Abyssinia - by Vlady Kociancich (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Part love story and part psychological thriller, Abyssinia recounts the end of an artist's life.

On February 3, 1882, the renowned Argentine painter Xavier Durand falls gravely ill. His adoring entourage scatters and he is left in the care of his gallerist, his servant, his aunt, and her servant, Irene Sáenz. In pain and wheelchair bound, Xavier grows reliant on Irene, whom he begins to call his cousin. As a strange courtship unfolds between them, the tyrannical painter becomes a remorseful convalescent and the timid lady's maid becomes an enigma, equally capable of affection and cruelty.

Kociancich's Abyssinia is a parable about the divided self and the limits of representation. Two images represent the rift in Xavier's identity: His last painting--also titled Abyssinia, referencing Rimbaud's flight to Ethiopia after renouncing poetry--holds the promise of authorial immortality. The second image is a photograph of him and Irene that holds the promise of the life that could have been.

About the Author

Argentine writer, literary critic, and translator VLADY KOCIANCICH (1941-2022) is the author of over a dozen books, including The Eighth Wonder, translated by Jessica Sequeira, and The Last Days of William Shakespeare, translated by Margaret Jull Costa in 1991, and Abyssinia (2027), translated by Jessica Sequeira. Her novella Los bajos del temor (1992) was awarded the 1992 Sigfrido Radaello Prize and her short story collection La ronda de los jinetes muertos (1996) was a finalist for the 2007 Rómulo Gallegos Prize. Her translations into Spanish include Joseph Conrad's The End of the Tether, published as Con la soga al cuello (1984). A student of Jorge Luis Borges and Adolfo Bioy Casares, Kociancich was awarded the City of Buenos Aires Short Story Prize, two Konex Foundation and Fondo Nacional de las Artes Jorge Luis Borges prizes, and the Esteban Echeverría Trajectory Prize.

Poet, novelist, literary translator, and historian JESSICA SEQUEIRA is the author of Los cantos de Guan Gong (2026), Jazz of the Affections (2025), Taal (2024), Chacal Dorado / Golden Jackal (2022), A Luminous History of the Palm (2020), A Furious Oyster (2018), Other Paradises (2018), and Rhombus and Oval (2017). She has translated many books by Latin American authors, and in 2019 was awarded the Premio Valle-Inclán for her translation of Sara Gallardo's Land of Smoke.