Thomas P. Lambert

A father’s love: Childish Literature, by Alejandro Zambra, reviewed

The Chilean writer contributes obliquely to the fledgling genre of fatherhood literature, combining family vignettes with literary criticism and a ‘diary’ addressed to his infant son

Alejandro Zamba photographed in Madrid last year. [Cristina Arias/Cover/Getty Images] 
issue 30 November 2024

Serious books about fatherhood are hard to come by; indeed, next to distinguished literary mothers such as Rachel Cusk, Sheila Heti, Jacqueline Rose, and Elena Ferrante, the male sex is beginning to look decidedly inarticulate. In his new, genre-blurring work Childish Literature, the Chilean novelist Alejandro Zambra seeks to right this imbalance.

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