Mammoth by Eva Baltasar

The English translation of
Mammoth was carried out
by Julia Sanches who has
done an absolutely stirling
job

There is little to find online about the life of Eva Baltasar. She is a Spanish poet and writer, born in 1978 and graduated from the University of Barcelona with a degree in Pedagogy (I had to look it up: "the method and practice of teaching, especially as an academic subject or theoretical concept"). I can find nothing else about her except that she worked briefly as a shepherdess and and a cleaner, and at some point as a teacher, and that her heart has always been with writing.

Baltasar has had ten volumes of poetry published, which have won many awards. But she states "poetry does not pay" (presumably that is why she had so many diverse jobs while a poet) and it was not until she began writing prose that she could sustain herself financially solely from writing.

Mammoth is Baltasar's third novel, the last part in a loose triptych, each exploring the life of a lesbian woman in the first person. But it isn't a sequel and I dion't think there is anything you need to know from the first two (Permafrost and Boulder) before reading Mammoth.

All three of Baltasar's novels are published by an independent not-for-profit publisher, 'And Other Stories' who are new to me, even though I have one of there books (the International Booker winner, Lamp Heart) on my to read list. It's always exciting to discover a new publisher who gels with the kind of books you like to read, and 'And Other Stories' certainly fits this bill. AOS puts out both translated contemporary literary and classic fiction which has fallen out of publication. There are several titles that I am intrigued by, and I've already bought one for the Italian leg of my round the world challenge, which will be featured here before too long. I am very tempted to become a subscriber, for £70 you get 6 books a year.

And so to this book. Mammoth follows a (I am pretty sure) unnamed protagonist as she attempts to get pregnant by a random (being a lesbian and not desiring a man in her life for any other purpose), and then, fleeing from her academic centred life in Barcelona and becoming a shepherdess and cleaner in the mountains. Baltasar has obviously drawn on her real life experiences, at least as far as feeding amniotic fluid coated lambs and scrubbing greasy tables with vinegar. But the novel is also heavily influenced by her former life as a poet. Baltasar says she approaches poetry and prose in the same way, and this shows in her finely wrought work. Whilst the style is very conversational and easy to read, each sentence does a hell of a lot of work. And credit must go to Julia Sanchez (the English translator) here, to keep the nestled layers of meaning beneath ostensibly straight forward prose is no mean feat, and she is obviously an extremely talented writer in her own right.

My one reservation with Mammoth is that it feels a little short. At only a smidge over 100 pages it is definitely in novella territory, and even though Baltasar does a lot with the words she has, it still felt a little under-explored. Maybe when viewed in context of the triptych there is a more a sense of completion. Or maybe completion is deliberately avoided. Mammoth is about a woman (and I hate this expression) trying to find herself. But she never does. As she learns, she changes, and so there are new things to learn. And isn't that how life is? Really I don't think I can give this less than ★★★★★.