The Centaur in the Garden
Moacyr Scliar, translated by Margaret A Neves
2012, Texas Tech University Press
211 pages, hardback
THIS classic of Jewish literature by the Brazilian fabulist Moacyr Scliar has lost none of its quizzical humour since being first published in 1980, telling the tale of a son born to a centaur within one of the immigrant communities founded in early twentieth-century southern Brazil. For Scliar, who painted a tender portrait of an eccentric community struggling to survive, this tale of assimilation and discovery was emblematic of the immigrant condition. The Brazilian writer, who died in 2011, left a legacy of more than 70 books. This is a good place to start if you wish to explore his writing further. – EC
