The Review of Contemporary Fiction

Dreams of the Abandoned Seducer by Alicia Borinsky
Alan Tinkler

Alicia Borinsky. Dreams of the Abandoned Seducer. Trans. Cola Franzen. Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1998. 211 pp. Paper: $15.00.

Alicia Borinsky, born in Argentina and now living in the United States, navigates her reader through a postmodern exploration of society and love. In Dreams of the Abandoned Seducer, Borinsky clips quickly through a barrage of characters who are trying to find love by either reentering society or fleeing from it.
A “littleoldlady,” for instance, quests to reenter into the arms of “strong young romeo” during a serial radio program titled Engagements of Yesteryear. The host of the show, Fernando, takes off to Thailand after recording the final program where he admits his desire that she, the littleoldlady, find happiness; at the same time he sympathizes with “those who have bet on a crime, those holding a pessimistic point of view regarding human relations, who maintain that he [her young romeo] will rob her of her money, abandon her in front of an oncoming train, or poison her to avoid future problems.”
Another character, Miguel, hires the demure and asexual “Other-woman,” since she loves him “for real without ulterior motives or orgasmic sighs.” She, not surprisingly, also does his laundry and waters his plants. In the economics of the novel, society adds value not only for beauty but also for the practical skills allocated to, in this case, the Otherwoman. While Otherwoman is confined within the home, ugly women are sequestered in an institute where they are fettered so they do not adversely affect tourism or the general quality of life. There are exceptions: rich ugly women remain on the loose.
Borinsky’s novel is not crass; she finds value in the ridiculous. Dreams of the Abandoned Seducer is a wonderfully fast-paced exploration of societies which have an exaggerated emphasis on the economies of beauty and seduction. [Alan Tinkler]