Martín Solares
Encyclopedia
Martín Solares is a Mexican
writer, critic and editor who received the Efraín Huerta National Literary Award in 1998 for his short story, El planeta Cloralex. The 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
laureate, Junot Díaz
, praises his work as "brilliant, but mostly unavailable in English".
According to an article Solares wrote for La Jornada
, during his teenage years he briefly had Rafael Guillén Vicente as a substitute history teacher. He went on to work as an editor for several publishing houses and by the late 2000s he was completing a doctorate in Iberian and Latin American Studies at the University of Paris I.
thriller that, according to José Agustín
, awakens memories of Rafael Bernal's while a book review published at The New York Times
by Larry Rohter
found it reminiscent of Roberto Bolaño
's 2666 or Paco Ignacio Taibo II
's detective stories; claiming that "he employs some flourishes that would seem to situate him in the postmodernist
camp, including the occasional surrealistic
episodes and his habit of mixing real and fictional characters."
In an interview with The Times
, Junot Díaz
expressed that The Black Minutes "is Latin American fiction at its pulpy phantasmagorical finest, [..] a literary masterpiece masquerading as a police procedural and nothing else I’ve read this year comes close. Solares does for Latin American literature what Eduardo Lago did for Iberian literature with his monumental novel Llámame Brooklyn."
The novel was shortlisted for the Rómulo Gallegos International Novel Prize and has been published in Spanish, English and German.
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
writer, critic and editor who received the Efraín Huerta National Literary Award in 1998 for his short story, El planeta Cloralex. The 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been awarded for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life. It originated as the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel, which was awarded between 1918 and 1947.-1910s:...
laureate, Junot Díaz
Junot Díaz
Junot Díaz is a Dominican-American writer and creative writing professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology . Central to Díaz's work is the immigrant experience...
, praises his work as "brilliant, but mostly unavailable in English".
According to an article Solares wrote for La Jornada
La Jornada
La Jornada is one of Mexico City's leading daily newspapers. It was established in 1984 by Carlos Payán Velver. The current editor is Carmen Lira Saade...
, during his teenage years he briefly had Rafael Guillén Vicente as a substitute history teacher. He went on to work as an editor for several publishing houses and by the late 2000s he was completing a doctorate in Iberian and Latin American Studies at the University of Paris I.
The Black Minutes
Solares' first novel, The Black Minutes is a crime fictionCrime fiction
Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
thriller that, according to José Agustín
José Agustín
José Agustín Ramírez Gómez is a Mexican novelist.-Career:Agustin's first novel, La Tumba was the brief but provocative story of a Mexican upperclass teen, deemed indecent by the public but gathering praise from older writers...
, awakens memories of Rafael Bernal's while a book review published at The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
by Larry Rohter
Larry Rohter
William Lawrence Rohter, Jr. — known as Larry Rohter — is an American journalist who was a South American bureau chief for The New York Times from 1999 to 2007...
found it reminiscent of Roberto Bolaño
Roberto Bolaño
Roberto Bolaño Ávalos was a Chilean novelist and poet. In 1999 he won the Rómulo Gallegos Prize for his novel Los detectives salvajes , and in 2008 he was posthumously awarded the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction for his novel 2666, which was described by board member Marcela Valdes...
's 2666 or Paco Ignacio Taibo II
Paco Ignacio Taibo II
Paco Ignacio Taibo II , is a Mexican writer and novelist....
's detective stories; claiming that "he employs some flourishes that would seem to situate him in the postmodernist
Postmodernism
Postmodernism is a philosophical movement evolved in reaction to modernism, the tendency in contemporary culture to accept only objective truth and to be inherently suspicious towards a global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. Postmodernist thought is an intentional departure from the...
camp, including the occasional surrealistic
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
episodes and his habit of mixing real and fictional characters."
In an interview with The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, Junot Díaz
Junot Díaz
Junot Díaz is a Dominican-American writer and creative writing professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology . Central to Díaz's work is the immigrant experience...
expressed that The Black Minutes "is Latin American fiction at its pulpy phantasmagorical finest, [..] a literary masterpiece masquerading as a police procedural and nothing else I’ve read this year comes close. Solares does for Latin American literature what Eduardo Lago did for Iberian literature with his monumental novel Llámame Brooklyn."
The novel was shortlisted for the Rómulo Gallegos International Novel Prize and has been published in Spanish, English and German.
Notable works
- Cloralex Planet (El planeta Cloralex, 1998)
- The Black Minutes (Los minutos negros, 2006)