Christ Versus Arizona

Among the most experimental of Cela’s works, this audacious and provocative novel tells the story of the 1881 shootout at the OK Corral from the perspective of Wendell Liverpool Espana, the uneducated, bastard son of a prostitute. Structured as a monologue comprising a single 250-page-plus-long sentence, the book weaves together hundreds of characters, both fictional and real (Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, etc.), to create a vivid and frequently grotesque picture of the American Southwest. Scatological and crude sexual references abound, as do graphic depictions of racism, murder and death, sometimes all at once (“[I]t must be funny—a Negro hanged by the neck with his cock pretty hard, his tongue sticking out, and a flower in his lapel”). Given its harsh imagery and unwieldy narrative structure, the book is not for the faint of heart. Nonetheless, as a significant example of Cela’s themes and stylistic inventiveness, scholars and fans will consider it an important addition to the author’s English-translated works. (Sept.)