Fabulous. Incredible, rich in myths, a fable to be celebrated.

fabulous (adj.)
early 15c., "mythical, legendary," from Latin fabulosus "celebrated in fable;" also "rich in myths," from fabula "story, tale" (see fable (n.)). Meaning "pertaining to fable" is from 1550s. Sense of "incredible" first recorded c. 1600, hence "enormous, immense, amazing," which was trivialized by 1950s to "marvelous, terrific."

link: from Etymonline ( )

Dit is geschreven, zo’n 5 jaar voor het knappe Lost Children Archive, en je merkt dat dit in veel opzichten een experimenteel boek is. In haar nawoord licht Luiselli toe dat dit de vrucht is van de interactie met een boekenclub van Mexicaanse arbeiders. Het is wellicht beter dit te weten voor je aan de lectuur begint. Want het boek zelf heeft daardoor de vorm gekregen van een installatie, naar de sculpturen die in de loop van de 20ste eeuw meer en meer in zwang kwamen en de kloof tussen verhalen en materie probeerden te overbruggen. Luiselli lijkt iets gelijkaardigs te proberen met een boek dat vol staat van de metafictionele verwijzingen, maar tegelijk de indruk geeft dat dat allemaal maar spel is.
De roman is opgehangen aan het merkwaardige leven van Gustave Sanchez Sanchez, bijgenaamd Snelweg; een merkwaardig leven inderdaad, toch ten minste in de eerste verhalen, waarin we Gustave een grootsprakerige monoloog horen opvoeren en het onwaarschijnlijke verhaal van zijn leven horen vertellen. Zijn kromme en scheve tanden spelen daarin een niet onbelangrijke symbolische én materiële rol. Zoals ik al aangaf, is Gustave grootsprakerig, een beetje highbrow (met een opeenstapeling van knipogen naar de groten uit de wereldliteratuur en de filosofie) en in het geheel overwegend schelms, zowel in de charmerende als de afstotende zin (met onder andere een biopic door Luiselli zelf).
Op het einde volgt dan een enigszins voorspelbare twist waarin we een andere verteller een heel ander licht zien schijnen op het leven van Gustave, dat uiteraard veel minder groots blijkt. Een afsluitende reeks zwart-witfoto’s (Sebald?) en een tijdsbalk proberen het verhaal van Sanchez dan weer een pseudo-objectieve schijn te geven.
Zoals gezegd, dit lijkt een schrijfexperiment dat vooral een metafictioneel verhaal wil vertellen, in postmoderne zin; de vele motto’s voor elk hoofdstukje gaan bijna allemaal over de problematische relatie tussen teken en betekenis; dat zegt al genoeg. Tegelijk doet Luiselli haar best om het highbrow-gehalte van haar roman te doorprikken. Voor mij was het in het begin in elk geval amusant en intrigerend, maar na een tijdje was de magie toch wel wat uitgewerkt. ( )

Absolutely charming, witty, odd, and delightful. ( )

1. The Story of My Teeth by Valeria Luiselli
translation: from Spanish by Christina MacSweeney, 2015
published: 2013
format: 195-page Coffee House Press paperback (only 136 pages have text)
acquired: 2020, read: Jan 6-8, time reading: 4:22, 1.9 mpp
rating: 4+ (4½?)
genre/style: fiction, with philosophical touches
locations: Mexico
about the author: A Mexican author who group up in Mexico City, Madison, Wisconsin, Costa Rica, South Korea, and South Africa. Born 1983.

"I am going to recount for you the fascinating stories of these teeth, and I would urge you to buy them, take them to your homes, use them, or simply cherish them for persecula seculorum*. That is, for forever. Otherwise, I continued, slightly overstating the case in a menacing tone, if these relics don‘t find owners by the end of this session, they will be sold abroad. And the last thing we need is for the little we have to carried off by others."

I really enjoyed this book, and enjoy thinking about it. It's not a book for everyone, because it's not a book just to read and be told everything. It's playful, misleading, very Nabokov/Pynchon-like in that way, except I found the play, and the joy in that play, very accessible. And, it's Luiselli. She has a very intimate way of writing. The book is a mixture of these things.

Gustavo Sánchez Sánchez begins telling us about the story of his teeth, which may be his collection of various teeth, or his biological teeth, and he begins to go into story of his life, except he seems more interested in being a storyteller than accurate autobiographer. It's not a factual story. But it involves him becoming an auctioneer, and the ideas behind it, which he gives geometrical names, like parabolic, hyperbolic, but also allegorical. Because his main auctioneering technique is storytelling. Each item being sold is given a story context, often within the fold of the history of philosophy, Gustavo quoting, roughly, various historical philosophers. (I was charmed he included Petrarch.) He is working to make something magical out of his items through the stories around them. Or, as he explains it,

"Quintillian explains that 'there is in all men a natural propensity to magnify or extenuate what comes before them, and no one is contented with the exact truth.' "

One last interesting piece. Luiselli tells us in an afterward that the book is a collaboration. She wrote stories for workers in a factory outside Mexico City, and they would send her back, in New York, some kind of textual response. And the novel, a kind of tribute to the workers, developed out of that sort of epistolary dialogue.

Well the short version is that I liked this a lot and would recommend to anyone who liked [Lost Children Archive], and maybe to anyone who wanted to like [[Thomas Pynchon]] (even if you found him indecipherable, as I did).

*Google translate:
per secula seculorum = for ever and ever.
persecula seculorum = persecutors of the ages.

2022
https://www.librarything.com/topic/337810#7717464 ( )

Hyberbolic Teeth Auctions
Review of the Blackstone Audio Inc. audiobook (2015) [listened via Audible Plus] translated from the Spanish language original "La historia de mis dientes" (2013)

I had better luck with this 3rd attempt at listening to a selection from the new Audible Plus program that requires you to listen via the Audible app rather than being able to download the audiobook. My previous attempts with the Cormac Reilly novels of Dervla McTiernan were frustrating due to the app freezing up frequently. In contrast, I was able to listen to The Story of My Teeth without any problems. Perhaps it has something to do with the shorter length of the Luiselli? More investigation and more examples will be needed to see if that is the case.

The Story of My Teeth was especially entertaining in the sections where auctioneer Gustavo "Highway" Sanchez Sanchez performs his hyperbolic auctions where he elaborates on the teeth that he is selling, attributing them to various historical figures such as Quintinian, Augustine, or Petrarch up to modern day figures such as Marilyn Monroe. The closing section of a timeline written by English translator Christina MacSweeney was odd. This was an added feature that was not included in the original Spanish edition.

The narration performance by Armando Duran was excellent. ( )