Gasoline

by Quim Monzó, Mary Ann Newman (Translator)

"Monzó delivers drollery on nearly every page, in observations that are incisive and hilarious and horrifying, often all at once."— Publishers Weekly For the first time in his life, Heribert Juliá is unable to paint. On the eve of an important gallery exhibition, for which he's created nothing, he's bored with he falls asleep while making love with his mistress, wanders from bar to bar, drinking whatever comes to his attention first, and meets the evidence of his wife Helena's infidelity with complete indifference. Humbert Herrera, an up-and-coming artist who can't stop creating, picks up the threads of Heribert's life, taking his wife, replacing him at the gallery, and pursuing his former mistress. Heribert is finally undone by a massive sculpture, while Humbert is planning the sculpture to end sculpture, the poem to end poetry, and the film to end film, all while mounting three simultaneous shows. A fun-house mirror through which he examines the creative process, the life and loves of artists, and the New York art scene, Gasoline confirms Quim Monzó as the foremost Catalan writer of his generation. Quim Monzó was born in Barcelona in 1952. He has been awarded the National Award, the City of Barcelona Award, the Prudenci Bertrana Award, the El Temps Award, the Lletra d'Or Prize for the best book of the year, and the Catalan Writers' Award; he has been awarded Serra d'Or magazine's prestigious Critics' Award four times. He has also translated numerous authors into Catalan, including Truman Capote, J.D. Salinger, and Ernest Hemingway. Mary Ann Newman is the Director of the Catalan Center at New York University's Center for European and Mediterranean Studies. She is a translator, editor, and occasional writer on Catalan culture.

Genres: Fiction, Spain, Spanish Literature, Novels

141 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1983

About the author

Quim Monzó was born in Barcelona in 1952.
He has been awarded the National Award for fiction; the City of Barcelona Award for fiction; the Prudenci Bertrana Award for fiction; the El Temps Award for best novel; the Lletra d'Or Prize; the Catalan Writers' Award; the Maria Àngels Anglada; the Trajectòria; he has also been awarded Serra d'Or magazine's prestigious Critics' Award, four times.

In 2007 he wrote and read the opening speech at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Monzó designed a lecture written as if it was a short story. It differed completely from traditional speeches.
Together with Cuca Canals, he wrote the dialogues for Bigas Luna's movie Jamón, jamón. He has also written the musical satire El tango de Don Joan, with Jérôme Savary.
He is a regular contributor to the La Vanguardia newspaper.

Reviews

[João Reis · Rating 5 out of 5]

PT/EN

“Gasolina” (“Benzina”, 1983), de Quim Monzó. Traduzido de catalão para castelhano por Joaquín Jordá.
“Gasolina” é um romance sobre a destruição mental de dois artistas plásticos — Heribert e Humbert — que partilham o mesmo esgotamento psicológico e artístico. Na primeira parte (janeiro), Monzó descreve na perfeição o estado depressivo de Heribert. A segunda parte (dezembro) trata da ascensão e queda de Humbert, que se casa com a sua marchand e ex-mulher de Heribert e acaba por seguir os passos de Heribert rumo à dissolução. Um livro irónico e por vezes surrealista sobre a criação, o que é ou não ser normal, a atração sexual, a forma como se apreende a realidade e o esgotamento mental. Monzó, muito crítico de uma certa realidade artística sem cair no pedantismo, tem um estilo conciso e jocoso que, aparentemente simples, desvela grandes horrores da mente humana.
Este livro está disponível em português.
----
A fabulous novel by Quim Monzó. Depression, mental decay, corruption, lies, the futility of social conventions, horror vacui, the hypocrisy of pseudo-artists, the demands of capitalism, the artificiality of human language and constructions: all this interwoven in Monzó’s novel, which despite all the ennui pervading the plot is a fun, often hilarious novel reaching out to some of the terrors that inhabit the border between dream and reality.
This book is available in English as “Gasoline”.

[jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

three decades after it was first published, quim monzó's gasoline (benzina) still offers seductive insight into the lives of artists and the myriad challenges inherent in the creative process. the catalan author's novel (one of five his books available in english translation), split into two parts, features two protagonists at very different points in their artistic careers. heribert, with his best successes behind him has become bored, aloof, and passionless, while hubert, ready to usurp more than heribert's aesthetic achievements, is inspired and inexhaustible - yet, the two of them seem to inevitably end up facing the same dissatisfaction and disappointment.

at times surrealist, revealing, and droll, gasoline perhaps offers more questions than it provides answers. is hubert destined to become heribert? is one's success merely the springboard for his successors? are ego and selfishness ultimately noxious influences on the artist? does triumph unavoidably lead to torpor? might true love be unattainable for the aesthete? rather than clarification, monzó's story contents itself with portraiture and personification.

with a cast of characters whose names almost uniformly begin with 'h' (heribert, hubert, helena, hildegarda, hug, hipólita, hilari, hannah, hilda, herundina, henrietta, heloise, and hester), gasoline is as much commentary on the cyclical trappings of success as it is on the capricious nature of the art world. monzó's fiction is inventive, arousing, and often facetious, yet also skillfully crafted and uniquely composed. that more of his work (whether novels, short stories, or essays) will be forthcoming in translation, one can only hope.

why can't he just stay forevermore in that place, where, as if by a secret pact, everything is white and everyone is dressed in white, juggling similes and metaphors like a circus performer?

*rendered from the catalan by mary ann newman

[tn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5

[Bhaskar Thakuria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in two sittings, but had not found time to review it as my mind was all muddled up by the effects of some of the writings I have been closely deciphering over the last two months -in English as well as other languages viz Russian, Polish and Georgian combined; plus, methinks, it was the aftereffect of having had the pleasure (or toil?) of having to read Lobo Antunes' latest work (which was the first book I had picked up this year) that had left me in a maze with my afterthought left in a quandary! In retrospect I must say that Quim Monzó's work is about artists and artistic advances and pitfalls. We deal with two very different artists here in different phases of their lives and careers, and see their love lives being fraught by apprehension and deception as the other artist swoops into the sexual labyrinth of the mistress of the other who has stopped caring about her. The parallel lives split into different parts, and observed from different viewpoints, time and settings afford for a close introspection of the artistic and creative process. Overall the narrative structure is very modern but left me with a feeling of deja vu after having read a score of Open Letter titles last year, and lays ample testimony to the probing virtues of the modern narrative and its debriefing of the human and artistic question.

[Portia Renee Robillard · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Gasoline, Quim Monzo combines existential angst with the pitfalls of fame in a compelling, at times humorous novel that addresses creativity and personal failure. The story follows two main characters, Heribert and Humbert, both of whom posses artistic talent and massive egos. Heribert is disenchanted with success, while Humbert's career is sky-rocketing, yet the end result is much the same for both: disappointment and apathy prevail. In fact, these two could be the same character; I have to wonder if this was perhaps part of Monzo's intent, to explore the same story from both sides of the coin, as it were. As with Guadalajara, Monzo's style is engaging, well-executed, and certainly worth the read.

[Troy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm really really sick of novels about creative men going through existential crises while holding up some random woman as their two dimensional muse. Fuck the Manic Pixie Dream Girl and fuck the Brilliant but Impotent CreAtor.

I do love Open Letter press and I heard Monzó's shorts are pretty good, but this book is clearly not for me.

[Robert Wechsler]

Looks interesting, but the type and leading are too small for someone my age, so I read very little. Young book designers need to learn to be inclusive, and publishers need to say No.

[Jan Gomez i Solanes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un llibre que cobra sentit al final i l'interès creix a mesura que avança.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gasoline is a book that messes with your mind, but it’s good fun.

The novella (only 141 pages) satirises the new York art scene, and while it’s true that modern art is an easy target, the way the author has tackled its pretensions is droll indeed. It’s a little like a shorter, more surreal version of Robert Bolano’s The Savage Detectives (see my review) which was a spoof of avant-garde literary movements.

Written in two parts, January and December, the book begins with the artist Heribert Julia who reminded me straight away of Ivan Gonchaarov’s Oblomov. (See my review). Too lazy to get out of his own way, too mired in his absurdist self-preoccupations to make a decision about anything, Heribert is supposed to be churning out paintings for an exhibition that’s coming up, but he can’t muster the motivation. He’s impotent, in more ways than one. And he doesn’t realise until it’s too late that the up-and-coming artist that his wife wants him to help is not only her lover, but is also his rival in the art world.

