Eternal Curse on the Reader of These Pages by Manuel Puig

Eternal Curse on the Reader of These Pages Reviews

• 
  Glenn Russell

  
  
  
  Argentina born author Manuel Puig doesn’t shy away from experimentation. His best known work, Kiss of the Spider Woman, has no traditional first person or objective third person narrator; rather the novel consists of a dialogue between two prison inmates punctuated by stream-of-consciousness along with a few references to classified government reports.
  
  Eternal Curse on the Reader of These Pages goes even further in the direction of novel as dialogue: other than a handful of letters and a job application tucked in at the conclusion, its entire 230-pages contain a succession of conversations between two men: Juan José Ramirez, a 74-year-old former political prisoner in Argentina who has a failing memory and is confined to a wheelchair, and Larry John, a divorced 36-year-old native of New York City and former college history instructor who is hired to push Mr. Ramirez around the city a few times each week.
  
  One further note on style: there are no character attributions, that is, there are no Mr. Ramirez said or Larry said nor are there the usual quotation marks - instead the left hand side of each page is filled with dashes (-) to indicate a change of speaker. In this way Mr. Puig gives a reader the feeling she or he is standing next to the two men, overhearing their verbal exchange. This novel would make an excellent candidate for a Masterpiece Theater-style series - the producers could simply use the book's exact words from beginning to end.
  
  For a number of years Manuel Puig lived in New York City. Eternal Curse is the one and only novel he wrote in English. Here’s the opening: its December 1977, in Greenwich Village, the location of the rehabilitation center where Mr. Ramirez is currently a resident, having been placed there by a human rights organization. Larry, who suffers from bouts of depression and has been working menial jobs, mostly part-time, for the past several years is now wheeling Mr. Ramirez through Washington Square. The older man begins asking the younger man a series of probing questions, to which Larry replies: “I’m paid to push your wheelchair, not give you my philosophy of life.”
  
  But shortly thereafter, following a round of deeply personal inquiries posed by the old Argentinean, sharing his philosophy of life is exactly what Larry winds up doing, which proves the alchemy to bind the two men in the coils of a tight, unsettling connection.
  
  Both Larry and Mr. Ramirez are susceptible to what nowadays we term codependency: as a boy, Larry was abused both emotionally and physically by his father and now yearns for a wholesome relationship with a father figure; Mr. Ramirez is racked by guilt over the suffering and death he caused his son back in Argentina. And to add fuel to the psychoanalytic fire, at different points the two men slide into role playing and speak directly to one another as father and son.
  
  Yet again another aspect of their relationship is the whole issue of honesty. Is Larry being honest when he admits he killed a Vietnamese civilian when fighting in the army in Vietnam? Did he murder an older man during a savage struggle in a dilapidated Greenwich Village apartment building? In his turn, is Mr. Ramirez telling the truth or bending the truth about how much he remembers of his life in Argentina or how reliable his memory regarding more recent events? Such uncertainties add depth and tension as the men play out their respective parts in the unfolding tragicomedy.
  
  Eventually we discover the origin of the book’s disquieting title. Given the opportunity to finally have access to the journal Mr. Ramirez kept while a prisoner in an Argentine dungeon, Larry reads the very first line: “Eternal curse on the reader of these pages.” Deeper into the conversation, Larry makes the bold statement the old man in the wheelchair must have been a terror on his feet. Juan José Ramirez reacts sharply: “There’s no proof of that . . . none at all. There will never be.” One can detect a hint of defensiveness, perhaps alluding to the fact that he was himself an instigator of terror and torture prior to a reversal of fortune wherein he became the one tortured.
  
  Reading a book where plot, character, mood, setting are all developed through dialogue is a unique and somewhat unusual experience. Not nearly as peculiar as reading A Void by George Perec, a novel written without using the letter “e” but it’s a close cousin.
  
