Luisa Valenzuela is one of the sharpest Argentine writers of the late twentieth century, and Black Novel (with Argentines) works like a crime story that has already burst its own container.

Two Argentine writers arrive in New York, one of them apparently having committed a senseless murder, and what follows is a feverish drift through guilt, performance, exile, erotic obsession.

The “black novel” of the title is both noir form and dark state condition: Valenzuela is writing in the long shadow of Argentina’s dictatorship, disappearances, censorship, and political violence, she lets it infect the novel’s structure. Identity slips, motives distort, language performs tricks, and the city becomes a stage for panic, desire, and self-invention. It is witty, cerebral, and increasingly deranged in exactly the right way.

First English-language edition, Simon & Schuster, 1992. Translated from the Spanish by Toby Talbot. Hardback in very good condition overall. Light general shelf wear to jacket, with minor rubbing and edge wear; boards sound; interior clean; binding firm.