''Senselessness'' is the English translation of the 2004 novel ''Insensatez'', originally written in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

Salvadoran Salvadorans ( Spanish: ''Salvadoreños''), also known as Salvadorians (alternate spelling: Salvadoreans), are citizens of El Salvador, a country in Central America. Most Salvadorans live in El Salvador, although there is also a significant Salvad ...

writer

Horacio Castellanos Moya Horacio Castellanos Moya (born 1957) is a Salvadoran novelist, short story writer, and journalist. Life and work Castellanos Moya was born in 1957 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras to a Honduran mother and a Salvadoran father. His family moved to El Salva ...

. ''Senselessness'' was translated by Katherine Silver and published in 2008 by

New Directions Publishers New Directions Publishing Corp. is an independent book publishing company that was founded in 1936 by James Laughlin and incorporated in 1964. Its offices are located at 80 Eighth Avenue in New York City. History New Directions was born in 19 ...

. The translation was short-listed for the 2009

Best Translated Book Award The Best Translated Book Award is an American literary award that recognizes the previous year's best original translation into English, one book of poetry and one of fiction. It was inaugurated in 2008 and is conferred by Three Percent, the onlin ...

.Best Translation Book Award
at BookAwardsOnline.com

Plot

A sex-obsessed lush of a writer is employed by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

to edit and tidy up a 1,100-page report on the army's massacre and torture of the indigenous villagers a decade earlier. The writer becomes mesmerized by the poetic phrases written by the indigenous people and becomes increasingly paranoid and frightened, not only by the spellbinding words he must read, but also by the murderers and generals that run the country. The country, never named, is identifiable as Guatemala through the mention of two presidents,

Vinicio Cerezo Arevalo Marco Vinicio Cerezo Arévalo (born 26 December 1942) is a Guatemalan politician and the current Secretary General of the Central American Integration System (SICA). He served as President of Guatemala from 14 January 1986 to 14 January 1991. ...

and Efrain Rios Montt.

Notes

{{reflist 2004 novels Spanish-language novels Salvadoran literature Novels set in Guatemala