Slide Show: Reading and Farewell from Horacio Castellanos Moya
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Horacio Castellanos Moya
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signs copies of Tyrant Memory. Upon its English-language release, The New York Times proclaimed it the author's "most ambitious novel to date."
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Henry Reese
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introduces Castellanos Moya, praising his unique sense of humor and decidedly unsentimental temperament.
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Castellanos Moya
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reads three selections from Tyrant Memory, which revolves around the 1944 military coup and subsequent strike against Salvadoran dictator Maximiliano Hernández Martínez.
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José Henríquez,
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a fellow Salvadoran, noted that Tyrant Memory had given his home country international exposure: "He’s recreating some parts of Salvadoran history in a way that can be shared with communities all over the world."
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Lisa Kuzma
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praised Castellanos Moya's timing: "It's great that there was so much suspense...In all three sections he read, he stopped at just the right point that you wanted to hear more."
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Tayfun Gol
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hoped to hear Castellanos Moya's take on American support of El Salvador's government: "In the 1980s El Salvador suffered a huge humanitarian crisis through the military support of the imperialist United States..."
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Alan Wells
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found Tyrant Memory calmer than the author's previous efforts: "It is deliberate writing, rather than stream of consciousness. Having read some of his other pieces, it was interesting to hear a different angle... He'll be missed."
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Felipe Palomo
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"I like that he has different characters that all talk about this one secret character...You can get into these other characters' lives and points of view and have a better perspective."
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Megan Higgins-Palomo
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was also taken with the novel's variety of voices: "I was so interested to hear the story of El Salvador through different perspectives...you don't always get to see history through multiple points of view."
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Photos: © Laura Mustio
On Wednesday, July 27, former writer in residence Horacio Castellanos Moya bid Pittsburgh farewell with a reading from Tyrant Memory, his newest novel to be translated into English. The City of Asylum-sponsored event, which roughly 140 people attended, was followed by a Q&A and a book signing, during which participants had the opportunity to exchange one-on-one goodbyes. Castellanos Moya, who will begin teaching at the University of Iowa this fall, noted in his speech that such a large send-off was, for him, a new experience. “Most of the time, when I leave a city, I just escape,” he said.
Read Sampsonia Way’s recent interview with Horacio Castellanos Moya
Read an excerpt from Tyrant Memory
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