360º Diary : Translated by Pamela J. DeWeese

The Currents in Comparative Romantic Languages and Literatures series was founded in 1987, and actively solicits book-length manuscripts which treat aspects of romance languages and literatures. Originally established for works dealing with two or more romance literatures, the series has broadened its horizons and now includes studies on themes within a single literature or between different literatures, civilizations, art, music, film and social movements, as well as comparative linguistics.

Luis Goytisolo’s novel, 360º Diary, constitutes a reflection on the act of creativity. The novel is in the form of a diary that begins on the author’s birthday and concludes one (lunar) year later. Each day of the week is identified with a theme such as the seasons; the broad movements of history; the biological and psychological cycles of all living beings; and time itself. The author of the diary contemplates and acts upon all the various kinds of knowledge that have come together in his person, either through study, experience, or intuition. Just as in his most well-known novel, Antagonía, Goytisolo uses 360º Diary to explore the human condition and the diverse ways in which the individual comes to know and understand, in whatever limited way, the possibilities of human existence. The totality is a comprehensive, 360º view of contemporary life by an artist employing everything he has learned so as to communicate with the reader willing to follow him in his reflections and, ideally, use them as a starting point for his/her own ideas.