The Suicides
The Suicides by Antonio Di Benedetto, published by New York Review of Books on January 14, 2025, is an exploration of the phenomenon of suicide through the lens of a reporter’s investigation. This edition contains 176 pages and is presented in English. The narrative follows a stymied reporter in his early thirties who delves into a series of unconnected suicides, driven by only photographs of the deceased. As he uncovers more cases, his obsession deepens, leading him to historical justifications of self-murder from various thinkers.
Readers will find a psychological and mysterious journey as the protagonist grapples with the complexities surrounding the act of suicide. The story unfolds in a provincial city during the late 1960s, a period marked by societal upheaval in Argentina. This work serves as the third and final volume of Di Benedetto’s Trilogy of Expectation, which also includes Zama and The Silentiary. The narrative intricately weaves themes of existential inquiry and the impact of historical context on individual lives, making it a significant contribution to world literature.
Official synopsis Publisher
A reporter embarks on an investigation of a string of unconnected suicides—which then leads into an exploration of the phenomenon of suicide itself—in this elegant existential novel, the third and final volume of Antonio Di Benedetto’s Trilogy of Expectation.
A stymied reporter in his early thirties embarks on an investigation of three unconnected suicides. All he has to go on are photos of the faces of the dead. Other suicides begin to proliferate, while a colleague in the archives sends him historical justifications of self-murder by thinkers of all sorts: Diogenes, David Hume, Emile Durkheim, Margaret Mead. His investigation becomes an obsession, and he finds himself ever more attracted to its subject as it proceeds.
The Suicides is the third volume of Antonio Di Benedetto’s Trilogy of Expectation, a touchstone for Roberto Bolaño and deemed “one of the culminating moments of twentieth-century fiction” by Juan José Saer. Following Zama (set during the eighteenth century) and The Silentiary (set during the 1950s), this final work takes place in a provincial city in the late 1960s, as Argentina plummets toward the “Dirty War.”
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