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Portrait of the Awkward Artist

By Achy Obejas

If Pablo Helguera’s The Boy Inside the Letter (Jorge Pinto Books, 2007) had adopted a subtitle, it would have to be “Longing: The Making of an Artist.” As it stands, the title is enigmatic, never hinting at the great waves of yearning inside. It suggests youth and writing—but there’s something vaguely uncomfortable about it. Is the “letter” a correspondence, a nod… return to article

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