by Hernan Rivera Letelier · METAILIE · tapa blanda · ISBN 9791022613071
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«L'autodidacte, le boxeur et la reine du printemps» is the novel by Hernán Rivera Letelier, published by Métailié in paperback (112 pages, in French).
In the Atacama Desert, Eleazar Luna, a worker at one of the last saltpetre mines, discovers poetry in night classes and, with it, writing and love. The woman who captivates him takes notice of a young boxer admired in the town. The novel portrays the harshness of mining work and a landscape where flowers barely last a day.
The French edition was published on 2 June 2023; the original work appeared in 2019. Hernán Rivera Letelier was born in Talca (Chile) in 1950.
For readers of French fiction interested in contemporary Chilean literature.
Hernán Rivera Letelier is a Chilean novelist. Until the age of 11 he lived in the Algorta saltpeter mining town, in the north of Chile. When it was closed down, he and his family moved to Antofagasta, where his mother died. His siblings went to live with his aunts. He stayed in Antofagasta, alone, until he was about 11. To survive, he sold newspapers. Later he worked as a messenger for Anglo Lautaro Nirate Company, until his thirst for adventure led him to spend three years traveling in Chile, Bolivia, Perú, Ecuador and Argentina. He returned to Antofagasta in 1973 and began to work at another company, Mantos Blancos. He married a 17-year-old girl when he was 24. Later he left for Pedro de Valdivia, another saltpeter mining town. He completed his seventh and eighth years of study at night school, and at the Inacap educational institute he earned his license as a secondary education instructor. Today he lives in Antofagasta with his wife and four children. He has received the Premio Consejo Nacional de Libro twice, in 1994 and 1996. His novel El arte de la resurrección won the Premio Alfaguara de Novela in Spain in 2010.
