Childish Literature

Starred review from October 1, 2024
An exceptionally skilled and inventive writer, Zambra (Bonsai, 2022) takes a direct approach to documenting all the breathless joy, sleepless nights, and uncanny profundity of early fatherhood. Shifting between prose and poetry, he explores different points of view for introducing the world to his child, Silvestre. The title entry, ""Childish Literature,"" addresses the newborn and numbers the days of his first year (""you vomit all over the Oaxacan guayabera I was given for Father's Day in your name""). ""Good Morning, Night,"" a short poem, muses on the gray daze of daybreak familiar to any new parent, and shares glimpses into children's funny, nonsensical logic: Silvestre can't possibly strike a pinata because his hand is busy ringing an imaginary bell. Told in the third person, ""Screen Time"" narrates a six-hour international flight during which the child finally bursts into tears for a short spell, ""but to a man in the row behind them, seemed very long indeed."" Unfolding world events creep into the entries. ""Crowd"" provides a snapshot of the dire isolation faced during the worst of the pandemic, yet finds Zambra basking in his child's artistic creativity and the ""immediate joy of seeing that he's still there, intent on his work, concentrated, autonomous."" Another excellent book by one of Chile's most important contemporary voices.

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September 2, 2024
Zambra (Chilean Poet) considers new fatherhood in this eclectic mix of poetry and prose. The title essay, composed of vignettes addressed to his newborn son, Silvestre, is particularly lovely: “Your arrival forever changes... the meanings of all the words.” Several pieces depict the challenges of parenting young children during the Covid-19 lockdowns, as in “Screen Time,” a short, humorous story about the lengths to which some adults go to limit their child’s television exposure while preserving their own. “Childhood’s Childhood” is more reflective, as the author contemplates the origins of childhood memories and whether today’s fraught times are worth recording and recalling: “What will my son remember of this horrible year?” he asks himself a year into the Covid-19 pandemic. The nature of memory is a recurring theme, both in Zambra’s role as a father chronicling his son’s childhood and as a son interrogating his own youthful memories of a misunderstood incident with his father. The repetitions can be taxing, but the author deploys his characteristic charm. Zambra’s joy is contagious in this nuanced exploration of “the mysteries of happiness.” Agent: Jacqueline Ko, Wylie Agency.