LA SUMA DE LOS CEROS (A ZERO SUM GAME)

Book ID/图书代码： 11701214B68685

English Summary/英文概要： Villa Miserias is a suburb of a suburb where everyone knows their place and nothing ever changes. Every two years, elections are held for the presidency of the residents’committee, and every two years there are no surprises. But the balance begins to shift with the arrival of Selon Perdumes and his theory of Quietism in Motion. With his alabaster smile, he uncovers the deepest secrets of the unwary residents, and transforms their fantasies in reality with the help of the loans he offers them. Growing rich from money-lending, Perdumes gradually becomes the spectral power behind the community. But when Max Michels, sunk in an obsessive relationship with the beautiful, black-eyed Nelly, and, struggling to silence the multiple dissenting voices in his head, decides to run for president without Perdumes’permission, the battle lines are drawn.
A ZERO SUM GAME is a biting satire of contemporary consumer society and the cult of the individual, liberally sprinkled with humour and chilling realism. Rabasa’s clear, steady gaze rests on the sophistry and rationalisations that mask the actual situation where, for all the choices we are offered, we have little power over our destinies. Swift would raise his hat to this debut novelist.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： Villa Miserias 是一处众人皆知的且永远不会发生变化的偏远之地。每两年，当地人的委员会便会举办一次任期选举，而每两年这里也和往常无异的照常推举当地管事负责人。但随着Selon Perdumes 和他的无为主义理论来到此地时，一切的平衡点被打破了。伴随着他那雪白无暇的微笑下面是当代居民所没有察觉到的深邃秘密，他为当地人提供贷款的帮助，让这些人的梦境转换成了现实。信贷业务日益繁忙，Perdumes 逐渐成为了这片地区背后铁腕人物。但当Max Michels 沉浸与和有着一双美丽明眸的 Nelly的关系时， 他的脑海中顿时发出了反对的声音，他决意在未征得Perdumes 的同意下，去竞选当地的总统，就此两人之间的角力开始了……
《博弈》是一部抨击当代消费社会和个人崇拜的讽刺小说，全篇文中充满着幽默和令人心寒的现实主义色彩。本书的作者Rabasa 的清晰的，将目光投向掩盖了实际情况的那些似是而非的谬论，而将这一切全盘由我们来抉择，我们可以凌驾于命运之上；这部首作将会让作者迅速地确立自己的文坛地位。 (Sandy)

Awards/获奖情况：“[Rabasa’s] first novel, ‘La suma de los ceros’, collects outbursts of passionate love, of the conflicting relationship between a father and a son, and, above all, of a critique to democracy in the shape of political satire (...) Rabasa gives an unexpected turn to the genre of novels of social criticism, a literary tradition from which the author hopes to obtain the formula that allows him to think and understand the present. (...) A demolishing piece of work, perfectly suited for Rabasa, an eternal restless soul, and one who invites to share in the pleasure of literature from his double role as a publisher and writer.” Leonardo Tarifeño, Revista Vice

“Rabasa’s satirical vocation is cristallized in a cumulative effect that at times recalls the transversal cut with which Georges Perec sketched the life of the tenants of a building in La Vie mode d’employ, or the eagle-eye with which Damián Tabarovsky followed the comings and goings of a leaf that glides over a street of Buenos Aires in his novel-essay ‘Una belleza vulgar’.” Guillermo Núñez, Frente

“By using diverse narrative resources (…) Rabasa manages to mantain from the beginning to the end a sensation of breathing inside a gray and opresive bubble in which the [Nietzschean] motto ‘the measure of every man lies in the dose of truth which he can handle’ takes on a disturbing sense. This sense points out, without the need of being violent, that we are always whiped by an invisible watchman, intransigent and ruthless.” Lobsang Castañeda, Revista Más cultura

“By using a satirical tone, Eduardo Rabasa allows himself to explore the limits of political coexistence while at the same time offering fragments that come out of an overflowing imagination. His novel becomes a carnival in which the reader cannot help but find similarities with what has happened to our country, to mention just one of the possibilities. And, in doing so, he manages to outline deep reflections on the concepts of truth, of the greater good, and of the individual.” Jorge Gudiño, La Jornada

“A satirical and hallucinatory debut” Donato M. Plata, Revista Cinepremiere

About the Author/作者介绍： Eduardo Rabasa 在墨西哥的一所大学学习政治学，他的毕业论文为乔治•奥威尔（英国小说家）的作品理念。他为墨西哥著名报刊Milenio 撰写每周专栏文章，并翻译了许多如莫里斯•伯曼，乔治•奥威尔和萨默塞特•毛姆的作品。他曾是2002年Sexto Piso出版社的创办人之一，并在那里身为一名编辑工作至今。

Eduardo Rabasa studied Political Science at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), where he graduated with a thesis on the concept of power in the work of George Orwell. He writes a weekly column for the Mexican national newspaper Milenio, and has translated books by authors like Morris Berman, George Orwell and Somerset Maugham. He was one of the founding members of the publishing house Sexto Piso in 2002 and has worked there as an editor ever since.

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Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE

Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE

Sales in other countries/其他国家销售情况：Debut novel, A ZERO SUM GAME: Mexico: Sur+ (pub May 2014); Spain: Capitan Swing (pub Autumn 2014)

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