It’s not until the reader makes the acquaintance of both wife Helena and mistress Herundina, and a bunch of Herbiert’s friends that it becomes obvious that almost every character’s name begins with H (and most of them are women). There’s Humbert, Hubert and Hug, Hildegarda, Hipólita, Hilari, Hannah, Hilda, Henrietta, Heloise, and Hester. (Even the first letter of Heribert’s surname Julia sounds like an ‘H’ in Spanish, and presumably also in Catalan). Methinks the author was playing games with us late in the book when he introduced Xano and Marino del Nonno – because it appears as if there is some meaning to be made out of the difference with these names. But although I’m happy to be enlightened, I suspect that this name play with the Hs is another example of the kind of lists peppered elsewhere in the book, lists which reminded me of the long lists of Mexican poets in The Savage Detectives.

To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2014/07/25/ga...

[Raz · Rating 1 out of 5]

I flew interstate last night and forgot my headphones so I decided to read this book instead.

It is SO BAD.

The two main characters are the most obnoxious petulant misogynist manbabies you can imagine, the only purpose women serve in this world is for fucking and to ruin successful men's lives, and it's so SO boring.

I literally got to the second last page and just couldn't subject myself to it anymore. Awful!!

[Chad Post · Rating 5 out of 5]

DISCLAIMER: I am the publisher of the book and thus spent approximately two years reading and editing and working on it. So take my review with a grain of salt, or the understanding that I am deeply invested in this text and know it quite well. Also, I would really appreciate it if you would purchase this book, since it would benefit Open Letter directly.

[Manel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantástico como siempre, Monzó. Crudo, realista y sin piedad. El retrato de la época y de los personajes con sus triunfos y miserias es perfecto.

[David Zúñiga Artigas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obsessió, crítica, bojeria i certes cosses sense gaire sentit les quals no són necessaries trobar-hi significat. En definició: Quim Monzó.

[Arnau · Rating 5 out of 5]

un dels llibres amb el qual m'he sentit més identificat mentre el llegia. Ironia i surrealisme en estar pur. Heribert i Humbert, quin parell. Vull llegir més Monzó

[Miquel · Rating 4 out of 5]

No és tan bo com els seus contes, però és que, què pot ser tan bo com els contes de Quim Monzó?

[Geoffrey Gates · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot concerns an artist named Heribert, whose main love is Helena, but whose mistress is Hildegarda, and whose lovers include a myriad of women whose name begins with ‘H’. It must have been a wild ride when it was first published in Catalan in the 1980s.

http://gatesyread.blogspot.fr/2017/08...

[Edgar Cotes Argelich · Rating 2 out of 5]

Doncs francament el Monzó de les distàncies llargues no m’ha acabat de convèncer. El llibre mateix és una divagació que no porta enlloc (i ja sé que aquest era l’objectiu de l’autor). Ho puc arribar a valorar fins a cert punt per l’experimentació i el missatge nihilista i irònic que transmet, però com a lector la història se m’ha fet una mica costa amunt.

[Royce · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved Monzo’s short story collections A Thousand Morons and Why, Why, Why, much more than Gasoline, an earlier work of his. I wonder if his writing style has improved over time or do I just like the quirky style of his writing so apparent in these two above-mentioned short story collections? In any case, I highly recommend this writer if you like short stories.

[esther · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hasta ahora lo único que había leído de Quim Monzó habían sido relatos cortos (y hace ya 6-7 años, pero creo recordar que me gustaron). En cuanto a Gasolina, me ha gustado cómo está escrito, pero el argumento no demasiado..... aunque en algunos momentos he podido empatizar con la actitud nihilista del protagonista, en otros la trama me ha dejado bastante fría

[Judith Martínez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ha sigut la primera vegada que he llegit a Quim Monzó i només tinc bones paraules per descriure la lectura. L’absurditat dels fets, el surrealisme i la decadència dels personatges són la clau del relat. No fa falta trobar-li sentit a res del que s’explica, només has d’obrir la ment i no avergonyir-te per reconèixer que t’has sentit identificat amb alguna de les reflexions dels personatges.

