This is the second time the monumental novel, written over a decade and considered by Ricardo Piglia to be 'the best ever written in Argentina since The Seven Madmen', has been released in local bookstores as a single volume, as its author wished. First published in 1998 after sixteen years of being unpublished, 'Los Sorias' unfolds over more than a thousand pages of black humor, metaphysical delirium, political satire, and extreme experimentation. 'Los Sorias', the masterpiece of Alberto Laiseca and one of the most singular books in contemporary Argentine literature, is once again available in the country in a limited edition of 500 copies published by the Spanish publisher Barrett. Everything contributes to a world that, according to specialists, functions as a radical allegory of power, violence, and social decay. Born in Rosario in 1941, Laiseca abandoned his chemical engineering studies to devote himself completely to writing. The included fragments show the dynamic between Iseka and the Soria family, the perception of evil as a cosmic force, and the corrosive humor that runs through the work, from repeated jokes to insults that became part of the technocratic folklore. With a tone that blends picaresque with science fiction and philosophy, Laiseca built a dystopian universe where three dictatorships—Soria, Technocracy, and the Soviet Union—wage a cold war as absurd as it is ferocious. In Soria, everyone is named Soria, while in Technocracy, they are Iseka. Based on the conflicts between Character Iseka and two Soria brothers with whom he shares a room on a deranged border, the novel develops a plot of conspiracies, surreal weapons, and theological tensions where evil seems to follow the logic of a divine machine. The reissue recovers memorable passages that condense the Laiseca style: dialogues full of irony, grotesque reflections on the human condition, and a boundless imagination. He published 'His Turn to Die' in 1976 and later became a cult author with 'Killing Dwarfs with Clubs' and 'Adventures of an Atonal Novelist'. He trained generations of writers—among them Gabriela Cabezón Cámara and Selva Almada—and built a body of work that continues to grow in readers and prestige. He died in 2016 at the age of 75. The edition comes from Barrett, an independent publisher from Seville founded in 2016 and recognized for combining literature, humor, and experimentation. With a catalog that includes Andrea Abreu, Elaine Vilar Madruga, Joanna Russ, and Alan Moore, Barrett now adds this long-awaited reissue to meet the demand from readers who have been seeking an accessible version of 'Los Sorias' for years. With a limited print run and national distribution, the book's return once again puts a center stage an author whose excessive and luminous work remains among the most influential and unclassifiable in Argentine literature.