  A psychological tale with Freudian and Oedipal overtones, Eternal Curse may bring to mind Samuel Beckett or Jean-Paul Sartre, most especially, at least for me, Sartre’s No Exit, a play where three people, two women and a man, sit in a room in the afterlife and discover hell is other people. In Manuel Puig’s novel, two men reach a similar conclusion right here on earth.
  
  
  
  "I guess what was coming alive at the time was my capacity for pleasure. But my mother would throw out all my books. There is a chapter in Sartre's Being and Nothingness called "The Body." She thought the book was pornographic and threw it out. What she didn't understand and what gave me pleasure were suspicious to her." - Manuel Puig, Eternal Curse on the Reader of These Pages
• 
  Jon Nakapalau

  This book reminded me of Beckett's Waiting For Godot - but with much more connection to the protagonists. I have known several individuals who have fallen into what I will call an 'orbital relationship' that seeks exercise 'gravitational balance' to a somewhat random existence. This book portrays this type of relationship: two men try to chart the constellation of their existence...but many of the stars have long ago burned out.
• 
  Fabian

  A cantankerous older man with Alzheimer's plays Shaharazad in this novel done all in dialogue. You won't likely read lengthy exposition or description here. Two protagonists become foils of each other, in a very exciting experiment by the writer of "Kiss of the Spider Woman." When it starts leaning precariously towards Beckett territory however, it becomes a tad less special.
• 
  Somayeh

  تصور کنید یک کتاب دویست و خرده ای صفحه ای فقط از دیالوگهای بین دو نفر ساخته شده باشه، گاهی شبیه نمایشنامه میشه و البته گاهی خسته کننده،
  برای من قسمت جالب تلاش اقای رامیرز پیر در بازشناسی احساسات انسانی از طریق گفتگو با لری جوان بود. رامیرز ظاهرا دچار فراموشی شده و گویا حتی دیدش را نسبت به عواطف انسانی از دست داده، با گفتگو با لری و شنیدن خاطراتش و گاهی بازسازی ذهنی خاطرات لری تلاش میکنه دیدی نسبت به واکنشهای انسانی در موقعیتهای مختلف پیدا کنه،
  ترجمه خوب بود اما -طبق روال- پر از اشتباهات دیکته و نگارش!
• 
  Derian

  Con esta, leí todas las novelas de Puig ❤️
• 
  Haman

  هنوز هم برف رو دوست داره، مثل من که یه زمانی، هنوز هم گل یاس و دوست داشم.
  _ چرا ما تو برفها با هم قدم نزدیم؟
  _ ...
  هنوز شب ها نمی دونم قبل از خواب چیکار می کنه وقتی داغ می شه، هنوز هم هنوز و می گم، چقدر این هنوز دوست داشتنیه. دلم می خواست می گفتم که باریدن باران هم برای ما غنیمته دیگه چرا مزاحم خدا بشیم. البته به قول ارسطو خدا به جزئیات عام علم نداره، پس مسئول باریدن کیه؟
  _ یادت رفت بگی هنوز. مثل اینکه داری ترکش می کنی.
  اما هنوز هم می تونم بگم هنوز. هنوز هم دوستش دارم هنوز هم به اون روز گرم _که خیس شده بودم از گرما یا از حرارت زیر لباسش که محدوده ی قرمز بود_ فکر می کنم.
  _هیچوقت بعد از این از هنوز استفاده نمی کنم. هنوز یکی از پاهاش تو گذشته جا مونده. گذشته ای که دارم ازش فرار می کنم اما هنوز همه جا دنبالمه با همین یک کلمه، هنوز.
  هیچوقت هم کلمه ی بدی نیست. هیچ جا نیست با اینکه همه جا هست. گذشته، حال، آینده و بطور کلی نیست بودنده ی جالبیه ای. پس از این به بعد هیچوقت سعی نمی کنم خودم باشم. فراموش شدم. از گشنگی تو یک داستان لذت می برم به جای لذت از خوردن.
• 
  Amir Mojiry