[Eamon Ronan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will forever think of this book as the one whose principal characters all have names beginning with H. This stylistic quirk, amusing at first, is pretty frustrating to deal with throughout the narrative. A short read. When I got to the last page, I thought to myself: “HuH.”

[Zach Werbalowsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

like a 3.5 maybe? it fluctuates, but a solid book about two different artist.

[Lori · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gasoline, first published in 1983, is about art, artists, and the New York art scene. Heribert Juliá was a breakout sensation only months ago. With a second major show looming, he suddenly finds himself unable to paint and feeling increasingly apathetic and aimless in his daily life. He spends his time roaming Manhattan, indulging in meaningless affairs, and drinking. The haze of alcohol and lethargy, unfortunately, has obscured the ominous signs behind his wife's own infidelity. Her paramour is none other than Humbert Herrera, a buzzworthy upstart who can't stop creating and has a grand vision of uniting all art movements of the past several decades in a grand exhibit that will mark the end stage of everything twentieth century art has been striving towards. As Heribert decreases, Humbert increases, until he has literally supplanted his predecessor and stolen his career, his wife, and his creativity.

I can see what Monzó was trying to do: both Humbert and Heribert, though they occupy two opposing extremes, are men consumed by their art. One, because it has left him; the other, because it overwhelms him. They are surrounded by a world of galleries, cocktail parties, and restaurants that, despite its pretensions to some greater cultural legitimacy, closely mirrors the mainstream obsession with trends, fashion, and celebrity. Monzó sets these two creative individuals within this milieu and explores how its dual populism-elitism informs their perceptions of themselves and their art. Heribert, in particular, despite his critical acclaim, seems unable to develop an original idea. His glorious vision is basically a slapdash hodgepodge of every self-consciously avant-garde innovation that came before him. It would seem, then, that art is two-faced and intent on devouring itself.

Interesting idea, but I think I'm missing something. Gasoline purports to be a roundabout, over-the-top satire but ended up falling flat. I'm just left going, huh? What was the point of all that? Um, this guy wanders around and then this other guy goes all manic and on and on about all the stuff he wants to paint/draw/photograph/photocopy/film/write about, and . . . ?

Gasoline has apparently been well-received but I'm not getting it. And why is it called Gasoline?

Review Copy

Original Review

[Full Stop]

http://www.full-stop.net/2011/01/14/r...

Review by Eric Jett

Heribert Julià, the first of two eerily similar artists in Quim Monzó’s Gasoline, is counting down the days to his next art show. There are three weeks to the opening, and all of the paintings have been named and sold. Unfortunately, Heribert hasn’t painted them yet, and while he struggles to discern a hawk from a handsaw, another artist, Humbert Herrera, has already begun to take his place, and not just at the gallery. At one time or another, Heribert and Humbert may be in the same bed, with the same woman, having the same dream.

Looking at a copy of a picture of René Magritte’s The Treachery of Images, which depicts a pipe and the statement “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” (“This is not a pipe”), Heribert Julià cannot help but agree. Indeed, nothing is what it seems to be in Heribert’s world, where consciousness and dream twist together like a Möbius strip, and reality is created and discovered at the same time. Returning home from following his girlfriend and another man, Heribert decides to turn on every light, device, appliance, and noise maker in the house. He becomes annoyed with his stereo, which claims to be a radio and cassette player yet refuses to be both at the same time, but moments later, as he stands outside ringing his own doorbell, Heribert thinks, “If in this precise moment the telephone rang, I’d be a truly happy man.” Then it rings.

Read more here: http://www.full-stop.net/2011/01/14/r...

[Shane Zimmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the third book I read of the two dozen translations that I bought from Open Letter—the University of Rochester's literary translation press (Check them out. And no, I have no friends or business interests with them). This was the third book and my favorite so far. There’s not a whole lot of plot, but if you like stories that keep close to the protagonists’ consciousness, you’ll like this book. Heribert is not the most interesting protagonist, but I can relate personally to his crisis and I found him amusing. Humbert, his usurper and younger foil, is less likable, but as a reader I felt that I got to understand him, and I enjoyed this intimacy.

