su trilogía policial en la colección Negro Absoluto, sus cuentos y sus novelas publicadas. Esperemos que siga escribiendo más libros como La Habitación del presidente. Se lee en una sola sesión de lectura, es una genialidad literaria.

[jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

the first of argentine author ricardo romero's books to be translated into english, the president's room (la habitación del presidente) is a curious little novella heavy on the allegory, but slight in its effect. each household in the unnamed country keeps a spare room for the nation's president, yet no one can recall the hows or whys this practice came to be (though there seems to be consequences for not maintaining such a room). narrated by a young boy (inexplicably implied to be unreliable in the publisher copy), romero's slim work offers a thin sketch of daily life in the boy's home and his youthful curiosity of both the room and the president himself (whom he later goes on to espy).

romero's prose is indeed enticing and his storytelling is well-paced. yet perhaps this one was a bit oversold with comparisons to calvino and kafka (the latter not even a thematic kissing cousin). there's nothing eerie about this slim tale (neither overtly nor implicitly), though it does possess a charming, enticing voice. the president's room offers something to ponder on, but more like a passing thought rather than a fulsome rumination.

what could have gone wrong in the boy's house when the president visited? was there something in the room that shouldn't have been there? what did the president do and how long did he stay? this is what we do. to avoid thinking about what the president would do if he came to visit us, we think about what he did when he visited that boy.

*translated from the spanish by charlotte coombe (berti, garcía robayo, roncagliolo, et al.)

3.5 stars

[Mohmmed Osama Ahmed · Rating 4 out of 5]

#ريفيوهات
"غرفة الرئيس...فلسفة الولي"
رغم صغر الرواية إلا أنها مربكة جدا في تفاصيلها، وجاء ذلك في نقل الأحداث على لسان طفل "أو هكذا علمت" مناسب سنه لطرح أسئلة غريبة تخرج منها أسئلة أخرى أغرب تغمر كل شيء من علية البيت والأصوات وحتى القبو، ولعل ذلك معادلة ناجحة في تلك الرواية، فأحداثها إن جردنا الصغير منها تصبح كتلة من أحداث عادية، أو مشاهد عادي مرورها، لكن بفضل الطفل وأسئلته صار لها شكل آخر، كيف ذلك؟

--عقل ذائب "معضلة الفرخة والبيضة"
- "لماذا تحرق النار؟ لأنها نار ، لماذا يطفئها الماء؟ لأنه ماء ، لماذا يرتوي به النمر؟ لأنه نمر.
ذلك التسـامح المطلق مـع طبائع الاشيـاء، لانها لا تكون سوى نفسها!"
من اقتباس من أسطورة الكاهن الأخير لد.أحمد خالد توفيق، نجدها لسان حال المقارنة الدائمة التي يعقدها رواي القصة مع أخيه، فمن ناحية يصف لنا أخيه المهتم بالفيزياء وسرده القليل عنها، والذي يرينا تقبله طبائع الأشياء ونظرته إليها بصورة أكثر منطقية، باعتبار أن الفيزياء أساسها يتحدث عن المادة والفراغ والعلاقة بينهما، فضلا عن أن مع سنه الكبير نسبيا فالأمور والعلاقات بين الأشياء بديهية جدا "١+١=٢"

-ومن ناحية أخرى نرى الراوي يجنح بخياله مبتعدا عن المنطق، ويساعده في ذلك عمره الصغير الذي لا يقبل بالأشياء على حالها بسهولة، والسبب لأن أول ما رأت عيناه عجينة من أشياء غير مألوفة تتكوم في عقله بفوضوية شديدة، ومنها ينفتح باب الأسئلة عن الصوت والصفير، أو وجود الأقبية من عدمها، أو حتى الفرق بين العلية والسندرة، ثم "لغياب المرشد -الأب والأم- الذي يسعى لتصحيح مفاهيمه" يشكل عالما مختلفا ترتيبه فيكون الحمام هو أول ما بني في البيت رغم انه في الدور الثاني "سيبرر بأنه كان طافيا" ويتنافس معه أجدد شيء في البيت "غرفة الرئيس"، وغريب تعريفه للأشياء فيكون الأب مثلا غريبا إذا دخل الغرفة ثم يعود حين يخرج، وكذا الهواء الراكد، وشجرة الغار، وصوت الجد، وحتى وصفه للحمى التي أصابته، فترى الأشياء سائبة، ورغم انه حدد لها رأسا "نقطة بداية" وهي العلية بوصفه الدقيق لها، يجعل فهمها ومسايرتها أمر صعب، لكنه ممتع

