I chose this book because I was curious about the work of Tomás Eloy Martínez, who passed away in January. My public library had two of his books, and I chose this one because it looked more interesting. It is the story of a New York University graduate student who uses a Fulbright scholarship to travel to Buenos Aires, where he plans to work on his dissertation on Borges´ writings on the origins of the tango. Shortly before leaving, he hears about an elusive tango singer with an unforgettable voice, supposedly better than Gardel himself. The student, Bruno Cadogan, spends his time in Buenos Aires searching for the tango singer, Julián Martel, yearning to hear him sing at least a few tangos and hoping that if he succeeds and hears the tango singer, he will understand what he is doing in Buenos Aires and how he should proceed with his scholarly work. He also spends some time trying to lure a man named Bonarino out of the basement of the pension that he´s staying at, so that a character named el Tucumano can lead tourists to the 19th step of the stairs down to the basement, where Jorge Luis Borges´ Aleph can supposedly be seen. As the plot moves forward, the author describes moments and places in Buenos Aires history, such as the Palacio de Aguas Corrientes and the labyrinthic neighborhood of Parque Chas, where the streets don´t follow the normal grid pattern followed in the rest of the city. The final chapter of the book takes place in December, 2001, when the Argentine economy collapsed and days of panic and anger ensued amongst the people of Buenos Aires.

I believe that this book, both its plot and its depiction of the city of Buenos Aires, would be appealing to many people. I, however, did not find it very compelling. I thought that Bruno Cadogan was boring, naïve and at times downright stupid. He spent his time in Buenos Aires on a quest to find magical things, whether a tango singer or a fictional point in the world where all knowledge is contained. He does so with absolute seriousness, and while he often wonders whether what he´s doing will ever add up, he never stops to consider that what he´s doing might be ridiculous or absurd. I don´t doubt that Buenos Aires is a magical place for many people, but I still think that any 21st century quest for mythical figures in foreign countries should at least be tinged with a small amount of irony. Cadogan was a serious fellow, to the point that I could not take him seriously.

I also found the descriptions of Buenos Aires to be lacking somewhat in depth. There were moments when I found the stories about the city´s past and present compelling, such as the tale of a member of the Montoneros and his double-kidnapping of ex-President Aramburu, and a taxi ride taken by a Scandinavian woman in search for the old library of Buenos Aires, where she is to meet up with the rest of her tour group on a tour of sites related to the life of Borges. However, I often felt that the author relied on superficial and clichéd elements of the city´s past and present, without showing me anything that I didn´t already know about the city, or that I couldn´t find in a Lonely Planet Buenos Aires tourist guide to the city. I believe that the author wanted the descriptions to align with the perspective of a foreigner seeing and experiencing the city for the first time, and with that in mind maybe I shouldn´t be too disappointed. I suppose that my disappointment, though, has more to do with my expectations for the book. I hoped to read about the Buenos Aires that I didn´t know, and what I got instead was an overview of the main and noteworthy sites of the city.

I did, however, enjoy reading a story written by an Argentine about an American student´s trip to Buenos Aires. When I was in college I was lucky to spend a year in Argentina, so my perspective was tied to the protagonist´s through our shared experience as students in the city. I think, in the end, that what held me back was that I didn´t like the protagonist and his silly, romantic quest for “authenticity,” which I did not find compelling. I don’t think that I would recommend this book to my friends, because there´s quite a few other literary portraits of Buenos Aires that I would rather show them. ( )

Bruno Cadogan está escribiendo una disertación sobre Borges y sus ensayos tratando del tango--especialmente los más viejos, menos sentimentales tangos Borges habría oído en su juventud--cuando oye que en Buenos Aires hay un hombre, Julio Martel, que canta el tango en este estilo viejo. Puesto que ningunas grabaciones existen de Martel cantando, Bruno se dirige a Buenos Aires para buscar este cantor misterioso.

