The stone of madness

Idioma original: español

Year of publication: 2021

Valuation: advisable

Well, what a reviewer I am: so oblivious to the latest news that I have to find out several months late (in the age of the Internet: an eternity and a half) about the fuss about this Chilean writer. My first reference to him is Koldo’s review of MANIAC, which I somewhat overlook in the midst of so much chaos, and very recently his review of Un verdor terrible, and, at the height of opportunistic originality, I take advantage of the summer relaxation to devour, in just a couple of weeks, his three references for Anagrama that seem to constitute the corpus of this young Chilean writer with the appearance of a rock star.

In fact, my shamelessness is now absolute, but, public that reads us, 42 degrees is too much to overcome laziness and I give up publishing endogamous comments in the accurate reviews of Koldo and I limit myself to subscribing to the colophon of one of them: we expect Labatut in another register once he has demonstrated his solvency in this curious genre that (where is Jean Echenoz?) has some precedent perhaps not so direct but difficult to define: non-fictional popular fiction with some polemical pretension? (hereinafter FNFDCAPP). In any case, another of those writers that, despite some small somewhat deceitful trick, must be read, because Labatut manages not only to be contemporary in his style, in his self-confidence, but also oozes classical references not only in the scientific field but also in the literary one. In fact, the first mention in this brief The stone of madness It’s Lovecraft and this already shows a little of the reason why these two articles did not find a place in his other books.

The scientific field is different, and here we are not involved in physics or mathematics, and the tone is even more restrained: Labatut does not use the trigger that fascinates so much in his works. There is no experiential speculation, but rather direct testimony that ranges – apart from the mention of another great like Philip K. Dick – from the Chilean revolt of a few years ago to more prosaic issues that, curiously, point in an oblique direction to his other works and confirm a certain feeling – pleasant, of course – of contextualization, of a work in progress. To be followed exhaustively.