JAIL

Zárate reflects eloquently on the nature of freedom and imprisonment in this posthumous English translation of his 1972 novel, which tracks the fortunes of a Colombian writer named Antón Castán who finds himself in jail after being accused of strangling a teenage girl. Castán spends the early chapters getting to know his colorful prison companions, including the garrulous, didactic Mr. Alba and another inmate named Braulio Coral who turns a rat that appears in his cell into a pet. Eventually, Castán is approached by a lawyer named Ramírez who claims he can prove the writer's innocence, but Zárate offers little material on his protagonist's alleged crime. Instead he records the philosophical musings of Castán and his companions as they reflect on the nature of their wrongdoings, societal values, and writers and art. Prison life changes significantly when the local military dictator, Colonel Leloya, begins a program of reform, but the dictator is taken hostage in a prison riot and Castán inexplicably murders him. The final chapters offer several intriguing turns, including a prison beauty contest and a trial conducted by the prisoners in which Castán is brought to account for murdering Leloya. The lack of straight-line narrative makes the novel dependent on the philosophical material, which is by turns provocative and ponderous. The result is a fragmented but thoughtful book that explores the relationship between society and those it chooses to imprison. (Apr.)