Project Description
Thesis on a HomicideDiego Paszkowski
Argentina
Diego Paszkowski, born in Buenos Aires in 1966, teaches writing workshops for young people at several cultural institutes in Buenos Aires and is the director of the “Nuevas Narrativas Argentinas” collection at the Sudamericana publishing house. He also lectures at the University of Buenos Aires and writes for various newspapers, including Clarín. For many years now, he has presented his performance “Notas de Jazz” in a Buenos Aires music bar and written song lyrics.
Visit also the author’s website: > paszkowski.com.ar
© Diego Paszkowski//
Rosen – A Jewish Story
In his long-awaited novel Rosen – A Jewish Story (“Rosen – una historia judía”), Paszkowski tells the story of a colourful character who has perfected the art of manipulating everyone around him. At the age of 16, handsome Max Rosen, born into a Jewish Argentinean family, decides to turn his back on religion and becomes a bon viveur and a successful businessman in the gambling trade. But in spite of all his efforts to ignore his roots, he cannot avoid dealing with God and the history of the Jews. Based on a true story, the novel immerses the reader in a fascinating life, and time.
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Thesis on a Homicide
Thesis on a Homicide (“Tesis sobre un homicidio”) is a thrilling novel about the perfect crime. Having completed his studies in Paris with distinction, the lawyer Paul Besançon returns to Buenos Aires, where he attends a course given by the famous criminologist Bermúdez. The 55-year-old, whose personal life is rather unstable, feels irritated by the cool and arrogant, yet extremely bright young man. When the corpse of a young woman is found near the faculty alongside a subtle sign noticed only by Bermúdez, the criminologist is sure that the culprit is his best student. To prove his guilt and to regain his own superiority, he grows increasingly obsessed with the case.
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All About Lorena
With All About Lorena (“Alrededor de Lorena”) Paszkowski departs from the crime genre and seduces the reader into the realm of poetic prose. The title character is the middle class woman Lorena, who had always dreamt of getting married, while her husband, Ricardo, did not find the trip to the registry office quite so easy. They then embark on normal married life and have two daughters. The unexpected turning point comes when they take the trip to Paris that Lorena had long desired, with Ricardo only braving his fear of flying with difficulty. When he suffers a panic attack during a stop-off in São Paulo, she continues her journey and falls in love – on the steps of Montmartre – with Gerard, a Frenchman. Lorena’s decision to divorce her husband leaves his world in tatters. Ricardo loses the power of speech and spends two years in a psychiatric clinic, where he is cared for an attractive nurse with a blond wig – Lorena? Later, he looks for work and a roof over his head, and finds both as a proofreader in a publishing house, never leaving the building. He has a humiliating relationship with the manager of the publishing company, at the outer limits of human dignity and sexual lust. But, once again, the woman appears to be none other than Lorena…
With elements reminiscent of director David Lynch or writer Herman Melville, this multiple-voiced and experimental novel leads the reader into a labyrinth of passions, driven along by the question of the hidden desires and identities concealed within us – and how far we are prepared to go to fulfil them.
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The Other Gómez
One day the bank official William Efraín Puente is abducted and forced to live the life of a certain Gómez. There is little sense in him insisting on his real identity, so he finally succumbs and takes the place of Gómez. Who would not like the chance to lead someone else’s life? The reader follows Gómez in awe into his new life where some indefinable threat seems to lurk. And yet the structure of The Other Gómez (“El otro Gómez”) is such that the reader simply cannot put down the book until the altogether compelling end, when real Gómez turns up.
RIGHTS
NOVELS
Rosen – A Jewish Story (“Rosen – una historia judía”)
Buenos Aires: Sudamericana 2013, 249 p.
Thesis on a Homicide (“Tesis sobre un homicidio”)
Buenos Aires: Sudamericana 1999, 2013 (5th. Ed.) 206 p.
Debolsillo 2007, 2012
Feature film starring Ricardo Darín (“The Secret in their Eyes”, Oscar Foreign Language 2009) 2013
France: La dernière goutte 2013, Points 2014 pb · Italy: Fanucci 2004 · Portugal: Ambar 2003 (avail.) · Spain: Debolsillo 2013
All About Lorena (“Alrededor de Lorena”)
Buenos Aires: Sudamericana 2006, 286 p.
The Other Gómez (“El otro Gómez”)
Buenos Aires: Sudamericana 2001, 175 p.
Film rights under option
Brasil: Kumon Instituto de Educação · Portugal: Ambar 2004 (avail.)
ANTHOLOGIES
New Stories (“Nuevas Narrativas”)
Buenos Aires: Sudamericana 2002, 251. p.
More And Better Stories (“Más y mejores cuentos”)
Eudeba 2000, 345 p.
FOR CHILDREN
The Morning The Animals Fought The Cold
(“La mañana en que los animales combatieron el frío”)
(Ill. by Adriana Keselman)
Buenos Aires: Ediciones Santillana 2025, 32 p.
A New World (“Un mundo nuevo”)
(Ill. by Iván Paszkowski)
Buenos Aires: Planeta Lector 2020, 112 p.
Donovan, The Best Detective In The World (“Donovan, el mejor detective del mundo”)
(Ill. by Pablo Tambuscio)
Buenos Aires: Santillana 2019, 95 p.
The Secret Door and Other Impossible Stories (“La puerta secreta y otras historias imposibles”)
Buenos Aires: Santillana 2016, 96 p.
Waiting For You In Sofia (“Te espero en Sofía”)
(Ill. by mEy!)
Buenos Aires: Alfaguara 2013, 160 p.
The Day The Animals Wanted To Eat Something Else
(“El día en que los animales quisieron comer otra cosa”)
Buenos Aires: Alfaguara 2009, 32 p.