  اسم کتاب مثل فحش گذاشتن می مونه! "فحش می ذارم هر کی اینو بخونه!" و این جوری جلوی خونده شدن از سوی آدمای بی خود گرفته می شه. می مونیم ما آدمای باخود که باید کتابو بخونیم!
  رمان جالبی بود و درسای قشنگی داشت. سبکش هم با این که خیلی خاص نبود اما خوب کار شده بود. سوژه ی شخصیت اولی که همه چیزو فراموش کرده -حتا از احساسات انسانی درست خبر نداره- خیلی سوژه ی خوبی بود.
  و در ضمن: تخیل ناب و سیال نویسنده گاهی لذت دیوانه کننده ای بهم می داد.
• 
  MJ Nicholls

  A novel written (almost) entirely in dialogue, like
  A Closed Book or
  Deception, both written (almost) entirely in dialogue. This removes any authorial presence from the book, and as Barthesian and savvy as this is, the technique falls flat when explanations are needed for what cannot be conveyed in dialogue. This novel concerns an old man, who may or may not be an Argentinian gangster, and his hired companion, who may or may not be a failed academic, who tell stories to one another, which may or may not be lies, but mostly (sometimes) are. That’s as lucid as this novel gets, and the mystery isn’t really very interesting, nor is it resolved very well: Puig chooses to break the form by tacking on a series of explanatory letters afterwards, wimping out a little and leaving the reader even more bemused. On the plus side, there are witty and dark and interesting moments aplenty, so I wish you luck.
• 
  Adryan Glasgow

  If you're interested in the ethics of alterity, this book is a fascinating read. One of the characters is far too infatuated with Freud, which can be a bit distracting, but the core story is one of two people doing their best to be completely ethical. What makes the story fascinating is that Puig imagines a relationship where the boundary between self and other, past and present have to be ruptured. In that sense, this book is better than Kiss of the Spider Woman, but it also lacks the intrigue of the earlier novel. More when I finish it.
• 
  Alan

  All dialog, no description. Only two characters: one a schizophrenic liar, the other an amnesiac liar with things to hide.
  Begin.
  Hold on to someone.
  It is disorienting.
• 
  Mostafa

  3.5
  کتاب دو شخصیت دارد
  رامیرز: یک انقلابی که در بعد از سالهای زندان و تحمل شکنجه ها از طریق سازمان حقوق بشر به امریکا منتقل شده تا سالهای پایانی عمرش رو در آرامش باشه
  لری: یک استاد جامعه شناسی که بعد از مشکلاتی در زندگیش تک و تنها و بیکار، مسئول شده که هفته ای سه روز آقای رامیرز رو بگردونه
  کتاب تمام گفتگوی بین این دو شخصیته. رامیرز پیر که افسرده و خسته است و دچار پارانویا شده، خاطراتش رو فراموش کرده و احساساتش رو نمیتونه تفکیک کنه. لری که آدم بی حوصله ایه و اینکارو فقط بخاطر پولش قبول کرده
  رامیرز مدام سعی میکنه لری رو به حرف بگیره و خودش رو با حرف زدن آروم کنه.... صحبتهای جالبی بینشون شکل میگیره درباره موضوعات مختلف، ادبیات، سیاست، تاریخ، زندگی....
  یه جاهایی انگار لری میشه آدم درون رامیرز و خاطرات اونو بازگو میکنه،انگار که رامیرز داره با خودش حرف میزنه
  بعد از پیدا شدن چندکتاب که رامیرز توی زندان اونها رو کدگذاری کرده و در واقع خاطراتشن، لری شروع به کدگشایی کتابها میکنه و ازینجا گذشته تاریک رامیرز روشن میشه و میفهمیم چه شخصیت بزرگی داشته و چقدر سختی کشیده
  ..
  کتاب یه مقدار خسته کننده میشه اما راحت میشه خوندنش و باهاش ارتباط برقرار کرد
  اسمش هم فقط خواننده پرونه :)) خودم از وقتی خریدمش بخاطر اسمش نمیرفتم طرفش، نفرین ابدی بر من
• 
  Banu Yıldıran Genç

