Underappreciated: Roberto Arlt

Self-educated after the age of eight, Roberto Arlt worked many blue-collar jobs in his native Buenos Aires before embarking on a career as a writer. His novels had a huge influence on Jorge Luis Borges and others, but they are only now becoming available in English. Translator Michele Aynesworth will discuss the life and work of this great journalist, novelist, and playwright whose manic prose anticipated the likes of Irvine Welsh and William Burroughs.

Purchase Arlt's two best-known novels, Mad Toy and The Seven Madmen, at amazon.com.