Sudden Death (Álvaro Enrigue)

The latest in my pursuit of Weird Freak Historical fiction. I also recommend You Dreamed of Empires, but if I had to choose between any of his three (English) books it would be this one.

This was the bizarre, kaleidoscopic, meta-fiction that Enrigue writes so masterfully. Partly taking place during a single fictional tennis match between Caravaggio and Quevedo, partly unfolding in Mexico and Spain after Hernán Cortés’s invasion and all the while slowly unraveling and reforming the history of 16th century Europe to suit the author’s narrative, it’s hard to exactly put this book into words for those who haven’t read it. It requires some starting and stopping to fill yourself in on some of the historical figures, and sifting through what is and isn’t real, but that’s part of the fun. There is also a scene where Fillide Melandroni is lowkey fujoshing out on the tennis court. Tenez!