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Tomás Eloy Martínez’s “The Tango Singer”
Bloomsbury, 2006
Bruno Cadogan, a doctoral student in Spanish Literature at New York University, is making little progress on his dissertation, a study of Jorge Luis Borges s essays on the tango. As he wanders through the Village, a chance encounter with a specialist in Latin American culture launches him in a new direction: she suggests that he go to Buenos Aires in pursuit of the elusive tango singer Julio Martel, who voice is like another dimension, almost supernatural, far superior to the legendary Carlos Gardel s.
Inspired by her tip, and with the help of academic grants, Bruno travels to Buenos Aires in the fall of 2001, just as the Argentine economy goes into freefall. After finding a room in a cheap boarding house, he begins to explore Buenos Aires and many of its tango salons, gathering information about Martel and hoping to meet the man who he imagines will turn his stalled dissertation around.