Tales from the Town of Widows
Encyclopedia
Tales from the Town of Widows (ISBN 0061140384) (ISBN 978-0061140389) is a lyrical novel written by Colombian-born author James Cañón
. It tells the story of Mariquita, a mountain village that’s forever altered the day a band of communist guerrillas forcibly recruits all but three of its men. Left to fend for themselves with an ethically challenged priest, a transvestite and a withdrawn gay man, the virtual widows slowly emerge from their supporting roles as wives and daughters to become unwitting founders of a remarkable new society: an all-female utopia far greater than any revolutionary’s imagined ideal society. Interspersed with the central narrative are blunt and brutal first-person accounts (each a page and a half long and signaled by an alternate font) that serve as reports on the men. They are all fighting, displaced, or brutally murdered, including left-wing rebels, right-wing paramilitary soldiers, Colombian national army soldiers and the civilians that are caught between all these forces. These are designed to remind the readers of the very unmagical reality the women are rejecting.
The novel was first published in 2007 by Harper Collins NY. Since, it has been published in over twenty countries and translated into French, German, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Hebrew, Korean, Turkish, Arabic, Croatian and Polish.
and Christian Slater
, and it was directed by Argentinian award winning writer-director Gabriela Tagliavini. The movie has been censored in Spain, where all the Lesbian love scenes have been removed.
James Cañón
Born and raised in Ibagué, Colombia, James Cañón received his B.A in advertising from Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano of Bogotá. He moved to New York in the mid 1990s to study English, and later earned his MFA in creative writing from Columbia University. His short stories and essays have been...
. It tells the story of Mariquita, a mountain village that’s forever altered the day a band of communist guerrillas forcibly recruits all but three of its men. Left to fend for themselves with an ethically challenged priest, a transvestite and a withdrawn gay man, the virtual widows slowly emerge from their supporting roles as wives and daughters to become unwitting founders of a remarkable new society: an all-female utopia far greater than any revolutionary’s imagined ideal society. Interspersed with the central narrative are blunt and brutal first-person accounts (each a page and a half long and signaled by an alternate font) that serve as reports on the men. They are all fighting, displaced, or brutally murdered, including left-wing rebels, right-wing paramilitary soldiers, Colombian national army soldiers and the civilians that are caught between all these forces. These are designed to remind the readers of the very unmagical reality the women are rejecting.
The novel was first published in 2007 by Harper Collins NY. Since, it has been published in over twenty countries and translated into French, German, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Hebrew, Korean, Turkish, Arabic, Croatian and Polish.
Awards and honors
- Prix du Premier Meilleur Roman Étranger, 2008 (Paris)
- Prix des Lecteurs Vincennes, 2008 (Vincennes)
- Finalist, Prix des Lecteurs du Télégramme, 2009 (France)
- Finalist, Edmund White Fiction Award, 2008 (New York)
- Finalist, Lambda Award for Best Debut Fiction, 2008 (Los Angeles)
- Finalist, One Brown Book, One Nation Program, 2008 (U.S.)
Film adaptation
A film, entitled Without Men, is currently in production and is due to be released in 2011. It stars Eva LongoriaEva Longoria
Eva Jacqueline Longoria is an American actress, best known for portraying Gabrielle Solis on the ABC television series Desperate Housewives...
and Christian Slater
Christian Slater
Christian Michael Leonard Slater is an American actor. He made his film debut with a small role in The Postman Always Rings Twice before playing a leading role in the 1985 film The Legend of Billie Jean...
, and it was directed by Argentinian award winning writer-director Gabriela Tagliavini. The movie has been censored in Spain, where all the Lesbian love scenes have been removed.
External links
- James Cañón's Official Web Site
- Harper Collin's Author's Page
- Washington Post (Review)
- The New Yorker (Review)
- Le Monde (Review/French)
- The Australian (Review)
- Revista de Letras (Review/Spanish)