Inez

by Carlos Fuentes

Book Overview

A magical short novel that weaves together two stories, two couples, two different times, and two grand passions In one of the narratives that comprise this superb new novel from Carlos Fuentes, we are introduced to Gabriel Atlan-Ferrara, a fabled orchestral conductor, and his great love Inez Prada, a renowned singer. In the other, Fuentes memorably delineates the very first encounter in human history between a man and a woman. In one, the intense...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374175535
• ISBN13: 9780374175535
• Release Date: May 2002
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 150 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

beautifully written short fiction

I have always been a fan of Carlos Fuentes and other novelists writing in Spanish. This book does not disappoint, even tho it is short. It's beautifully written, with language that evokes a dream. The stories of the old man, Gabriel Atlan-Ferrara, looking back on his life and his love of a woman, Inez Prada, intertwine with that of a pair of lovers in ancient times. Overlaying it all is music - mostly that of Berloiz and his "The Damnation of Faust" - but also other music, the original music that man made when he was learning to talk. The beauty is marred by the evil things men do - the London Blitz in WWII and violence in the ancient time. But the scars on the earth can be healed - as Atlan-Ferrara says, "Sing until the bombs of Satan are silenced."

Inez - A Magnificent & Magical Novel

If you're a fan of Carlos Fuentes' early novels, like "Aura" and "The Death of Artemio Cruz," then you are bound to enjoy "Inez," (in Spanish, "Instinto de Inez"). In this, his latest book, after "The Years With Laura Diaz," the author returns to the magical world of fantasy, and to some of his favorite themes: creativity and time. Gabriel Atlan-Ferrara, a dynamic and celebrated symphony conductor, reflects back on his life, at age 93, and realizes that only death awaits him. These reflections reveal his great passion for one woman, and for music. They also disclose the conductor's view of the world, and destiny, as he confronts death. "El muerto no sabe lo que es la muerte, pero los vivos tampocos" ("The dead don't know what death is, but neither do the living"). The past holds for him the memory of his love for the red-haired, dark eyed Inez. Gabriel has a shimmering glass seal, a mysterious object "sufficient unto itself." This seal might bestow upon its bearer the ability to see past, present and future, to hear music of impossible beauty, and to read unknown languages. The maestro hopes to find, in the crystal seal, the impossible reflection of Inez and a return to a time when they were together - to transcend time, distance and space through their love. The crystal also provides the link between two intertwining stories - that of Atlan-Ferrara and his memories, and a parallel narrative which records Inez' dreams - a poetic love story telling of the first encounter in human history between a man and a woman. "Inez" is an extraordinary tale which contrasts love and obsession, life and death, male and female. Alan-Ferrara encountered Mexican opera singer, Inez Prada, three times over the course of his lifetime. The first time was during the 1940 London blitz. This was when he initially heard her sing. In 1949 they met again in Mexico City. She had become a renowned diva. Atlan-Ferrara had moved-up in his career also, and was now one of the world's most important orchestra conductors. Their last meeting took place in London, 1967, when the conductor decided to break all the rules of traditional opera. Each time they met they were performing Berlioz's opera, "The Damnation of Faust." It is "the opera that permits me to travel in time...," Fuentes said in an interview. "It is Berlioz who invents this original dissonance, this extraordinary mystery of the origin of music and the origin of voice." Fuentes also stated that Alan-Ferrara is "modeled on one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, the Romanian Sergiu Celibidache." The young Mexican soprano, Inez, Fuentes says was inspired by the legendary Maria Callas. Margaret Sayers Peden's translation is excellent and captures Fuentes' language as well as any translation could. Carlos Fuentes, probably Mexico's greatest living writer, is the author of more than twenty books and has received many awards for his accomplishments as a novelist, essayist, and commentator, among th

A great novel of the great master

Carlos Fuentes has written a brief, poetic elegy to love and classical music in his latest novel, "Inez".I have translated it into farsi and it is released just today,May 10th 2003. It weaves together three tales, a love affair spanning decades between Mexican diva and the famous European conductor Gabriel Atlan-Ferrara, that briefly mirrors the political chaos of the the 20th Century; the other, the love affair of two prehitorian Europeans somewhere along the coast of Ice Age Europe, thousands of years ago,The last one is combination of Damnation of Faust by Hector Berlioz and other classical operas of history.It is under tyhe influence of Maria Calas the Greek diva aca La triviata. This terse tale is among the finest examples of recently published literary prose that I've come across and translated into Farsi.I have tried a lot to find a contact address of Carlos Fuentes but in vain.Please read it and enjoy the Novel and help me with an address of the Mastero.

Lyrical Celebration Of Music and Love From Fuentes

Carlos Fuentes has written a brief, poetic elegy to love and classical music in his latest novel, "Inez". It deftly weaves together two simple tales: one a tempestuous love affair spanning decades between Mexican diva Inez Rosenzweig and the famous European conductor Gabriel Atlan-Ferrara, that briefly mirrors the political chaos of the last half of the 20th Century; the other, the love affair of two Paleolithic Europeans somewhere along the coast of Ice Age Europe, tens of thousands of years ago. This terse tale is among the finest examples of recently published literary prose that I've come across.

Crystal seal

This is a book about remembering. The protagonist is always looking back to the moments in life that changed his perspective. Here is stated the eternal conflict of the innocence of women, which bring us to the anthropological view of the first couple in history. Is it a revenge what women do doing with men? Why are they so difficult to understand? A crystal seal is the connector and symbol of two distant worlds and a third one, the memory of the protagonist. Undoubtly we find a pretty interesting but difficult novel as the new proposal that Carlos Fuentes give us in Instinto de Inez.