The conventions of post-apocalyptic fiction are dispensed with in The Book Of All Loves, a fascinating hybrid novel written by the great Agustín Fernández Mallo and beautifully translated by Thomas Bunstead. In fact, although it’s billed as fiction, this is only partly true.
Throughout, Mallo presents us with a dialogue between two lovers expressing their affection for each other in the aftermath of The Great Blackout, but this is interspersed with fragments of aphoristic, often poetic, sometimes essayistic prose, musing on various kinds of love in a way that at times feels more aligned to philosophy than fiction. Later in the book, although earlier in its timeline, we follow two lovers, a writer and a Latin teacher (are these the same lovers as in the other sections?) through their soon-to-be disrupted life in Venice, in the approach of the Great Blackout, as they are trailed by a shadowy figure known as the Ambassador.
Readers looking for a linear story may find themselves frustrated by the more philosophical elements of the book, especially as they dominate the opening section, but those who last the distance will be rewarded with a richly layered work that coheres into a deep and profound whole.
The Book Of All Loves, Agustín Fernández Mallo [trans. Thomas Bunstead] (Fitzcarraldo Editions)
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words JOSHUA REES