--إنسان من كلمات
من وصفه للجد كما ذكرنا، نعرج لفكرة ذاك��ة الأشخاص عنده، فمن مثلا وصف الجدة وخوفه من سؤاله عن كيس الخزامى نفهم أن الأشخاص عنده تتكون من كلمات ومواقف بسيطة لا بالشكل والوصف، فنرى مثلا الجد حاضر رغم انه لم يراه بل ويستخدم تشبيهات لم يجربها، مثل صفعة الجد، ويتكرر ذلك مع الولد العادي الذي زاره الرئيس والفتاة التي صارحها بحبها رغم اختفائها، ومنها نفهم خوفه، ونفهم نعت أبيه بالغريب لما دخل الغرفة "لأنه انفصل عن المواقف التي حددها عنه وعن الأسرة" وأيضا نفهم سيره مع العائلة لبحثه عن أخيه الصغير المتكرر "لأنه موقف معتاد حفظه، خط رسم بأن يذوب الأخ فيبحث الآخرون عنه وهكذا كذلك"

--صورة الولي
- يأتي وصف الصغير للرئيس مشابها لفكرة العامة والمتصوفة عن الأولياء، حيث من بداية وجود الغرفة وتوزعها بشكل أساسي على الأبنية إلا من أبنية وسط المدينة ينبئنا بالاختلاف الفكري بين فئات متعددة وكذا فكرة وجود الأولياء وتقديرهم تتباين شكلها وطريقتها من منطقة لأخرى، وكذلك تعددها وتردد الرئيس من غرفة لأخرى يشبه الروح الهائمة للولي نفسه كما يعتقد فلا بد لها من مستقر.

-ومن ناحية أخرى نرى في قول الأم عن الأدب في وضع صورة الرؤساء السابقين سرا لتقبل الرمز بكونه مخفيا، وكذا الولي عند البعض بكون سيرته بها بعض الرتوش في خيال البعض، وهنا إن دخل فيه بعض من الاسباب المنطقية يختل.

-ومن هذا كله نفهم نظرة الطفل المتسائلة "والتي تكون عكس فكرة الأم"، والتي ليست تحلل وجوده فحسب، بل تحلل نظرة الرمز نفسه تجاه الأسرة والغرفة، فيضع شجرة الغار والنافذة وسيطا ليعرف أكثر، يكرر نغمة صفيره ليجد منها سرا ما، إلى أن نصل حين يراه الرئيس وينظر إليه، يكون غاليا قد وصل لتمام المعرفة، وعندها يجلس في الغرفة كيف شاء

ملاحظات:
ترجمة ممتازة جدا، أجادت نقل مشاعر الراوي ونقلت نزاعه النفسي ببراعة

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant little novel, novella, long short story? I don't know and I don't care and I certainly don't regret buying it. This tale though small in terms of words packs an extraordinary impact. It is also very, very disturbing, almost veering off into a sort of phantasmagorical horror, but all within the banality of the ordinary, which is of course what is so horrifying.

Of course it has also sorts of allegorical and metaphorical story elements with direct political and emotional resonances with events past and present - most would say within the context of Argentine or South American history - and I am sure that is what inspires it - but I see it as much more than a reflection of events somewhere thousand of miles away in geography and time - I see in the tale of the complete oppressive power of the state as it forces itself into the very fabric of 'home' and 'family' a tale that resonates with everything happening today.

But don't worry about that - read this brilliant tale of obsession, lies, misunderstanding - there are so many themes and trails all leading to what? - well that is this wonderful novel's power - it left me frightened and in despair of untrammelled power and the compromises adults will make with it.

Read it and cower in the dark and weep for the loss of innocence and the brutality and insidiousness of power.