  yani puig bey yıllarca bekledi bekledi de 2021’in son günlerinde okundu iki kitabıyla, hakkaten ilginç.
  tropikal gece’de tanık olduğum tarzı meğer alametifarikasıymış puig’in. roman yine tamamen diyalogla ilerliyor ve sonda kapanışı mektuplar ya da başka şeylerle yapıyoruz. aynı şey.
  bir kere seçtiği yöntem kolay bir yöntem değil çünkü hakkaten kimin kim olduğunu anlamak ve romanın içine girmek zor. hele bu kez halüsinasyonlarla boğuşan yaşlı bir adam var. neyin gerçek neyin hayal olduğu da belirsiz.
  ama puig usta bir yazar ve bir süre sonra her şeyi çözüyorsunuz.
  latin amerikalı olup da politik olmayan roman yazmak imkansız gibi bir şey, bu roman tropikal gece’ye göre epey politik çünkü yıllarca hapiste çürümüş bir sendikacının tedavi olmak için konsey tarafından amerika’ya gönderilmesi romanın temelini oluşturuyor.
  hapiste mental ve fiziksel sağlığı mahvolmuş bay ramirez’le bir baltaya sap olamamış bakıcı larry’nin ilişkisi ve diyalogları bir yerden sonra hayattaki her şeyle ilgili oluyor diyebilirim.
  larry’nin çocukluğundan itibaren didiklenen hayatı, anne oğul problemleri, ilk sevgilileri, karısı, boşanması, dibe vurması ve bunu sineye çekmesi epey psikanalitik bir biçimde ele alınıyor aslında konuşmalarda.
  öte taraftan ramirez’in hafıza problemi, bir türlü kim olduğunu çözemeyişimiz, baba oğul meselesine takıklığı nerdeyse son sayfalara kadar gizemini koruyor.
  ramirez’in kabuslarına, halüsinasyonlarına gerek var mıydı romanda, bilemedim. diyaloglarla çok daha iyi ilerliyordu bence. ama şunu söylemeliyim ki puig öyle bir aldatmacaya sokuyor ki okuru söylenen her şey gerçek de olabilir yalan da, hiç emin olamıyoruz ve bu aslında çok gıcık bir his.
  “bu satırların okuruna sonsuz lanet” ramirez’in hapiste tuttuğu şifreli notların başlığı. ve aynı zamanda puig’in ölene dek sürgünde yaşadığı amerika’da ingilizce yazdığı ilk roman. şu an kitap sitelerinde tek bir puig kitabı bulamazsınız. neden? belli değil. 90’da nerdeyse tüm kitapları varken şu an sıfır. bu da yayınevlerimizin başarısı. alkışlıyoruz.
  * mitos yayınevi iç kapakta şoföre kadar tüm emek verenleri saymış, çok tatlı elbet ama çeviride epey sorun var, onu da ekleyeyim. ayrıca 90’larda nefret ettiğimiz en kötü kalite gri kağıda basılmış.
• 
  Michiel Vandenberghe

  A story told through dialogues between a dropout academic with an interest in Marxism and an Argentinian refugee in the US. You only get to know the characters background little by little, and even then you are never sure if it is the true. Both are pathological liars. Interesting read from a stylistic point of view, but sometimes the conversations became a bit too psychological and slow for my taste.
• 
  Eman

  
  
  مانوئل پوئیگ (آرژانتین)،در این کتاب از دیالوگ بعنوان ساختار اصلی برای داستانش استفاده کرده و تمامیت داستان براساس دیالوگ هایی بین تنها 2 شخصیت است ولی این یک ساختار ساده نخواهد بود ،پوییگ با شکست فرم ،تعلیق و فریب دادن خواننده در خیلی از موارد ، باعث بوجود آمدن پیچیدگی هایی در راه می شود هرچند داستان با سوالاتی آغاز می شود که با اتمام کتاب هم جواب درستی برای آن نمی یابیم
  
