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Sun Inventions and Perfumes of Carthage: Two Novellas (Jewish Latin America) Teresa Porzecanski brings a fresh new voice to the Jewish Latin America series. She writes from Uruguay about the multicultural experience of Jewish immigrants in Montevideo. Her exotic characters from Europe, Africa, and the New World bring together and struggle with the mixture of Sephardic, Ashkenazic, and Latin American cultures. Porzecanski is herself the daughter of immigrants who came to Montevideo in 1926 from the Baltics and Syria. Sun Inventions, her first novel, published in 1982, is a semiautobiographical story of an immigrant family from the multifaceted perspective of a woman who is an academic, a mother, a writer searching for meaning in the universe. Perfumes of Carthage (1994) tells the stories of Lunita Mualdeb and her Sephardic family and Angela Tejera [Weaver], whose name was given to her African grandfather by a Brazilian slave owner.

Writing from Uruguay about the multicultural experience of Jewish immigrants in Montevideo, Porzecanski’s exotic characters from Europe, Africa, and the New World bring together and struggle with the mixture of Sephardic, Ashkenazic, and Latin American cultures.
Customer Review: “Perfumes” whose aroma will linger
“Sun Inventions / Perfumes of Carthage” brings together two novellas by Teresa Porzecanski, a talented Jewish writer from Uruguay. “Sun” has been translated into English by Johnny Payne, and “Perfumes” has been translated by Phyllis Silverstein. Ilan Stavans provides the introduction to this two-in-one volume.

“Sun Inventions” is the story of a female academic and her family situation. The stronger (and longer) of the two novellas is “Perfumes.” This is an engrossing multigenerational saga about a Jewish family that emigrates from the Syrian city of Aleppo to Uruguay. The family story takes place against the backdrop of a Uruguayan revolutionary movement of the 1930s. With its colorful, conflicted characters and problematic relationships, “Perfumes” has a Faulkneresque flavor.

The title of “Perfumes” refers to the perfume shop run by one of the novella’s principal characters. In this novella Porzecanski explores such issues as racial conflict, propaganda, oral tradition, Jewish ethics, and the power of sensory cues to trigger memories and visions. “Perfumes” is a fascinating and rewarding text that effectively blends tragic and comic elements. If you are interested in Jewish studies, Latin American literature, or contemporary fiction, check out this volume.

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latin american cultures, sephardic family, latin america series, daughter of immigrants, multigenerational saga, teresa porzecanski, jewish immigrants, johnny payne, multicultural experience, syrian city, jewish writer, story takes place, europe africa, ashkenazic, slave owner, revolutionary movement, immigrant family, family situation, baltics, jewish family