[Eylül Görmüş · Rating 4 out of 5]

Herkesin kalemi olmayabilir bu kitap lakin ben çok sevdim. Bir çocuğun ağzından, epeyce alegorik bir anlatım tercih etmiş yazar. Ülkenin birinde, her evde Başkan için ayrılmış bir oda bulunması gerekiyor. Çocuğun basit cümleleriyle bunu anlamaya ve anlamlandırmaya çalışmasını okuyoruz. Belirsiz, tekinsiz, muğlak bir öykü bu. Ve fakat çok sıkı bir otoriterlik eleştirisi – tam olarak o belirsizlikten beslenen rejimlere ve düşünce suçu meselesine dair bir dolu soru bırakıveriyor insana ve bunu çok örtülü bir yerden beceriyor. Kısacık ama çok güçlü bir metin. Çağdaş Arjantin edebiyatı neredeyse hiç ama hiç üzmüyor. “Bir battaniyeye sarınıp kendi kendime evin yan duvarlarını düşünmeyeceğimi söylüyorum, ama söyledikçe daha çok düşünüyorum. Evler birbirine değmemeli. En azından sürekli değmemeli. Böyle yaşamak mümkün mü? (…) Düşündükçe kahroluyorum, bir duvarın hangi eve ait olduğunu bilmeyince kahroluyorum.”

[bianca · Rating 4 out of 5]

La casa cambia por las noches. Mientras mi familia duerme, a veces, la recorro. No es algo que tenga que ver con la oscuridad. Tampoco tiene que ver con la temperatura. Es como si la casa cambiara su relación con lo que está afuera, y entonces estar adentro significa otra cosa. Apoyo el oído en las paredes, las puertas, los pisos, la terraza. Camino descalzo. Nunca entro a la habitación del Presidente.
Hay, en la casa, por las noches, más habitantes de los que hay durante el día.

es muy difícil lograr que una historia tan corta sea tan precisa y potente. pero este libro lo logra. excelente.

[Gala · Rating 3 out of 5]

Con solo leer la sinopsis de La habitación del Presidente uno se da cuenta de que está frente a una historia poco común. Ese argumento un tanto extraño, confuso, que no termina de decir qué es a lo que apunta esta nouvelle... Y que, afortunada o desafortunadamente, según cómo se lo quiera ver, el desarrollo de la historia no termina de darnos una idea concreta de qué está pasando, o qué es lo que el autor quiere decir.

La novela cuenta la historia de la vida y la rutina de un barrio en el que todas las casas tienen una habitación del Presidente, desde la perspectiva de un niño. Esta habitación sirve, justamente, para que el Presidente se aloje cuando sienta la necesidad. ¿Qué hace el Presidente cuando llega a su habitación? ¿Elije él las casa a las que va o cualquiera le da lo mismo? ¿Cómo hace para entrar? ¿Tiene llaves para todas las casas, o la familia es avisada con anticipación para que le dejen la llave sobre una maceta o algo parecido y pueda entrar? Esas son todas preguntas que se hace el narrador de esta historia, y que no tienen respuesta. Todo lo que ocurre está rodeado por un halo de misterio, de suspenso, de no saber qué va a pasar. Una atmósfera inquietante está todo el tiempo presente, generando en los lectores una sensación extraña, que se hace presente a medida que avanzamos con la lectura. Una sensación de entender si algunas cosas están efectivamente pasando en ese mundo inventado o son solo imaginación del narrador.

Ricardo Romero parece ser un autor sin pretensiones. Escribe con sencillez, y eso probablemente es lo que hace que la novela se lea tan rápido, además de la extensión en sí de la novela y su poco texto por página. Con ese estilo, consigue que los lectores se metan de lleno en la historia y traten de imaginarse qué es lo que sucede, por qué, y demás. Si en un principio la trama parece confusa, que de hecho lo es, (y tampoco se aclara durante todo el libro), a medida que uno sigue leyendo tiene la sensación de estar viviendo lo mismo que el narrador, se hace las mismas preguntas y tiene las mismas inquietudes; en definitiva, se mete en el mismo mundo en el que vive él. Y conseguir esto, lograr que el lector se sienta parte de la historia es un gran mérito por parte del autor.

Fácil de leer y entretenida, La habitación del Presidente es una nouvelle extraña, que tiene un aura constante de misterio. Una historia en la que las preguntas, inquietudes y sensaciones de confusión son moneda corriente; una novela en la que nosotros, los lectores, por apenas unas 100 páginas, nos convertimos en observadores de una realidad bastante inquietante.

[Professor Weasel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very short book that really is a long short story (and I actually wondered if it would have benefited from being a SHORT short story, rather than a drawn out one). Very easy and quick to read. It reads as an allegory - most likely of political power, how people ignore horror, etc. I liked the references to the basement and to the boy who once hosted the president. Other parts felt underdeveloped to me - what was the grandfather supposed to symbolise? Earlier generations? I like political writing that attacks things from an oblique, underhand attitude, which is why I think this would have worked better as a shorter short story, but at times this was TOO oblique for me (and I have a very high oblique threshold!). I found bits numb and repetitive and like they weren’t adding anything new. And the president himself was sort of boring. What was up with him sniffing the room? Is that like... allegorical of the rotten State? I definitely feel frustrated by books that FEEL symbolic but the meaning of the symbolism isn’t teased out enough, and if EVERY page and EVERY interaction feels heavy with symbols. But with that being said I liked the writing style (it’s very readable) and would definitely read something else by the same author. Lots of love and respect to Charco Press for publishing so many weird and risky books in translation.

