Translated into English by Megan McDowell

Seeing Red (Sangre en el ojo) describes a young Chilean writer recently relocated to New York for doctoral work who suffers a stroke which leaves her blind. It charts her journey through hospitals and an increased dependency on those closest to her to cope. Fiction and autobiography intertwine in an intense, visceral, and caustic novel about the relation between the body, science, and human relationships.

Seeing Red was published in Spanish by Eterna Cadencia (Argentina, Uruguyay, Bolivia, Colombia), Literatura Random House, Penguin Random House Spain (relaunch in Spain, Mexico and the US in November 2016), Lanzallamas (Costa Rica) and Caja Negra (Peru). The English translation, Seeing Red, was published by Deep Vellum in 2016.

“Seeing Red is the triumphant realization of a stunning artistic vision, a novel as black and bitter and bloody (and beautiful) as its central conceit. It’s a novel that’s hard to describe. But you know it’s great when you read it.” Aaron Bady, The Nation

“[A] novel of genius and disturbing intelligence” Enrique Vila-Matas, Northwest Review of Books, in its Books of Note: February 2016

“New York and her home town, Santiago, are described in prose that blends sensation with memory, fury with fear. The story reveals its truths through immediacy of description—viscous, repulsive, and beautiful.” The New Yorker

“Astonishing… Meruane’s authorial gaze is unflinching... Lina resists all attempts to corral her into victimhood and insists on wielding her agency like a weapon…Seeing Red becomes a searing commentary on the limits of family relationships and the cruelty that, under duress, we are capable of exerting on those we love.” Charlotte Whittle, The Los Angeles Times