2007/03/26

Coming up for air

Sorry not to have had much to say here lately, but I really was busy. I´ve been working on a book for W. W. Norton on the history of architecture and urbanism in Latin America, which I'm writing with Susana Torre. And just on Saturday I finally finished the draft of a chapter that had given me a lot of trouble, which is why I finally feel free to think about other things and return to this blog.

The chapter is the one on several thousand years of development in the Andes, right up to the eve of the Spanish invasion. Research was complicated, the sources are contradictory, and the selection of cases to present a coherent story was also more difficult than in any previous book I've written.

In fiction, I have a novel I want to revise before sending it around again. Also, I've begun writing for publication in Spanish. I've created an alter ego, Baltasar Lotroyo ("el otro yo"), who signs all my stuff in Spanish. Baltasar also has his own web page. He has a short story (and Susana has an essay) in an anthology coming out soon, of writings about or from this little town, Carboneras.

And I (not Baltasar, this time) have also been recruited by our Spanish friends in the local library's reading club (a very active crowd) to direct the theater group they've long been wanting to create. We have our first meeting this next Wednesday; I'll have to come up with some good theater exercises for them.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I look forward to your chapteron pre-Colombian architecture.

Geoffrey Fox said...

Actually, they are 5 chapters: 1. Intro; 2. Olmecs, Monte Albán, Teotihuacan; 3. Mayas; 4. Aztecs, & 5. Andes (Incas & their major predecessors). My current plan is to complete revisions by May 1 to send all 5 off to our editor.