LITERATURE: Wandering Players in an imagined Land

Daniel Alarcón’s latest novel At Night We Walk in Circles continues the author’s exploration of his personal Narnia, a nameless Latin American country that closely resembles Peru.

There’s a certain type of universality to Daniel Alarcón’s writing. He infuses his literature with a sense of place that is deeply felt and evocative but not particularly definable — his sprawling landscapes and looming mountains could be situated in Peru or small-town Iowa or the outskirts of bustling Santiago, Chile, or a town you’ve never visited, one that exists somewhere on the map, tucked away — and that is precisely what makes his literature relatable.