From the carefully pruned novella Bonsai to the more conventional narrative of Chilean Poet, Alejandro Zambra’s prose cannot avoid earnest family scenes and compelling reflections on the nature of storytelling. He makes his readers feel safe, often writing on the brink of corniness, though never crossing the line. All of the above is also true of his most recent effort, Childish Literature, translated by the seemingly omnipresent Megan McDowell (translator of Mariana Enriquez, Juan Emar, and Lina Meruane amongst others) and edited by Zambra's long term collaborator Andrés Braithwaite. However, the text is not the “eclectic guide for novice parents” it is purported to be. From the opening chapter, Zambra lambasts the “hackneyed [and] humiliating advice” that self-help books for fathers spout. And throughout the collection he paints the paternal experience as something both singular and unteachable: “Our fathers tried to teach us to be men…but they never taught us to be fathers.” Disavowing himself of any didacticism, Zambra’s stories—which all sit somewhere between story and essay—can be better seen as an ode to his son, the ever-present Silvestre.
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