Alejo Carpentier

The action of The Chase unfolds during the 46 minutes it takes for Beethoven's Heroic Symphony to be performed in a theater in Havana. Inside, a young man who has shifted from political combat to terrorism and, through torture, to betrayal has sought refuge. His former comrades, now turned into his pursuers, await him in the back rows. Alejo Carpentier recreates in this novel, through a plurality of voices – the narrator, the persecuted, and the theater ticket seller – both the political climate experienced in Cuba during the turbulent years of Gerardo Machado's dictatorship and more personal aspects of the protagonist's life (his political activism, his romantic and family relationships, his religious concerns, and the turmoil of his conscience).

“In a nameless, Havana-like city, an anonymous man flees a team of shadowy, relentless political assassins, and ultimately takes refuge in a symphony auditorium during a performance of Beethoven's Eroica. . . . This nightmarish novel does not so much tell a story as map the secret political infrastructure of cities, governments, churches, music, and bodies.” The Independent

“Carpentier was one of the early giants of modern Latin American literature, a man whose writing helped shape and define the period of 'magic realism.' . . . [The Chase is] a masterpiece.” New York Times Book Review

“A taut tale of political violence and psychological suspense.” San Francisco Chronicle