Tirano Banderas (Selecciones austral ; 2 : Novela) (Spanish Edition)

by Valle-Inclan

Paperback, 1975

Status

Available

Call number

863.62

Genres

General Fiction

All Topics

Fiction

Collection

Literatura iberoamericana

Publication

Espasa-Calpe SA (1975), Mass Market Paperback, 240 pages

Description

The first great twentieth-century novel of dictatorship, and theavowed inspiration for Garcia Marquez's The Autumn of thePatriarch and Roa Bastos's I, the Supreme, Tyrant Banderasis a dark and dazzling portrayal of a mythical Latin AmericanRepublic in the grip of a monster. Valle-Inclan, one of themasters of Spanish modernism, combines the splintered pointsof view of a cubist painting with the campy excesses of 19thcenturyserial fiction to paint an astonishing picture of a ruthlesstyrant facing armed revolt.It is the Day of the Dead, and revolution has broken out, creatingmayhem from Baby Roach's Cathouse to the Harris Circusto the deep jungle of Tico Maipo. The tyrant steps forth,assuring all that he is in favor of freedom of assembly anddemocratic opposition. Meanwhile, his secret police lock up,torture, and execute students and Indian peasants in a sinistercastle by the sea where even the sharks have tired of a diet ofrevolutionary flesh. Then the opposition strikes back. Theybesiege the dictator's citadel, hoping to bring justice to a downtrodden,starving populace.Peter Bush's new translation of Valle-Inclan's seminal novel,the first into English since 1929, reveals a writer whose tragicsense of humor is as memorably grotesque and disturbing asGoya's in his The Disasters of War.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member William.Kirkland

Amazing writing from 1926 -- mold breaking with short, cinematic cutting, tough characters speaking in multiple dialects, no quarter rebellion and repression in an unnamed country but whose Tyrant Banderas is modeled after both Mexico's Profirio Diaz and Spain's Primo De Rivera. Bush translation is

very good but misses being exemplary with some odd choices/ too modern in English for these rural folks : "he talks dirty to the babes in low-cut nightgowns,..,. a "braying" piano; Maybe some British-isms that just escaped me: "Big Mama buoys her buttocks..." "the girl on the game covers his mouth..." Now, translation is an impossible task, and Bush is very good, I think this could have been better however. "Press-gang is out and about" rounding up Indians? For me that is heavily time and nation marked, almost always about sailors. And "out and about" by a dirt poor Indian? How about something like, "They're out rounding us up..." In fact, it's not even clear from the context whether the Indians are being captured for being Indians or for some kind of deputized service. Anyhoo, it's a good read, alone with say, Lord Jim, or B. Traven's wonderful novels.

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LibraryThing member hbergander

Visionary book about the inclination of Central and South American countries to dictatorial systems, which certainly can be seen as inherited from Europe.

LibraryThing member Kirmuriel

The spanish used was really complicated, even for a native speaker. The author likes to combine expression from several regions, creating a unique language

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