Nobody Nothing Never (Masks) [Paperback]

Juan José Saer (Author)

Book Description

Series: Masks | Publication Date: June 1, 1994

A paperback novel in the MASKS series, set in the Argentinian Pampas where a horse killer is on the loose and political oppression, social mistrust, an intense sexual affair and an existential, desultory hunt for the killer follows in the mysterious footsteps of the unknown assassin. Translated by Helen Lane.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Never has a title better summed up a book. This tedious novel about a couple of monotonous days in the lives of some very colorless characters is the second book by the Argentine-born Saer to be translated into English. Elisa and Cat are lovers who spend a weekend together at Cat's dilapidated beachfront house. Although their relationship is never explored, every insignificant event is related in painstaking detail. Pages are given over to descriptions of the white wine they drink, the sweat on their bodies, the wrinkles in Elisa's dress. Cat has been asked to take care of an acquaintance's horse because there's an equine killer on the loose. The chief of police (a famed torturer also named Horse) searches for the culprit; the reader retains hope--ultimately dashed--that something will actually happen. Instead, one is obliged to slog through the endless minutiae again and again, as every nonevent is retold from several points of view. (It takes a man nearly four pages to carry two bales of hay from the river to the house, and then this same, less-than-intriguing, episode is recounted twice more.) Still, Saer is not ungifted; the shifting points of view, the oppressive atmosphere he evokes and the sudden bursts of sensuality make one wish he had written a less ponderous book.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In Saer's debut translation in English, the existential mood suggested by the title results from the languorous love affair between Cat and Elisa, who are also trying to protect a prize horse from probable death by a serial horsekiller. The killings start a variety of rumors-that it's an excuse for the police to jail anybody in disagreement with the government, that the horses are being decimated because they are transmitting a plague, that the mania for killing horses has itself become a sort of plague. But it is not the psychology of the killings that interests Saer. Instead, he is concerned with their contribution to his vaster vision of a void and sun-parched world (in this case, the Rio Parana region of Argentina) where nothing significant can take place. Written in 1980, this novel will appeal most to readers who enjoy meditative fiction; an introduction to Saer's life and reputation would have helped most readers.
Jack Shreve, Allegany Community Coll., Cumberland, Md.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Serpent's Tail (June 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1852422734
• ISBN-13: 978-1852422738
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,142,300 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in Santa Fé, Argentina in 1937, Juan José Saer is the leading Argentinian writer of the post-Borges generation. In 1968, he moved to Paris and taught literature at the university in Rennes, Brittany. In 1988, Juan José Saer was awarded Spain's prestigious Nadal Prize for The Event. His work is translated into all major languages. Saer died in July 2005.