  محتوای داستان، فراموشی، پیری و درماندگی، سیاست و تبعید است. بنظرم هرچند از ابتدا خواننده منتظر مرگ یکی از شخصیت هاست ولی تعلیق و کششی که در داستان وجود داره ما را تا انتهای داستان با خود نگه می داره البته برای من این کشش، بخوبی داستان های مارکز نبود و دیالوگ ها در جاهایی واقعا زیادی به نظر میرسند و خسته کننده
  
  در کل لذت بردم
  این کتاب باعث شد من برای ادبیات آمریکای لاتین یک شلف یا طبقه در نظر بگیرم
  
• 
  Christopher Waller

  A novel of disquieting insight into the darkest corners of human consciousness. Told through a series of back and forth dialogues between the two main characters --an ill and retired syndicalist and his caretaker, a ex-university professor with a somber past--, their friendship soon reveals just to what extent a shared solitude can become a mutual preying, an obsessive unraveling of that which is hidden beneath everyone's carefully constructed exterior. Oedipal struggles, abusive paternal relations, political disappointments and unrequited lusts, these are the themes that will haunt whoever decides to gaze upon these cursed pages.
• 
  علیرضا ملیحی

  رامیرز برای من مثل نویسنده‌ای بود که داستان می‌سازد و می‌نویسد. برای انجام این‌کار با استفاده لری و قراردادن او در موقعیتهای گوناگون و از راه گفتگو با او داستانش خلق می‌شود. هر بخشی از رمان داستانی‌ست که حول محور لری می‌چرخد. هر چقدر در رمان جلو می‌رویم لری را بیشتر می‌شناسیم و لری و خود او انسان‌تر و واقعی‌تر می‌شوند.
• 
  Sol Danisa López

  Ya estoy acostumbrada a amar a Puig con todo mi corazón. Aún así, leyendo esta obra en particular, me encontré un montón de veces desarmada en el piso incrédula de la belleza de la que es capaz. Sin dudas mi favorito suyo hasta ahora ♥️ y un libro que le regalaría a todos si pudiera.
• 
  Victoria

  From South America we here have another story of political upheaval, imprisonment, torture, and exile, the sad story told by Roberto Bolaño in his work, and by many so many others. Eternal Curse on the Reader of These Pages focuses less on the fact of exile than on the relationship of the elderly Mr. Ramirez, late of Argentina, and the man Larry hired to push his wheelchair around the NYC neighborhood where they live not far from each other, one in a nursing home, the other in a low-rent slummy apartment. All they know about each other is what they tell each other, and of course that's all we know about them, and the facts of their lives are thus quite unstable.
  
  Without a narrator, characters have to say things people don't normally say, and awkward moments in Eternal Curse on the Reader of These Pages arise from reliance on dialogue, with a few documents at the end to wrap up the story. Another kind of awkwardness comes from the coincidence that the wheelchair-pusher has an advanced degree in history...but the English of Mr. Ramirez is also awkward, as is his very position in his own country and the US, and Larry's surely is also, so somehow all this awkwardness becomes a motif of the work, the difficulty of finding one's place in the world.
  