I found the prose and the imagery both appropriate and pleasing. I would’ve liked a little more plot, and I would’ve liked if the author had given his characters names that did not start with the same letter. All of the main characters have names starting with H. I can see how this would reflect Heribert’s emotional flatlining and the dulling of distinctions in his world, as well as the way the young artist, Humbert, was interchangeable with the old artist, Heribert, and how they would probably share the same fate. But I started to get all the characters confused. Still, it’s a short read and funny if you have a darker sense of humor.

[Darryl · Rating 1 out of 5]

Heribert is a renowned painter whose work is scheduled to be shown in a double exhibition in less than a month. However, he cannot find the motivation to create anything that pleases him. Instead of working on his paintings as the deadline draws near, he spends his mornings lying in bed for hours idly watching the second hand of his clock, and his afternoons and evenings in sex shops, restaurants, and in the company of lovers who bore him (and the reader), as he obsesses about his never present wife, Helena, who is seemingly having an affair of her own.

Our man is felled by an absurd accident which prevents him from completing his assignment, similar to a lazy child who claims that his dog ate his homework. Humbert, a young and unknown artist who happens to be his wife's lover, submits his paintings in his place, to rave reviews, as Heribert wallows in the muck of existential angst.

Gasoline was a thoroughly maddening read, as I found Heribert to be a useless, pathetic and intensely dislikable tortured artiste. This book was supposedly about the creative process in art, but none of its characters captured my attention or earned an ounce of sympathy from me.

[Audrey · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. I read an article in which Monzo has stated that Americans don't like his writing, and I thought perhaps I'd really like it. But, it was so mundane and so descriptive with every single step performed in the characters' lives that I just barely made it through the book. First of all, it starts with a minute description of a dream. I have discovered that dreams (both for characters in books and for all of us in real life) are not interesting to anyone but the person who is dreaming. I cringed when the story started with one. Then, he gets up, pours a cup of coffee, sits down, looks out the window, etc. I lost interest and barely got to follow the thread of the story - that of an artist who is bored with life (I still find it infuriating to read about characters who are just bored) and with his partner. There is another artist who is trying to usurp the first artist's position in the artistic community as an upcoming genius. Then, the second half of the book starts the same way. Is this modern literature??

[Jorge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nunca había leido a Monzó, y en verdad comencé con las expectativas que me daba el título más que nada, sin embargo disfrute todo el libro, creo que maneja un ambiente muy agradable a la vista, eventos que nunca tienen consecuencias graves, en donde la gente más bien hace lo que se le place sin preguntar o si quiera pensar en su pareja, todo claro justificado con el afán de vivir y conseguir la inspiración que lleva a un artista de la noche a la mañana a colocar sus cuadros en los principales museos y galerias. Así tambien me quedaron muchas dudas que el libro no resuelve, hay muchas partes como incompletas y algunas inconexas de igual forma, más sin embargo este hecho nos provoca a crear nosotros mismos ese final o nexo que hace falta, tomando esto en consideración, considero que es una muy buena obra y claro que la recomiendo. Enero 2012

[Julia Alberino · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's hard to characterize Gasoline. This is a book that I think will appeal to fans of the Latin American magical realists, modern Catalan and other European authors, or the creative process in general. The story will turn your expectations on their head. It's been described elsewhere as a fun-house mirror of a novel. I found it to be somewhat dream-like as to narrative style. The deliberate naming of characters (every major character's first name begins with H) is another masterful touch. The premise (spoiler alert) of one person so thoroughly taking over someone else's life worked for me. Full disclosure: I've met the author and have been friends with the translator since graduate school, so I wonder if I'm less than objective. I don't think so--this short novel is definitely worth a read.

[Ferris · Rating 5 out of 5]

What is gasoline? It is a fuel, a fuel which adds flame to a fire. Quim Monz privides the reader with a glimpse into the psyche of an artist and the "gasoline" which fuels the creative impulse. What could have been a dull novel of existential angst is made engrossing by the excellent writing, and I have to assume, an excellent translation. Where does the artist end and his world begin? What is the fuel which enflames the art world? In this case, paintings which are not even completed ! Where do the two artists, Heribert and Humbert, come together and stand apart? Not much separates them in this novel. In fact one of them more or less subsumes the identity of the other. Fascinating book!