The Flamethrowers (Spanish: Los lanzallamas)Viviane Mahieux. Urban Chroniclers in Modern Latin America: The Shared Intimacy of Everyday Life. Page 43. is a novel by the Argentine writer Roberto Arlt, that continues the story of Remo Erdosain, a lowlife criminal who, plagued by vital anxieties, joins a secret society, and was first introduced in the novel Los siete locos.Philip Ward (ed). "Arlt, Roberto". The Oxford Companion to Spanish Literature. Clarendon Press. Oxford. 1978. Page 33. Google Books.
The book was published by Editorial Claridad in Buenos Aires in 1931.Google Books It was included in the second volume of Novelas completas y cuentos (English: Complete Novels and Stories) published by Compañía General Fabril Editora in Buenos Aires in 1963."The World of Roberto Arlt" (1962) Stechert-Hafner Book News, volumes 17-19, page 98 Google BooksMartin Seymour-Smith. Macmillan Guide to Modern World Literature. Macmillan. 1985. Page 924. Google BooksAdrian Taylor Kane (ed). The Natural World in Latin American Literatures. p 63.Roberto Arlt. Novelas Completas y Cuentos. Compañía General Fabril Editora. Buenos Aires. 1963. Volume 2. Google Books: It was published by Compañía General Fabril Editora in Buenos Aires in 1968 and 1972,Rubén Gallo. México D F: lecturas para paseantes. Turner. 2005. Page 363. Google BooksGoogle Books and by Editorial Losada in Buenos Aires in about 1977.Bibliographic Guide to Latin American Studies 1981. G K Hall & Co. Boston, Massachusetts. Vols 1 to 3. Page 108. Google BooksGoogle Books It was published by Bruguera in Barcelona in 1980.Felipe B Pedraza Jiménez. Manual de literatura hispanoamericana. Cénlit Ediciones. 1991. Page 553. See also passim.
The book was translated into French by Lucien Mercier and published under the title Les lance-flammes by Belfond in Paris in 1983.Christian Roinat. Romans et nouvelles hispano-américains: guide des œuvres et des auteurs. L'Harmattan. 1992. Page 39. Google Books It was translated into German by Bruno Keller and published under the title Die Flammenwerfer by Insel Verlag in 1973.Rita Gnutzmann. Roberto Arlt, innovación y compromiso: la obra narrativa y periodística. Edicions de la Universitat de Lleida. 2004. Page 205. Google Books It was translated into Italian by Luigi Pellisari and published under the title I lanciafiamme by Bompiani in Milan in 1974.(1975) 27 Libri e riviste d'Italia 470; (1975) 18 Italian Books and Periodicals The novel was translated into English by Larry Riley as The Flamethowers and published in 2021 by corona\samizdat (Slovenia), with an introduction by the press's publisher Rick Harsch.
It has been said that Los lanzallamas is title of the second installment of a single novel, the first instalment having been published in 1929 under the title Los siete locos.Aden W Hayes, "Reality and the Novel - The Case of Roberto Arlt" (1980) 21 Romance Notes 48; see also p 49(1981) Latin American Literature & Arts Review, issues 28-33, page 28. or an "unofficial" sequel to, Los siete locos.Kessel Schwartz. A New History of Spanish American Fiction: Social concern, universalism, and the new novel. University of Miami Press. 1972. Page 217. Google Books Nevertheless, contrary opinions have also been stated.The Arizona Quarterly (1979) vols 34-35, p 178
The Flamethrowers has been called a "fully realized" masterpiece.Frank Northen Magill. Cyclopedia of World Authors. Third Edition, Revised. Salem Press. 1997. Volume 1. Page 91."Roberto Arlt: Argentine Novelist" in Notable Latino Writers. Salem Press. 2006. Volume 1. Page 74 at page 77. Characters in the book include Erdosain,Bryan Ryan. "Arlt, Roberto (Godofredo Christophersen) 1900-1942". Hispanic Writers: A Selection of Sketches from Contemporary Authors. Second Edition. Gale Research. 1991. Page 39 at page 40. Google Books. HipolitaJelena O Krstovic. Hispanic Literature Criticism: Allende to Jiménez. Gale Research. 1994. Pages 118 to 121. Google Books. See also passim. and Arturo Haffner.Edmundo Paz-Soldán and Debra A Castillo (eds). Latin American Literature and Mass Media. Garland Publishing. New York and London. 2001. (Hispanic Issues, volume 22). Pages 148 and 150.
References Paul Jordan. "Los Siete Locos and Los Lanzallamas" in Roberto Arlt: A Narrative Journey. King's College London, Department of Spanish & Spanish-American Studies. 2000. Page 90. Google Books. Rita Gnutzmann. Roberto Arlt o el arte del calidoscopio. Universidad del País Vasco (University of the Basque Country). 1984. Passim. Google Books Mario Goboloff (coordinator). Roberto Arlt: Los siete locos; Los lanzallamas. Critical edition. University of Costa Rica. 2000. See section 1 (page xiii) and sections 3 to 7 (page 599 to 864). Nicolás Olivari, "Los lanzallamas", Claridad, 28 November 1931 (number 239) Beatriz Pastor, "De la rebelión al fascismo: Los siete locos y Los lanzallamas" (1980) Hispamérica, Year 9, No 27, pages 19 to 32 JSTOR Google Books Norman Cheadle. The Ironic Apocalypse in the Novels of Leopoldo Marechal. Tamesis. London. 2000. Page 5.