Odetta in Babylon and the Canada Express

By Gregorio Kohon

Bearing the unmistakable imprint of its time, as a voice in a chorus of writers from the counterculture of 1960s Argentina, Gregorio Kohon's celebrated 1968 narrative poem is a masterful tale of a life lived on the edge, a transient life of odd jobs, moving around, impermanent homes, shared rooms, crashed parties, whole nights spent in bars and caf s, sleeping rough, surviving from one moment to the next. Through the protagonist's anchorless lifestyle we encounter weird, haunting and ubiquitous characters who exist on the margins of society. Inferior social and economic positions are given special focus and special status. We bear witness to the people of an underworld - mad-men, prostitutes, spiritualists, the suicidal - and we hear what they have to say. There is flight and escape but the escape is as much psychical as physical, through altered states of mind brought on by the heady mix of sex, alcohol, marijuana - and by the power of music. Kohon and Toni Griffiths' stunning translation has the power to transport you to the 1960s, to Buenos Aires, to those first overpowering experiences of sexual love. Odetta in Babylon and the Canada Express invites you to step onto the train, and to let go. Lose yourself in the music and enjoy the journey, wherever it takes you.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1913640515
• ISBN13: 9781913640514
• Release Date: March 2022
• Publisher: Parthian
• Length: 70 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 5.1" x 8.1"