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Boyd-tonkin
Boyd Tonkin

Colonel Lagrimas and Natural History: A Novel

Carlos Fonseca Interviewed by Boyd Tonkin

Saturday, 1 April 2023

6:00pm

1 hour

Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room

£7 - £12.50

Writer and academic Carlos Fonseca talks about his novels, Colonel Lagrimas and Natural History, and about his thoughts on Latin American literature and culture.

Fonseca’s debut novel, Colonel Lagrimas, is loosely based on the life of the eccentric mathematician Alexander Grothendieck. It is an allegory of our hyper-informed age and of the clash between European and Latin American history. The novel spans history, politics, literature, mathematics and philosophy to build a story of the forces that have created the modern world. In Natural History, Fonseca investigates the frontiers between art, science, politics, and religion through the relationship between the curator of a natural history museum and a celebrated fashion designer and through a cast of characters.

Fonseca is lecturer in Latin American literature and culture at the University of Cambridge. His book of essays, La lucidez del miope, won the Costa Rican national prize for literature. Here he talks to author, journalist, literary critic and chair of the 2016 International Booker Boyd Tonkin.


The event is part of the festival’s programme of Spanish and Latin American literature and culture.

University of Oxford Netflix European Union Delegation of the European Union to the United Kingdom Cultural Relations Platform Supporter of the festival's Voices of Europe programme Owen Mumford Supporter of programme of science and medicine and annual science and innovation award Bodleian Libraries Festival cultural partner Oxford Martin School Festival ideas partner Spanish Embassy Event generously supported by the Spanish Embassy Cervantes Institute, London Republic of Panama Event generously supported by Republic of Panama Italian Embassy Supporter of Italian programme The Dorchester Hotels Collection Festival London hotel partner International Literary Properties Festival literary heritage partner Blackwell’s Festival on-site and online bookseller The Randolph Hotel by Graduate Hotels Sponsor of the festival crime fiction programme Jim Mellon John Roberts Lady Hatch Patron donor for the programme of Irish literature and culture Tim and Marion Stevenson Martin and Elise Becket Smith Miles Young Masumi and Jonathan Dobson Pank Koria CEO of Project People Carole and John Allen David Isaac Jill Dunsmore Mary and Cecil Quillen Supporters of the programme of American literature and culture Anna Hunter Exeter College Exeter College: college home of the festival New College Worcester College Worcester College Lincoln College Lincoln College St Cross College St Cross College Trinity College Trinity College Critchleys Accountants to the festival Pasture to Plate Compassion in World Farming Symington Wines of the Douro Valley Princeton University Press Prestige publishing partner European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Jewish Book Week Partner of Jewish programme Foodbuy Thje Menu Partners Institute of Hospitality Project People Royal Academy of Arts British Academy Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies Oxford United Football Club Racalia Olive Oil Olive oil from Sicily BBC Radio Oxford Local radio partner Bear Ram Elk Festival Digital Strategy & Web Design Paul Bloomfield Ltd University of Oxford Alumni Office Alumni Office Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Conference Oxford Felicity Bryan Associates CAV Oxford The Sheldonian Theatre Oxford University Images Oxford University Images Oxford University Department for Continuing Education Oxford Brookes University OX magazine Ox in a Box K T Bruce Photography K T Bruce Photography The Litmus Partnership Schoolreaders La Leccia Literature Ireland Confucius Institute Pusey House James Currey Society
 

The Oxford Literary Festival sponsors, donors & partners

University of Oxford Netflix European Union Delegation of the European Union to the United Kingdom Cultural Relations Platform Supporter of the festival's Voices of Europe programme Owen Mumford Supporter of programme of science and medicine and annual science and innovation award Bodleian Libraries Festival cultural partner Oxford Martin School Festival ideas partner Spanish Embassy Event generously supported by the Spanish Embassy Cervantes Institute, London Republic of Panama Event generously supported by Republic of Panama Italian Embassy Supporter of Italian programme The Dorchester Hotels Collection Festival London hotel partner International Literary Properties Festival literary heritage partner Blackwell’s Festival on-site and online bookseller The Randolph Hotel by Graduate Hotels Sponsor of the festival crime fiction programme Jim Mellon John Roberts Lady Hatch Patron donor for the programme of Irish literature and culture Tim and Marion Stevenson Martin and Elise Becket Smith Miles Young Masumi and Jonathan Dobson Pank Koria CEO of Project People Carole and John Allen David Isaac Jill Dunsmore Mary and Cecil Quillen Supporters of the programme of American literature and culture Anna Hunter Exeter College Exeter College: college home of the festival New College Worcester College Worcester College Lincoln College Lincoln College St Cross College St Cross College Trinity College Trinity College Critchleys Accountants to the festival Pasture to Plate Compassion in World Farming Symington Wines of the Douro Valley Princeton University Press Prestige publishing partner European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Jewish Book Week Partner of Jewish programme Foodbuy Thje Menu Partners Institute of Hospitality Project People Royal Academy of Arts British Academy Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies Oxford United Football Club Racalia Olive Oil Olive oil from Sicily BBC Radio Oxford Local radio partner Bear Ram Elk Festival Digital Strategy & Web Design Paul Bloomfield Ltd University of Oxford Alumni Office Alumni Office Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Conference Oxford Felicity Bryan Associates CAV Oxford The Sheldonian Theatre Oxford University Images Oxford University Images Oxford University Department for Continuing Education Oxford Brookes University OX magazine Ox in a Box K T Bruce Photography K T Bruce Photography The Litmus Partnership Schoolreaders La Leccia Literature Ireland Confucius Institute Pusey House James Currey Society