Robert Musil is one of the greatest european (he's austrian) writers of the XXth century. He's the author of The man without qualities and this is the subject of El reino milenario. Juan García Ponce introduced Musil's work to the spanish spoken world and this book is an introduction to his great novel, done with a great sense of criticism and knowledge of Musil's time and mind. I recomend this title strongly if you like essays that inspire you to read something you don't know.

This book contains three short-stories that are considered among the best of mexican 20th century literature. Remember Juan Rulfo's El llano en llamas, Inés Arredondo's Underground river -río subterraneo- (she's of García Ponce's generation), Juan José Arreola, et al. El gato is the first story and, in my taste, the best. Maybe that's because i live in a building like the one described there (one of the author's best achievements is description). The plot involves a woman, a cat, and a man. That's all i can say about it but you should know there's much more to it. La plaza is a short piece on melancholy for a city remembered; a place one knew in youth and comes back a mature man. La gaviota is a beautiful piece on teenage love, Octavio Paz said that it was the first time in mexican literature that someone wrote about the subject with great quality. This is a great introduction to the mature García Ponce.

I've read this book in spanish so i can't judge the work of the translators. In this novel García Ponce tell the story from a woman's point of view: she's the one who narrates and the facts come from her. I think the main characters, i'm thinking of the two women, are portrayed with great insight and knowledge of the female mind, or what it was in the mexican mid-sixties. This is really important since García Ponce is considered by some as a writer who portrays women only as sexual objects. One has to think if this is bad in itself but there's no doubt that the author has great taste when referring to sex and his works are the product of great art and craftsmanship. This is a very good book, it won't let you down and you'll meet an excellent mexican writer.