Image: Ivan Navarro, Conduit #1, 2015, neon, steel, mirror, one-way mirror, and electric energy, 36 1/4 x 36 inches. Edition of 3 (from an edition of 3 + 1AP). Courtesy of Ivan Navarro and Paul Kasmin Gallery.
As the new year arrives with its resolutions and pledges of virtue, we're taking one last look at bad behavior. Characters abuse power and substances, dodge laws and bend the rules, and otherwise indulge their baser instincts in this survey of crimes and misdemeanors around the world. Andrei Krasniashikh's sodden soccer fan really doesn't know the score. Amy Yamada's manipulative teen signs up for a risky after-school activity. Hanna Krall exposes a con woman's ultimate scam, and Jean-Marie Blas de Robles observes the worst kind of industrial espionage. Felipe Franco Munhoz pins the blame on Faulkner; Alejandro Saravia's immigrant deals his own death; and Guiseppe Berto challenges the gospel truth. We hope these displays of poor form get your year off to a good start. Elsewhere, we offer a selection of fiction from Macedonia, translated and introduced by Will Firth.
People Behaving Badly
Many greet the clean slate of a new year by pledging to chalk up only virtue and moderation.
I Don’t Want Much, But I Must Have It All
Once people hear “religious husband,” they lend two thousand on the spot.
Haunted Swing
Above all else I appreciate skill and showmanship . . .
bilingual
Plamondon Metro
drawn by the myth of the streets of gold / Santiago Nasar arrives on rue Barclay and becomes a pusher
bilingual
Moonshine
It wasn't our fault . . . it was mostly the fault of William Faulkner.
Breathtaking View
A proponent of “lean management,” Wang-li Wong works to streamline activity within his company.
The Betrayal
So You said to me, “What you are about to do, do quickly.”
Magnet
It didn’t take much time before word spread that I was Yamamoto’s favorite.
Book Reviews
“Savage Theories” by Pola Oloixarac
Reviewed by David Varno
Fear and violence, war and sex, eroticism and philosophy, and flawed characters grappling with the messiness of life in a fragmented digital world.
“Seed in Snow” by Knuts Skujenieks & “Andes” by Tomaž Šalamun
Reviewed by Kate Prengel
Two new translations of poetry, one from Slovenia, the other from Latvia, both very different, both well worth the effort.