The Uncomfortable Dead
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| Author | Paco Ignacio Taibo II & Subcomandante Marcos |
|---|---|
| Publisher | La Jornada & (eng. trans Akashic Books) |
| Released | November 2004 |
The Uncomfortable Dead or "Inconvenient Dead") (orig. Spanish Muertos incómodos) is a Mexican novel written in conjunction by guerrilla spokesman Subcomandante Marcos of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation and Mexico City crime writer Paco Ignacio Taibo II. The novel is written in the so-called "four hands" method in which one author writes a chapter or segment of the novel, handing it over to the other author who writes the next chapter or segment in response. The method has been compared to a game of ping pong between the authors.
The concept for the novel and its unusual writing method was suggested in a letter from Marcos to Taibo II, outlining the "rules and regulations". Within a week of accepting the proposal, the first chapter appeared in La Jornada, an important Mexico City newspaper. The result was nine chapters of material published in La Jornada from November 2004 to February 2005, with the newspaper's editors promising a complete edition of the work in its native Spanish language by reputed Spanish language publisher Editorial Planeta. The novel will also be released in book format in Italy, France, United States, Greece and Turkey.
The novel tells the parallel tales of a missing Zapatista woman who flees her husband to better herself and of a detective in Mexico City who loves the city and the rooftops of the buildings.