  Four stars because it's a pleasure to read and understand, because the characters are affecting in their very different ways, and because it's intermittently funny in a quiet way. I have no memory of what Puig's Betrayed by Rita Hayworth, which I read decades ago, was about, but Eternal Curse on the Reader of These Pages has made me want to revisit it, and discover his other translated works.
• 
  Saman

  اين كتاب مستطاب (نفرين ابدي بر خوانندي اين برگ‌ها)، جزو كتاب‌هايي‌ست كه نتونستم تا آخر بخونم. كل كتاب ديالوگ بين دو نفره. يه مرد جوون كه پرستار يه پيرمرده و خود پيره مرده
  نمي‌دونم، اين رو بايد از دور و بري‌هام بپرسم، فكر مي‌كنم خودم آدم پر حرفي نباشم. نمي‌گم كم حرفم. اما مطمئنم كه پر حرف نيستم. اين دو تا آدم تو اين كتاب خيلي حرف مي‌زنن. خيلي؛ جوري كه حوصله‌ي آدم رو سر مي‌برن
  
• 
  Amin

  پیرمرد سالخورده‌ی ویلچرنشین که دیگر هیچ شناختِ حسی‌ای به دنیای اطرافش ندارد و مردی که بخاطر نیاز مالی و... هم‌صحبت و به مرور بهترین دوست او می‌شود تا آن پیر، دوباره با انواع احساسات آشنا ‌شود.
  
  این کلیت داستان بود. نگاهی دوباره به زندگی، نگاهی دقیق‌تر.
  البته که حق این مطلب، یعنی نگاهی نو به زندگی را "مت هیگ" در کتاب "انسان‌ها؛ هیچ جا خانه نمی‌شود" پیش‌تر برایم ادا کرد.
• 
  Ali Jalali

  یکی از بهترین کتابهای عمرم...
• 
  Marcos Teach

  After reading this it felt clear to me that Manuel Puig was having a difficult time being in New York where this novel is set. Also getting older, losing your looks, and attracted to a younger man who is narcissistic and self indulgent is also a recipe for tragedy.
  
  This is the story about a political named Ramirez who bonds with his caretaker, an American named Larry who is a failed academic. Larry pushes Ramirez’s wheelchair around and the two banter about literature, art, politics, and finally the secrets of their relationships: both replete with Oedipal desire, and with Ramirez, terrified that Larry will reject him, and on Larry’s part, having latent homosexuality. The air is both humid, cold and warm in Puig’s only English language novel. I am always in love with Puig’s ability to write like a screenwriter. But this one felt slightly more hollow than other books he’s written.
• 
  Marcos Faria

  Na estrutura lembra muito O Beijo da Mulher-Aranha: o livro é quase todo feito de diálogos, com uma breve troca de cartas no epílogo. Os dois personagens, assim como acontecia com Molina e Valentin, estabelecem uma relação que se inicia com uma convivência aleatória e depois flutua entre a amizade, a troca de interesses, o ódio e a codependência.
  
  À medida que Larry e Ramírez entram num jogo que mistura a realidade e a ficção, Puig convida a cair na "maldição eterna" da literatura: fantasiar para preencher as lacunas da vida, mesmo que depois seja preciso despertar.
• 
  Loren Law

  I almost made it but I had to give up around 70% of the way through. It's an incredibly boring dive into a the character's (and most likely the author's) psychological issues. Reads like a therapy session transcript. The idea of having a story told only through dialogue between two co-dependent characters could have been really interesting, but unfortunately not in this case.
• 
  Alejandro Orradre

  Un libro espeso, en formato de diálogo entre dos personas, que no lleva a ningún lugar y se hace difícil de seguir pese a sus pocas páginas. Al final se agradece el cambio de formato, aunque sea simplemente para terminar más rápido.
  
  Quizás no lo he asimilado bien, o no he conseguido ver las capas que la narración pudiera llevar.
• 
  Antonio Parrilla

  No es mi favorito. Es interesante la creación de un universo a partir de mentiras, historias, que Larry cuenta y se inventa a través de preguntas medio seniles del señor Ramírez. Conocemos a los personajes por las mentiras, por las negativas, por la demencia. Más allá de eso no lo he pillado mucho, probablemente.
• 
  Iordain Heckemensch

  a book that's always building a trap for itself to fall into and then skipping over it with an annoying grin...
  
  really brilliant though—painful, sardonic, depressive, sappy, cutting, funny, hypnotic... even if it was a bit of a slow read for me