[JC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una novela (muy) corta que, más que novela, parece una pintura: como los trazos de un pintor, los hechos son narrados y expuestos a la vista del lector, a la espera de su interpretación. Es una obra que sólo se completa con la mirada de quien lee y que se presta a diversas y variadas interpretaciones.

A veces lo que atrae al observador de una pintura es el misterio per se, el entrever que detrás de la imagen percibida hay algo, algo a lo que quizás jamás pueda acceder. Para algún lector, esta obra puede dar lugar a una apreciación similar: se trata de una novela que claramente esconde algo, pero cuyo atractivo está más en el despliegue del misterio que en aquello que se esconde detrás, si es que acaso existe y fue pensado.

[Aslıhan Çelik Tufan · Rating 4 out of 5]

11.05.2021

Bir ülke ki Başkan'ın her evde odası bulunması gerekiyor. Biz bu ülkeyi, yönetimi, iyisini kötüsünü anlatıcımız evin çocuğundan dinliyoruz.

Kısacık anlatıyor ama bizi sarsacak kadar kuvvetli, bir defa çocuğun bize ne kadar gerçekleri anlattığına dair bir güvencemiz yok. Hatta şüpheye düşmemiz ve itimat etmemek daha makul, çünkü çocuk ateşli hastalıkla cebelleşiyor.

Baskı, diktatörlük ve faşizme dair bu denli kısa ve etkili bir okuma yapmadığınıza eminim.

Kurgunun içinde sizi sürekli arkanızı kollayacak kadar şüphede bırakan bir anlatım, enfes.

Keyifli okumalar.


#readingismycardio #aslihanneokudu #okudumbitti #2021okumalarım #okuryorumu #kitaptavsiyesi #neokudum #başkanınodası #ricardoromero ##lemisyayın #emrahimre

[محمد خالد شريف · Rating 2 out of 5]

رواية قصيرة، حاولت أن أتواصل معها، ومع صوت بطلها الطفولي، وحاولت فك شفرات السرد، وأخفقت في أغلب الأوقات، البداية كانت واعدة، ولكن، تحولت الرواية لسريالية طفولية، وأحداث غريبة تجري على لسان الراو الطفل، لم تلمسني أو أتفاعل معها بالشكل الكافي، ولم استطع الإلمام بالأحداث نفسها.
كان يُمكن لها أن تكون أفضل من ذلك، وخصوصاً بعد البداية الواعدة.

[ozgurluk kurdu · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Mahallemizdeki her evde Başkan'ın bir odası var. Gerçi Başkan bizi hiç ziyaret etmedi. Onu bekliyor sayılmayız, çünkü aslında çoğunlukla odanın orada olduğunu unutuyoruz. Çoğunlukla unutuyoruz".

Evlerin bodrum katlarında Başkan'ın özel kullanımına ayrılan odalar... Arjantin'deyiz. Belirsiz bir atmosfer, tekinsiz bir anlatım. Neyin ne olduğu, nasıl ve neden olduğu hem açık hem muğlak. Üstü örtülü. Bir düşüncenin peşine takıldığınız anda önünüze çekilen setler ve düştüğünüz zihinsel karmaşa. Bu kitabı okurken hissettiklerim tam olarak bunlar olmuştu. Hala da kitaba baktığımda o belirsizlik hissi içimde ürpermeye sebep oluyor. Düşündüğüm şey mi değil mi derken kitabın sonuna bir solukta gelivermiştim. Gerçi daha ilk sayfadan anlamam gerekirdi belki de bu cümleleri okuduğumda: "İnsan her istediğini düşünemez. Neden her şey düşünülebilir olacakmış ki?"

Emrah İnce'nin dupduru çevirisi ile bir solukta okuyup bitirebileceğiniz bir kitap.

Bu arada yayınevi ile tanışmam bu vesileyle oldu. Kitabın kapak dokusu ve baskısını çok beğendim. İç sayfaların kalitesi ise şaşılacak derecede yüksek. Oldukça yüksek bir işçilik söz konusu.

