The secret history of Costaguana by Juan Gabriel Vasquez
28 Apr 2011 8 Comments
in Columbia Tags: 2011, latin american fiction, TRANSLATIONS
Juan Vasquez is a Columbian writer ,he studied in Colombia then in France ,living in Belgium then spain in Barcelona where he lives today his first novel was a surprise hit the informers this is his second novel ,he has just published a third in spanish.he has also translated books into spanish .
The book is a imagine tale based round the writing of Conrad’s great latin American novel Nostromo .We meet Jose Altamirano a Colombian ,that has come to live in London ,he has escaped the horrors he saw and witnessed , after the thousand day war in his homeland ,that ran between the two main parties in colombia as the fought over the Panama canal and its riches .Anyway he is introduced to Joseph Conrad and they talk about books and writers at the time Conrad is writing a book about revolution and turmoil in latin america ,so he is asked to recount his experiences and his families experiences during the two years of war .These are colourful and traumatic and highly violent at times involving him and his loved ones ,Conrad eagerly takes notes from what he says ,he opens his heart to Conrad as he trusts him when the meet ,and in doing so is Keen to see what Conrad has woven from his story .Well when he reads the first part work of Nostromo which is based in the imagined land of Costaguana of the title not his homeland or own town .Jose is shocked he feels he has been removed from his own story .
But the republic does exist ,I said or rather beseeched him .The province does exist .But the silver mine is really a canal ,a canal between two oceans .I know because I know it .I was born in that republic ,I lived in the Province .I am guilty of its misfortunes
Conrad didn’t answer .
Jose finds he has been recast and removed from his tale .
This is a clever juxtapose on the Conrad novel the table flipped a latin american writing about a latin american in london .We find out a lot about Conrad and his novelistic life as a sailor His travels in africa and how he end up as an English writer even thou he was born in Poland .The book shows the danger of telling writers your story and also how British and European writers rewrote and maybe didn’t acknowledge the people who stories they told in their great books of far-flung places .Now this an imagined piece of parallel fiction .But having reread Nostromo and be reviewing it tomorrow you feel Conrad would have used someone like Jose in his writing process to get the hard facts and feel of the place although he imagine Costaguana it could be anyone of half a dozen countries in south america .The book was longlisted for this years IFFP and was translated by Anne Maclean who won last year IFFP prize .
HAVE YOU READ THIS BOOK OR THE Conrad Novel ?
Clandestine in Chile by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
02 Jan 2011 8 Comments
in Columbia Tags: 2011, non fiction, TRANSLATIONS
source – library
This was the last choice for 2010 of the now named wolves reading group of Frances ,Richard ,Emily and el fay .this book by the nobel winning Columbian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a first hand narrative of the return to his native chile of the Chilean filmmaker Miguel Littin .Littin produce the most well-known and most popular in Chile Chilean film in 1969 El CHacal de Nahueltoro ( Jackal ofNahueltoro ) a true story about a pheasant that killed several children in chile .he has also directed films based on Alejo Carpentiers novel and one of Marquez own short stories .After the coup that saw Allende disposed in his homeland Littin went to Mexico firstly then spain (very like Bolano who also lived in both these countries ) .After the fall of Pinochet the military leader a list of Exiles that could return was released but Littins name wasn’t on the list so the book follow his decision to return anyway and make a striking film called Acta General de chile he managed to get three european film crews under false filming schedules to enter the country and he returned as a Uruguayan businessman to direct the film which followed how people fought against Pinochet in chile ,at this time this was still a sensitive subject with in chile and could have led to Littin being arrested .we see him and his assistant go through and meet people but to find out what more happened maybe you should read the book .
When the immigration officer opened my passport ,I knew that if he were to look into my eyes he would discover my deception .There were three counters ,all attended by men in uniforms .I had decided to pick the youngest because he seemed to be working the fastest .
Littin’s nervous entry to Chile .
The book was taken from notes Littin kept at the time and worked into this Narrative non fiction by Marquez if in his fiction he may be the master of Magical realism may I suggest this is a work of über realism ,he really caught for me the tension and fear that Littin had in returning to his homeland to make this film at every turn there was a real sense of foreboding ,strange as reading up on Littin before the book I knew the film had been made and the back cover told me that due to the strength of the book and film that 15000 hundred copies of this book where burnt in Chile .Now to my disappointing the film seems very hard to get hold off .A real shame the other half of what seems to artworks would work wonderfully together .But not to take away from this book which I thoroughly enjoyed and as one of the last books I read last year .Gave me an insight into a subject I knew a bit about but found a little more about and this is what you needed from good Narrative non – fiction .the book was translated by Asa Zatz .
