Hot Soles in Harlem
By Emilio Díaz ValcárcelTranslated by Tanya T. Fayen
ISBN: 0-935480-61-7
Price: $17.00
Pages: 208
Gerardo Sánchez is not the average Puerto Rican immigrant to New York City. He is ironically blessed with fair skin, red hair, blue eyes, and the good fortune to have met Aleluya, an intrepid guide the the "New Yorkian" world, on his first day. Gerardo's contact with this mysterious intellectual takes him from the slums of Harlem to the penthouses of Fifth Avenue and the intellectual circles of New York. Gerardo/Gerald/Gerry experiences it all, while constantly being informed by Aleluya's radical teachings. Through Gerardo and Aleluya, Hot Soles in Harlem takes us on a linguistic odyssey, an exploration of the sounds of immigrants speaking a game played with the neologisms born of the curious marriage of Spanish and English, of San Juan and New York City.
"Fayen has accomplished a marvelous feat in literary
translation...."
--Choice
"Díaz Valcárcel uses numerous passages of descriptive
cataloging reminiscent Whitmanesque or Beat poetry. Touted
for his innovative techniques, Díaz Valcárcel creates a
cast of cosmopolitan characters to intrigue readers as they
explore New York with Gerardo, a newly arrived Puerto Rican
immigrant."
--Library Journal
"Gerardo... is a keen observer of the city's people,
images, smells and accents, which he relates in a stream of
highly impressionistic consciousness...[and with] lucidity
of language, which often feels like poems strung together as
prose."
--Publishers Weekly