Kitaplarla kalın!

[Samar Mohammed · Rating 5 out of 5]

" في هذه الأيام، حين أخرج من الحمام الواقع تحت السلم و أمرُّ بجواره، أتخيل نفسي أعود إلى غرفتي، إلى غرفتنا التي باتت الآن غرفة أخي الأصغر وحده، و أتنهد. أتنهد بقوة و أتشمم رائحة البيت. لكن هذا الأمر يحدث في بعض الأحيان فقط. إنها تجارب لا تترك أثرًا فيَّ. أنا سعيد في أغلب الوقت. أنا سعيد و منشغل بينما تتضخم عيناي و تتباطآن. فقط بين الفينة و الأخرى، و انا مستلقٍ فوق الفراش القابل للطي في أوقات القيلولة المضيئة، أفتقد العلية ببؤس. يحدث هذا الأمر لي فقط لأننا معشر البشر علينا دائمًا أن نفتقد شيئًا ما."

[Khai Jian (KJ) · Rating 4 out of 5]

"In our neighbourhood, all then houses have a president’s room. And yet the president has never been to visit us. It’s not that we are expecting him, because to be honest, most of the time we forget the room’s even there. Most of the time, we forget."

In this unnamed town in an unnamed country, there's a room in every house that is prepared for the president in case he visits. Nobody knows why or when the president will visit. The story is narrated by a nameless young child. To his knowledge, the president only visited the house of a boy who attended the same school as he is. A lot of attention was drawn to "the boy the president visited" and he was singled out by the community. Questions are roaming in the narrator's head: Why such a custom? Who created such a custom? When will the president be visiting his house? Will he be the center of attention if the president eventually visits his house? Will he be able to cope with such attention?

The story is written by Romero (brilliantly translated by Charlotte Coombe) in fragmented prose and presented in short snappy chapters. Throughout these chapters, hints on the structure of the narrator's house and the worldbuilding of this nameless country are provided: only houses "owned by people like us" reserve a room for the president, privileges will be lost if this custom is not adhered to, those who cant afford to own a house and who are living in an apartment are not fit to reserve the room for the president, basements are banned because "terrible things used to happen before, in the basements". The fact remains that the society in this nameless country blindly follows these customs and believes. Nobody questions or challenges such customs. Romero successfully created a mysterious aura surrounding this dystopian world. A lot of questions will be planted in the readers' minds as to the origin of such customs and the society of this dystopian world. This, to me, is a brilliant allegory that illustrates blind conformity, especially towards authority or bureaucracy, when the individuals don't even know the reason behind such conformance.

The story then took a steep turn when the president finally visits the narrator's house. The narrator's longing finally came true but he is torn on whether to disclose the president's visit to everyone. This plotline explores the theme of existentialism in that the narrator's existential anxiety is heightened. The President's Room is definitely not a typical dystopian fiction that focuses on worldbuilding and answering the "what if" question. It is heavily philosophical and opens to a lot of different interpretations. Though slim, The President Room offers a quiet and unsettling impact. A strong 4/4 star rating for this!

[Adrian Alvarez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this little book. The pace it sets for the reader, with its sparse prose and gallery of pages filled with white space, is contemplative, haunting, and, eventually, oppressive.

I can say with certainty that living through the last 4 years in America I've reserved more than just a single room for the president so the metaphor built brick by brick in this novel wasn't such a leap. I think what impresses me most, though, is how Romero, as if by magic, creates an entire world of insight and metaphor with a light touch and the very clever mechanism of the fever dream and an unreliable narrator.

I hope there are plans to translate more of Romero into English!

[Aravindakshan Narasimhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Premise is very interesting and it should have worked great for exploring privacy, state's control over citizens and any number of political topics.

It does broach on those topics I guess, but the effect is quite underwhelming.

The writing is neat otherwise. It piques our interest, but at the end we are only left with that!

P.S: Or May be I missed something!
This is the second book I have read from Chacko press I think.

[Hannah Hodgson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This felt underdeveloped. While I appreciate the skill in writing such a mysterious story, layered with metaphors, it felt undercooked. I was waiting for the end to reveal some clarity - but this didn’t happen. The translation is smooth and well done.

[Elif · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a magical book. It will feel and mean different to every reader.

English: https://elifthereader.com/books/the-p...
Türkçe: https://kitaplikkedisi.com/kitaplar/t...