Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Penguin Books Ltd (1972), Edition: 1st THUS, Paperback, 288 pages
Description
"Nobel Prize-winning Guatemalan author Miguel Ángel Asturias's masterpiece-the original Latin American dictator novel and pioneering work of magical realism-in its first new English translation in more than half a century, featuring a foreword by Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa. A Penguin Classic. In an unnamed country, an egomaniacal dictator schemes to dispose of a political adversary and maintain his grip on power. As tyranny takes hold, everyone is forced to choose between compromise and death. Inspired by life under the regime of President Manuel Estrada Cabrera of Guatemala, where it was banned for many years, and infused with exuberant lyricism, Mayan symbolism, and Guatemalan vernacular, Nobel Prize winner Miguel Ángel Asturias's magnum opus is at once a surrealist masterpiece, a blade-sharp satire of totalitarianism, and a gripping portrait of psychological terror"--… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member hbergander
Asturias's precursor book to García Márquez's Magic Realism, which is typical for Middle and South American writers.
LibraryThing member deebee1
It is approaching nighttime, and in the porch of the cathedral of the capital of an unnamed Latin American country, the beggars and the most destitute of the city, gather to inspect their miserly belongings, nickel coins, and scraps of food before appropriating empty spaces for themselves to sleep
The novel opens on this scene and sets the stage for the dark and ominous mood that pervades the country under the dictatorship. From this scene, the story shifts its focus on the President's favorite, a man called Angel Face, who was tasked to take care of the "disappearance" of General Canales, also a close associate of the President but who recently fell into disgrace. We do not know the exact nature of his offense, but he is now considered to be a rebel. The complications occur when Angel Face, in attempting to convince the General to flee (this was his specific assignment), was preempted by the arrival of other military who took the General away by force, and was left with the General's daughter, Camila. Angel Face himself was ruthless and cruel, he was not top hatchet man for nothing, but seeing the injustice of it all and the effect on the devastated young woman evoked in him a sense of duty and compassion, and he grows to love her. He knew what he was in for, but his devotion to Camila and now awareness of truth and justice brooked no halfhearted commitment on his part. Angel Face marries her, supposedly with the blessings of the President, but he knew too that his days were numbered. He is now the enemy. Many other incidents took place, highlighting the terror that dictated the actions of the citizens -- fear of being spied on, of displeasing those in power, of falling out of the favour of the President. Horrific deeds were widespread and commonplace and were never talked about. Years pass, the President continues to be at the height of his power, opponents are nowhere to be found for they have all been crushed, and a sinister calm pervades. We see a woman with a child, still waiting in hope for a certain prisoner to be released. But we know it is a hopeless wait. Deception, secrecy and lies hound our protagonists until the very end.
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in the night in. Their sleep was punctuated only by the sound of the footsteps of police patrolling the square below and the click of the sentinel's arms at the gates of the presidential palace. But tonight, something happened which would turn their miserable existence into something even more pitiful and horrifying. They were witness to a murder committed on the steps of cathedral. And the dead man was no ordinary person, for he was one or formerly one of the President's close allies. The novel opens on this scene and sets the stage for the dark and ominous mood that pervades the country under the dictatorship. From this scene, the story shifts its focus on the President's favorite, a man called Angel Face, who was tasked to take care of the "disappearance" of General Canales, also a close associate of the President but who recently fell into disgrace. We do not know the exact nature of his offense, but he is now considered to be a rebel. The complications occur when Angel Face, in attempting to convince the General to flee (this was his specific assignment), was preempted by the arrival of other military who took the General away by force, and was left with the General's daughter, Camila. Angel Face himself was ruthless and cruel, he was not top hatchet man for nothing, but seeing the injustice of it all and the effect on the devastated young woman evoked in him a sense of duty and compassion, and he grows to love her. He knew what he was in for, but his devotion to Camila and now awareness of truth and justice brooked no halfhearted commitment on his part. Angel Face marries her, supposedly with the blessings of the President, but he knew too that his days were numbered. He is now the enemy. Many other incidents took place, highlighting the terror that dictated the actions of the citizens -- fear of being spied on, of displeasing those in power, of falling out of the favour of the President. Horrific deeds were widespread and commonplace and were never talked about. Years pass, the President continues to be at the height of his power, opponents are nowhere to be found for they have all been crushed, and a sinister calm pervades. We see a woman with a child, still waiting in hope for a certain prisoner to be released. But we know it is a hopeless wait. Deception, secrecy and lies hound our protagonists until the very end.
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LibraryThing member Sullywriter
A grim, sometimes satirical portrait of life under a totalitarian regime in an unidentified Latin American country.
LibraryThing member Kirmuriel
So beautiful, and sad. One moment you think everything is lost, but then is not, and then it is worst than you thought.
LibraryThing member colligan
I picked up this book with great expectations. I've had my eye on it for some time. It did not disappoint. In fact, it was better than I expected. A superb work of fiction certainly worthy of the Nobel Prize it garnered. The prose was exceptional often times reading like poetry. The author captures
A book that is often painful to read but human truths revealed in an unforgettable manner. Certainly, the best book I have read in some time.
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the lushness of the scene, the sufferings of the characters, and the brutal realities of the political system with a power few other books I have read can match.A book that is often painful to read but human truths revealed in an unforgettable manner. Certainly, the best book I have read in some time.
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Awards
Language
Original publication date
1946
Physical description
287 p.; 8.4 inches
ISBN
0140034048 / 9780140034042
Local notes
Guatemalan author. Spanish: El Señor Presidente