:: tryno ::

Tryno Maldonado (Mexico, 1977) is considered one of the most promising voices in emerging Mexican literature and, in 2006, the Colombian magazine Gatopardo named him one of the best young writers in Latin America. His work is included in the anthologies Nuevas voces de la narrativa mexicana [New Voices in Mexican Prose] (Planeta, 2003) and Novísimos cuentos de la República Mexicana [Recent Stories from Mexico] (Editorial Tierra Adentro, 2004). He has published the book of stories Temas y variaciones [Themes and Variations] (chosen as one of the best books of 2003 by the El Ángel supplement of the newspaper Reforma). He has written for Letras Libres, Nexos, Complot, Switch, Cine Premiere, among others, and is a contributor to the art magazine La Tempestad. Viena Roja (Planeta, 2006) is his first novel.
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PRAISE:
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-“Because what I find most interesting about Viena Roja isn’t the solid research that underpins its descriptions nor the care with which the buildings and monuments are carved out, but rather the precise, intimate role they play in sculpting and describing and bringing to life the body of Friedl, the violinist with the broken arm [...]. If Friedl had written books, she would have been, naturally, an author that forsakes writing. Here there is no defeat, or failure, or death. Here there is defeat, failure, and death but in a different way. What I mean is that here there is life.”
Cristina Rivera Garza, about Viena roja, El Ángel, Reforma, septiembre 2005.
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-“If books always lead to other books, Tryno Maldonado has managed to multiply this journey in each one of his texts. His stories project the shadows of other authors, multiplying them, unraveling them and reinventing them as if he were in effect writing a group of variations on an original theme. But the book’s most important, most ambitious aspect is that, while imitating the Beethoven of the Diabelli Variations, it achieves true originality through these re-readings. Erudite, shrewd, daring [...]”.
Jorge Volpi , “Cuarteto de cuentistas”, Postdata, El Independiente, 2004.
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-“Few authors among the most recent generations of Mexican writers show such a privileged mix of enthusiasm, talent, good judgment and ambition. His work not only maintains a healthy distance through the most commonly used resources of our prose, but it is also boldly linked to the universalist tradition that marks our best writing. There is no doubt that Tryno Maldonado will bring honor to Mexican literature as he continues with his characteristic passion and meticulousness in his work.”
Ignacio Padilla , on Temas y variaciones, 2002.
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-“Boundless imagination and literary variations seem to be a contradiction; yet, Tryno Maldonado manages to achieve profound originality in repetition. Rare, filled with caustic humor, this book is a breath of fresh air in the panorama of young (incredibly young) Mexican prose. An irreverent homage to the best of literature… More power to it!”
Pedro Ángel Palou , on Temas y variaciones, 2002.
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-“A book like Temas y variaciones is like an anomaly, a joy and a surprise. Those who get excited and thrilled by Tryno Maldonado’s stories will have an unlikely and funny fortune, because they will be, at this moment of similar books, walking the first steps with an exceptional narrator.”
Alberto Chimal , Tierra Adentro, 2004.
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-“It’s as if Tryno Maldonado belonged to another generation. A generation more given to a fuller understanding of language than to reading translations. A generation that reads more and is more cautious when it comes to simple posturing. A generation that reads, understands, admires and borrows from the classics. All in all, an interesting generation that leaves us looking forward to seeing what it will come up with next.”
José Mariano Leyva , La Crónica, 2004.
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-“Even if it seems surprising, Tryno Maldonado succeeds on getting invicted of the autoimposed challenge which implies Temas y variaciones, a book rare and excellent, writen and edited in the city which is the birth place of its author: Zacatecas. We will have to celebrate the appearence in scene of a writer with such a capability of daring and cynism like those showed by Tryno Maldonado in Temas y Variaciones .”
Rafael Medina Dávalos , El Informador, 2004.
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-“With only one published book, Temas y variaciones (2003), Tryno Maldonado is one of the young Mexican writers that has arouse more interest in the literary national media. Maybe because this first work becomes a particular case in which music and literature honour each other without artificial tricks. Ignacio Padilla and Jorge Volpi, among other writers, have recognized the good stock of its author. Even Sergio González Rodríguez has located his text among the best books published in 2003.”
José Luis Enciso , Excélsior, 2004.
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-“Tryno Maldonado actuallizes,with unusual expertise, the motive and teachings of a classic author, appropriating them to exhibit a style wich is already of his own”
Mayra Inzunza, Prólogo de Novísimos cuentos de la República Mexicana, 2004.
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-“Friedl Aichinger, the protagonist of Viena roja, wields thinking as the last line of defense. She writes with the urgency of an eyewitness, with the strength of a survivor [...]. The force that sustains her lies in the guts she shows in her narration, the furor with which she breaks and, above all, the dignity with which she lays herself bare, gets up and leaves it all behind.”
Laia Jufresa , Ciclo Literario magazine, 2006.
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Saint Kurt Cobain