Necropolis by Santiago Gamboa

“Necropolis, “ a translation by Howard Curtis of Necrópolis by the Columbian writer Santiago Gamboa , is a strange book indeed, especially when you consider that it is the first of Gamboa’s work to be published in English. What launched its publication was its winning the La Otra Orilla Literary Award in 2009. At that point Gamboa was [and still is] considered an important writer in the new McOndo school of Latin American writing. Although some of his works are available in translation in seventeen other languages, this is his first novel that has been translated into English.

Basically, it is the story of a writer [the narrator] who attends an academic conference on biography at the King Davis Hotel in Jerusalem. The city is caught in a battle between the dividing political and religious forces of the time. So in the middle of the death, dying and destruction that occurs in a war zone an academic meeting on the study of life is convened.

At the meeting are the usual intellectual types that normally are found at such literary events, but there also are some unusual attendees as well, including an ex-con religious leader and an Italian porn star. This is reminiscent of the “Decameron” or “Canterbury Tales” where a group of people are isolated together each with his own tale to tell.

Actually, such literary references abound throughout the novel. Gamboa is a philologist like Jorge Luis Borges, and like Borges, Gamboa has seeded his text with false and real literary references from Uriah Heep to Simonides for his readers to find. He also sometimes not too subtly lifts plot lines from classics like Alexandre Dumas’ “The Count of Monte Cristo.”

After the first day of the conference, one of the attendees dies under mysterious circumstances, and the narrator sets out determine the real reasons for his demise. As he searches for answers regarding the suicide or murder of his co-participant, the conference continues while the war outside rages on and grows closer and closer to the King David and the meeting.

Necropolis has been compared favorably with Roberto Bolaño’s “Savage Detectives.” [One of Gamboa’s first literary references is a tip of the hat to the great Chilean/Mexican writer.] And the book is clearly in the new McOndo style. Most of the characters are very cosmopolitan Latin Americans moving around on a global stage. Still Bolaño’s work was grittier and more realistic, and the ending of “Detectives” was more satisfying-at least for me.  “Necropolis’ ends on a dark and stormy night which may be Columbian’s last joke with the reader. Still, “Necropolis” is a very good book. The narrative quickly captures and maintains the reader’s interest, and the story flows despite the biographical interruptions of the participants at the conference. Indeed these narrative detours are in themselves interesting. I look forward to reading more by Santiago Gamboa.