Alejo Carpentier the Lost Steps Avon Bard Vintage PB 1st print \'79 Latin America For Sale

Alejo Carpentier, the Lost Steps, Avon Bard, Vintage Paperback 1st print 1979, Latin America, corner wear, very good condition.
The Lost Steps (1953) by Alejo Carpentier is a novel about a disillusioned New York composer who travels to the South American jungle to find prehistoric musical instruments, embarking on a journey that becomes a quest for authenticity and a return to humanity\'s origins, confronting the clash between modern civilization and nature. The unnamed narrator\'s journey up a great river is a metaphorical voyage through time, exploring themes of cultural origins, artistic expression, and the impossibility of escaping one\'s historical moment.Key aspects of the novel:

• Plot: A composer, fleeing an empty life in New York, accepts a mission to find indigenous instruments in a remote part of South America, traveling with his mistress.
• Themes: The novel explores the \"marvelous real,\" the conflict between modernity and nature, the search for meaning, and the origins of humanity and music.
• Style: Written in a rich, baroque style, it is known for its introspective, existentialist focus on language and the human psyche rather than a fast-paced plot.
• Significance: It is considered Carpentier\'s most famous novel and a seminal work in Latin American literature, exploring the unique identity of the continent.
• Narrator: An unsympathetic anti-hero who ultimately realizes he cannot truly escape his own time, despite finding a connection with a local woman named Rosario