NOVEDADES

Si Beethoven nunca hubiese existido, habitaríamos un universo musical radicalmente distinto. Pero ¿quién era realmente este titán de la cultura mundial? A través de un centenar de breves capítulos, cada uno dedicado a alguna de sus obras clave, Norman Lebrecht traza un retrato poliédrico que nos muestra al compositor como nunca lo habíamos visto. Ingobernable, ofensivo y desesperado durante la mayor parte de su vida, sí; pero también sensible y completamente entregado a su arte, capaz de sobreponerse a la sordera para componer algunas de las obras cumbre de nuestra cultura. Por el camino, nos encontramos con los grandes músicos que a lo largo de la historia han asumido el reto que Beethoven legó a la posteridad, en todas sus glorias y debilidades. En el centro del mosaico que dibuja esta biografía reveladora y única, Beethoven emerge como piedra angular del mundo moderno.

They were sisters and they would last past the end of time. Sam and Elena dream of another life. On the island off the coast of Washington where they were born and raised, they and their mother struggle to survive. Sam works on the ferry that delivers wealthy mainlanders to their vacation homes while Elena bartends at the local golf club, but even together they can’t earn enough to get by, stirring their frustration about the limits that shape their existence. Then one night on the boat, Sam spots a bear swimming the dark waters of the channel. Where is it going? What does it want? When the bear turns up by their home, Sam, terrified, is more convinced than ever that it’s time to leave the island. But Elena responds differently to the massive beast. Enchanted by its presence, she throws into doubt the desire to escape and puts their long-held dream in danger. A story about the bonds of sisterhood and the mysteries of the animals that live among us—and within us—Bear is a propulsive, mythical, richly imagined novel from one of the most acclaimed young writers in America.

On a secluded bluff overlooking the ocean sits a Victorian house, lavender with gingerbread trim, a home that contains a century’s worth of secrets. By the time Jane Flanagan discovers the house as a teenager, it has long been abandoned. The place is an irresistible mystery to Jane. There are still clothes in the closets, marbles rolling across the floors, and dishes in the cupboards, even though no one has set foot there in decades. The house becomes a hideaway for Jane, a place to escape her volatile mother. Twenty years later, now a Harvard archivist, she returns home to Maine following a terrible mistake that threatens both her career and her marriage. Jane is horrified to find the Victorian is now barely recognizable. The new owner, Genevieve, a summer person from Beacon Hill, has gutted it, transforming the house into a glossy white monstrosity straight out of a shelter magazine. Strangely, Genevieve is convinced that the house is haunted—perhaps the product of something troubling Genevieve herself has done. She hires Jane to research the history of the place and the women who lived there. The story Jane uncovers—of lovers lost at sea, romantic longing, shattering loss, artistic awakening, historical artifacts stolen and sold, and the long shadow of colonialism—is even older than Maine itself.

Teeming with tension, this immersive, rhapsodic story transports readers to the Swiss mountainside, bringing to mind the writing of Thomas Mann while offering character studies as vivid and bracing as Eudora Welty’s. Feed is running low in a rural village in Switzerland. The town council meets to decide whether or not to ascend a chimerical mountain in order to access the open pastures that have enough grass to “feed seventy animals all summer long.” The elders of the town protest, warning of the dangers and the dreadful lore that enfolds the mountain passageways like thick fog. They’ve seen it all before, reckoning with the loss of animals and men who have tried to reach the pastures nearly twenty years ago. The younger men don’t listen, making plans to set off on their journey despite all warnings. Strange things happen. Spirits wrestle with headstrong young men. As the terror of life on the mountain builds, Ramuz’s writing captures the rural dialog and mindsets of the men. One of the most talented translators working today, Bill Johnston captures the careful and sublime twists and turns of the original in his breathtaking translation.

Estados Unidos entra en la segunda guerra mundial en diciembre de 1941, más de dos años después de su inicio. Hasta entonces había asumido la vigilancia del área del Pacífico y suministrado armamento en Europa a los aliados. Roosevelt defendió la neutralidad, con ese significativo matiz, mientras que sus mandatos fomentaron el rearme de Estados Unidos en el marco de una industrialización acelerada que siguió a la recuperación económica del New Deal entre 1933 y 1934. De 1942 a 1945 despliega su potencial carismático para el que sería su último reto: conducir al país durante la guerra hasta traer la paz. Esa perspectiva épica ayuda a entender que el Congreso aceptara los términos inciertos de una economía de guerra cuando Roosevelt los presenta en abril de 1942: subida generalizada de impuestos, topes a los precios y a los alquileres, congelación de salarios y de precios agrícolas, racionamiento de bienes esenciales y emisión masiva de bonos de guerra mediante los que la propia ciudadanía financiaría al estado.

'Nadie te está mirando' es el último libro publicado en vida de la escritora y periodista Janet Malcolm, y la segunda antología de ensayos y artículos luego de Cuarenta y un intentos fallidos. Ensayos sobre escritores y artistas (Debate, 2015). En esta versión al español se reúnen dieciséis piezas que abarcan casi dos décadas y que en su mayoría fueron publicadas en The New Yorker y The New York Review of Books. La colección está dividida en tres partes, sin orden cronológico, y agrupa perfiles (la diseñadora Eileen Fisher, la pianista Yuja Wang, la presentadora de noticias Rachel Maddow, entre otros), ensayos sobre escritores y sus obras (Tolstói, Joseph Mitchell, el Grupo de Bloomsbury, etc.) y reseñas de polémicos libros de escritoras feministas (lo que le da pie a reflexionar sobre los desencuentros generacionales entre las feministas de la vieja guardia y la nueva).