A Simple Story

In Search of Argentina’s Gaucho Dancers

Leila Guerriero, Thomas Bunstead (Translator), Leo Nickolls

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English

Pushkin Press
26 November 2015

Folk dancing; Memoirs

For four minutes and fifty-two seconds, the night became a thing that he pounded with his fist... This is a true story about a normal man. Every year, at the height of summer, the remote Argentinian village of Laborde holds the prestigious national malambo contest. Little known outside the Argentinian pampas, the malambo is a centuries-old gaucho dance, governed by the most rigid rules and shatteringly demanding. It is the object of obsession for thousands of young working-class men, who sacrifice their spare time, their bodies and what little money they have to try to win the title of Malambo Champion. And all this, knowing that winning the contest also means losing: a Malambo Champion may never compete again. In 2011, Leila Guerriero travelled to Laborde for what was supposed to be a brief investigation into this intriguing contest. But on the second night, one dancer's towering performance takes her breath away - he doesn't win, but Guerriero, irresistibly drawn, spends the next year following him in his preparations for the 2012 festival. The result is a piece of superlative New Journalism, in which Guerriero proves herself to be as sharp-eyed as Gay Talese, as lyrical as Norman Mailer.

By: Leila Guerriero
Designed by: Leo Nickolls
Translated by: Thomas Bunstead (Translator)
Imprint: Pushkin Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 198mm, Width: 129mm,
ISBN: 9781782271598
ISBN 10: 1782271597
Pages: 160
Publication Date: 26 November 2015
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Leila Guerriero was born in Junin, Argentina, in 1967 and moved to Buenos Aires in 1984. She is one of Argentina's foremost journalists and writers, and has published articles in numerous newspapers and periodicals in South America, Spain and Italy, including El Pais, Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone. A Simple Story is her first publication in English.

Reviews for A Simple Story: In Search of Argentina’s Gaucho Dancers

[Guerriero] irrefutably proves that journalism can be one of the beaux arts -- Mario Vargas Llosa A formidable writer who does not need to resort to fiction to tell real stories that seem too fantastic to be true... her writing manages to express so much with so little El Periodico - Dominical Transcends parochialism to explore that common ground that has become the place of the human condition... Leila Guerriero is a maestro Canarias 7 Captures your interest from the first page... An exciting work that mixes reportage and fiction; a book that is both moving and strangely familiar Blog Tiempo de Silencio en Antena3.com Fascinating El Mercurio, Chile A brilliantly observed chronicle Lady An epic of noble proportions... [Guerriero] is a mistress of the telling phrase or the revealing detail' Spectator