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Salvador Elizondo

    Salvador Elizondo was a pivotal figure of Mexican literature in the 1960s, celebrated for his cult noir, experimental, and intelligent style that left a significant mark on Latin American fiction. His diverse body of work spanned novels, poetry, criticism, and plays, distinguished by a cosmopolitan perspective on language and narrative. Elizondo innovated contemporary Mexican literature by integrating external literary currents and languages, fostering a refined dialogue of thought and communication. His proto-fictional, often unrealistic technique eschewed magical realism, aligning his work with avant-garde sensibilities.

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    The Secret Crypt
    • 2022

      Originally published in 1968, The Secret Crypt is something of a cult classic in Mexican literature. Elizondo's impassioned, breathless prose launches the reader into a labyrinth that is also a hall of mirrors. Here, we find a small group of characters who are part of an underground sect called Urkreis, one of whose aims is to discover the identity of the sect's founder, known only as "the Imagined." The identities of narrator, author, and characters blur into one another as the narrative moves between the two worlds of the novel and the author writing the novel--an unclassifiable masterpiece containing initiation rites, sacrificial murder, conspiracy, and delirium.

      The Secret Crypt