Optic Nerve

Translated from the Spanish by Thomas Bunstead

First published 2014 · English translation 2022

“The narrator of Optic Nerve is an Argentinian woman whose obsession is art. The story of her life is the story of the paintings, and painters, who matter to her. Her intimate, digressive voice guides us through a gallery of moments that have touched her. In these pages, El Greco visits the Sistine Chapel and is appalled by Michelangelo’s bodies. The mystery of Rothko’s refusal to finish murals for the Seagram Building in New York is blended with the story of a hospital in which a prostitute walks the halls while the narrator’s husband receives chemotherapy.

Lists

The TLS, books of the year 2022

About the author

María Gainza, born 1975, Argentina.

Also by María Gainza: Portrait of an Unknown Lady.

Subjects

Catalogue record

Author: Gainza, María, 1975–
Statement: Optic Nerve / María Gainza ; translated from the Spanish by Thomas Bunstead.

Book facts

Original language: Spanish
ISBN: 978-1-4735-4978-4

4 more ISBNs

978-1-78470-753-8
978-1-948226-16-5
978-1-64622-002-1
978-1-78730-027-9
Records: Open Library Wikidata