Después de aterrizar en Buenos Aires, encuentra un cuarto para alquilar en el mismo edificio que contuvo el Aleph de Borges en el cuento del mismo nombre. Aquí comienza su búsqueda para Martel, que da vuelta en un laberinto que vaga a través de Buenos Aires en tiempo y espacio. Martel, resulta, ha decidido renunciar su carrera para utilizar su talento de cantar tango para marcar lugares y tiempos en la ciudad que llevan a cabo algun significado particular para él. Bruno también se fascina por la posibilidad de encontrar el Aleph en la casa en donde él está permaneciendo.

El laberinto que vagaba era el aspecto más fuerte de la novela, y me gusto cómo Martínez explora e incluso celebra la ciudad de Buenos Aires y su historia muy larga y a menudo trágica. No puedo decir si alguien que nunca ha visitado la ciudad sintiera algo parecido, pero esperaría que el libro proporcionara una cierta motivación para planear una visita.

La novela tenía unos defectos. Bruno Cadogan es un norteamericano, pero él piensa y actúa realmente más como argentino. Es un defecto menor, pero le cuesta a la novela un poco de verosimilitud. Para mí el defecto más grande era que la novela era muy Borgesiana (una frase que nunca imagine que usaría) en su uso de alusiones y homenajes al punto donde casi llegó a ser distracción. (Bruno parece un homenaje obvio a “El perseguidor” deCortazar, que trata de un escritor nombrado Bruno fascinado con un músico enfermo cuyo arte permite que él experimente tiempo diferentemente.)

A pesar de estos defectos, todavía lo encontré un libro fascinante y disfrute sus vagaciones a través de los laberintos del espacio y tiempo que componen la realidad de Buenos Aires.

(For an English language review: http://azolotl.blogspot.com/2009/04/review-el-cantor-de-tango.html) ( )

A graduate student from the United States is looking for Julio Martel, the wondrous tango singer, but he proves to be very elusive. The deceased Borges tries to be a guide but is not always helpful because of his blindness. Martel is well known and has just just seen but Bruno Cadogan must go through a lot before he does The chaos of Argentinian political life threatens to dim his quest. People no longer see there relatives and friends and this is deeply felt. Bruno gets lost in a Buenos Aires labyrinth, or is it the one mapped in Borges' mind, which he can't find his way out of. Martel is in a hospital on the other side of the labyrinth, but the sightless administrators prevent his entry. He seeks out the boarding house on Garay Street but doesn't see it because it has been reduced to rubble it. But the voice, the sound of the singer, is unforgettable and inhabits his mind. ( )

Tomás Eloy Martínez (1934-) was a journalist and film critic in Buenos Aires and Paris for many years before moving to Venezuela in 1975, to escape the political strife occurring in Argentina. He moved to the US in 1983, where he initially taught at the U. of Maryland. Since 1995 he has been the director of the Latin American Studies program at Rutgers. He has written several novels and nonfictional works, most notably The Perón Novel, Santa Evita and Flight of the Queen.

The Tango Singer is Martinez's latest novel. The narrator, Bruno Cadogan, is a graduate student in literature at NYU, who travels to Buenos Aires in order to complete his Ph.D. dissertation on Borges' essays on the origin of the tango. He soon learns about Julio Martel, a mysterious tango singer who is considered to be even better than Carlos Gardel, the greatest of all tango singers.

Cadogan sets off on a search for Martel throughout the city, which he describes as as a labyrinth. His paths are frequently blocked by demonstrators and crowds watching spontaneous tango performances, and the "street names change from one week to tne next", which causes even long time residents of the city to become lost outside of their own neighborhoods.

Eventually he meets and befriends Martel, but in doing so he discovers the dark side of Argentinian history, and achieves a greater understanding of Borges and his story "The Aleph", which describes a point in space that contains all other points.

Although it was a well written novel, I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. The frequent references to streets, neighborhoods and sections of Buenos Aires and a lack of knowledge of Argentinian history made this a tedious read for me. I've heard good things about his other novels, and I'm willing to give them a try. I think that anyone with better knowledge about Argentina would enjoy this book far more than I did. ( )

http://www.litteratursiden.dk/sw75542.asp ( )