Mr. Henry

Author's name: Gonzalo Tavares

For readers unfamiliar with Tavares's complete works, it may be worthwhile to introduce them to the drawings made by Tavares's wife and longtime literary partner, the artist Rachel Caiano, particularly her map of the neighborhood, depicting the narrow streets and closely packed buildings of a traditional Lisbon neighborhood. Caiano's map, created in the early editions of The Neighborhood series, depicted only four residents: Mr. Valéry, Mr. Henri, Mr. Brecht, and Mr. Juarez, with many of the surrounding empty apartments. As Tavares's fictional project expanded, he added Mr. Calvino, Mr. Kraus, and then Mr. Walser to the neighborhood. As of this writing, Caiano's map fortunately spans 39 names. Although only ten of these gentlemen have appeared so far as stand-alone books (some still awaiting English translation), they represent, in their essence, the continued growth of the “Al-Hay” series in the future.