Santiago Gamboa is one of the most powerful and original voices in Colombian literature. Born in 1965, he studied literature in Bogota, Hispanic philology in Madrid, and Cuban literature at La Sorbonne. Journalist then diplomat, he returned to Colombia in 2014, after almost thirty years of exile. His books have been translated into more than 15 languages and are enjoying increasing success, particularly in Italy, Germany and the United States.
“A life told through the rooms of a house. An ode to a city and the power of memories by a seasoned novelist.
After winning a literary prize, a professor of philology buys the house he has always dreamed of. Since his childhood, this place has fascinated and obsessed him without understanding the reason for this attraction. From the moment he becomes the owner and moves into this old house in the center of Bogota, each room, each corner and each object he unpacks gives rise to the fascinating story of the narrator’s life, rich in travels, readings, desires and adventures. From an itinerant youth across the world to his passion for books and language, while passing through incursions into the slums of cities, this novel is an urban journey that oscillates between the idea of finding his ideal space in the world and that of fleeing the tragedies of the past. A picture from a dream will shatter his world.
In this novel, Santiago Gamboa evokes subjects that are dear to him, wandering, return and the sense of belonging, but what remains at the end, devoid of borders, is his faith in literature. (Presentation of Métailié editions)
“BOOKS” CHRONICLE by Baptiste Touverey dedicated to the file “The new inquisition” which explores the question of “Cancel Culture”.