The Dance and the Fire
The novel is atmospherically anxious, evoking the 'uneasy tension' of a world on the edge of disaster ... The fires provide both a backdrop and a running metaphor. Saldaña París is interested in inflammation and contagion ... At times, it seems that Saldaña París doesn’t trust the world he’s created to hold. He is occasionally uneasy with his choice of first-person narration, sometimes justifying it with flimsy gestures towards diary. He also has a tendency to repeat detail ... This is a book about growing hysteria and the flickering fickleness of shared realities—in this pervasive instability, it is perhaps understandable that the creeping distrust that is the subject of the book seems to have infected the author as well.
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Poignant and compelling, this lyrical translation of Saldaña París’ depiction of youth foundering into maturity against the backdrop of chaos, hysteria, and destruction is a solid add for all literary collections.
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Saldaña París writes about these three characters with a consideration and a confidence ... Contains an array of evocative imagery and metaphor ... MacSweeney’s translation is characteristically beautiful and skilled throughout, though I did find myself occasionally bumping up against the novel’s idiomatic language ... I hope The Dance and the Fire brought Saldaña París as much insight into the secrets of his character(s) as it brought me into the search so many of us undertake for the fundamental details of our own stories.
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