An epidemic that paralyzes the country favors an encounter between a desired woman called The Three Times Blond, and El Alfaqueque, a man filled with desire. The words of this man seem to expand, soothe and heal everything. His words produce fascination. There is something about him that resembles a divine courier or perhaps an angel without a sword. El Alfaqueque organizes the world through his personal ethics, a world full of death and contradictions, where beneath the reality of death beats such an immense and pure life that cannot be soiled. An assignment will take El Alfaquueque beyond slums and taverns to places and people unexpected by the reader. It is a sort of detective story that at the same time incorporates the great myths of western literature since the classical Greeks. Tragedy, redemption, family, sex and death are the keys to this story written in a state of grace, as all of Yuri Herrera’s work.

In short, this novel is simultaneously both biblical and contemporary.

"The prose of Herrera manages to capture the pace and the texture of the conversations and epic tales he absorbed in the days of canteens and corridos."

(Amelia Castilla, EL País) Yuri Herrera (Actopan, México, 1970) studied Political Science at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), and holds a Master’s of Creative Writing from the University of Texas in El Paso (UTEP). He holds a Doctorate of Latin American Language and Literature from the University of California in Berkeley, and is editor of the literary magazine, El Perro.

This program is made possible in part by a grant from the Illinois Humanities Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Illinois General Assembly.

In Voices without Borders: Encounters with Contemporary Mexican Writers. series of talks Participants Yuri Herrera Entidades Organizadoras Instituto Cervantes (Chicago) Collaborating Organisation Revista Contratiempo (Chicago) The Center for Latin American Studies- UC (Chicago) Universidad Loyola (Chicago) / Loyola University (Chicago) National Museum of Mexican Art (Chicago) UIC- School of Literatures, Cultural Studies and Linguistics Hoy Newspaper (Chicago) Entidades Patrocinadoras Illinois Humanities Council (Chicago)

http://chicago.cervantes.es/FichasCultura/Ficha89026_47_2.htm