The full text (in Spanish) is available online,
here.
Sobre el autor y la obra
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Asturias
o
Guatemala,
1899-1974
o
Grew up during Estrada Cabrera’s dictatorship,
which fell in 1921
o
Studied Maya language and anthropology in Paris
o
Broke with realism because of the limitations of
the genre when it came to representing the Indian (Franco 250)
-
Novel exposes Guatemalan dictatorship
Political/social context
-
Estrada Cabrera’s dictatorship lasted from 1898 to 1921
o
Economical injustice, racism/discrimination
against indigenous, etc.
Comps Example Questions
-
Discuss Central American authors/works: context,
cultural, ideological and aesthetic relationships and differences: Asturias,
Menchú-Burgos, Argueta and Cardenal.
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Boom, realismo
mágico, and lo real maravilloso;
postboom and neobarroco; precursors;
modernity (see the “Modernismo since 1940” section of list) and the controversy
over postmodernity in Spanish America. Authors: Borges, Huidobro, García Márquez, Rulfo, Carpentier Asturias,
Cortázar , Allende, Puig, Sarduy, Fuentes, Poniatowska, Valenzuela. Note:
other movements which are associated with some of these writers, such as
surrealism (Cortázar) or the use of popular culture and other genres in
narrative (Puig), etc. Some suggested, secondary readings: Rodríguez Monegal,
Shaw, González Echevarría, Hutcheon.
What Franco says (Chapter 11, pg. 319)
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Introduces us into the nightmare world of dictatorship
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Summary – pg. 319
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Strict political system is undermined only by love
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Prose reproduces nightmare world, through repetition
and dream sequences
What Cambridge Companion: Latin
America says (Chapter 8, pg. 169)
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Urban setting, set in an archetypal city
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Denunciation of the dicatorship of General Estrada
Cabrera in Guatemala (from 1898 to 1920)
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Call to arms against the dehumanizing militarism that
had thrown a pall over Central America since independence
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“anticipates
‘magical realism’ in the way it fuses fantasy and reality to project a
totalizing vision”
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Reinforces Central America’s mestizo identity – Western
and Amerindian, Christian and pagan
Basic Plot Summary:
Part ONE:
Begins on Cathedral Porch, where a
beggar is harassed. Beggar gets angry, kills one of president's military men.
Some other beggars are tortured and false information about the murder is
revealed (an ex-military man and an independent lawyer). President may have
plotted these accusations and wants Canales (ex-mili) to flee as
"confession" of guild.
One of president's cronies, Angel
Face, who tells Vásquez that he's going to kidnap Canales' daughter as a ruse
to authorities. Later, Vásquez shoots beggar who killed president's man.
Conversations go on with various people, Canales escapes, and Angel Face
kidnaps (safely) Camila (daughter)
Part TWO:
Fedina (one of the women from night
before) is going to Canales house to warn him about kidnapping, but she is too
late and she is taken in, tortured, for info on Canales' location. Also, kill
her baby.
Angel Face, meanwhile, is in a
struggle b/t physical desire for Camila and desire to become a better person in
a world ruled by terror. Camila gets sick.
Fedina is purchased by a brothel,
but sent to hospital. Canales, meanwhile, manages to escape country after
saving three sisters by killing a doctor who harassed them with the payment of
an absurd debt.
Part THREE:
Student, sacristan, and Abel
Carvajal talk in a prison cell to avoid loneliness. Carvajal's wife is trying
to get him freed, but he is unable to defend himself against falsified evidence
and sentenced to execution.
Angel Face marries Camila. Canales
dies suddenly in the midst of plans to lead a revolution when falsely informed
that the President has attended his duaghter's wedding.
President runs for re-election,
Angel Face entrusted with international diplomatic mission. Farfan arrests
Angel Face, beaten, and imprisoned on President's orders. Impostor takes him
place on departing ship. Camila gives birth to their baby, moves to
countryside. In prison, the only thing keeping Angel Face alive is hope of
seeing Camila. He dies, heartbroken, when falsely told she is the president's
new mistress.
Epilogue:
Old puppet master at Cathedral
Porch has gone mad from "environment of terror" he's been made to
endure. Ends with Kyrie eleison, hopeful-Lord have mercy.
Some general thoughts/ideas
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Explores political dictatorship + effects on
society ( dictator novels attempt to examine the abstract nature of
authority figures and to question the idea of authority in general instead of
focusing on the rule of a particular dictator)
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Early magical realism (the real disappears, the dream
emerges/dreams are transformed into a tangible reality)
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title character is inspired by 1920 presidency/dictatorship
of Estrada Cabrera
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delayed publishing b/c of censorship
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novel as link between European Surrealism and Latin
American Magical ReAliSm.
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Language: use of dream imagery, onomatopoeia, simile,
repetition of particular phrases, discontinuous structure. Characters have less
psychological depth, more external conflicts/archetypal writing
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President is never named which lends a mythological
dimensions (must be continually re-defined and re-evaluated).
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Also, Prez is "inverted image of both
Christian/Mayan deities since he is the source only of death."
Major Characters
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El Presidente – never named, somewhat
mythological/vague dimension; represents political corruption
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Miguel Cara de Ángel – protagonist, the
President’s confidential adviser and his “favorite”… he struggles to remain
loyal to the dictator in the face of the regime’s increasingly horrific acts
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General Eusebio Canales / Chamarrita – forced into
exile after being accused of the murder of Colonel José Parrales Sonriente. In
episode with doctor and sister, we see corruption and malice in rural areas as
well as capital city
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Camila – General Canales’s daughter, who is somewhat
reluctantly rescued by Miguel Cara de Angel after her father’s exile; becomes
Miguel Cara de Angel’s wife; she represents the adolescent who had been denied
even the smallest margin of liberty
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El Pelele / The Zany – “the Idiot”; original/catalyst
beggar; he loves his (dead) mother obsessively By choosing the Idiot as a
representative of the innocent, the a-political, who suffer the abuses of a
totalitarian regime, Asturias shows how dictatorship corrupts people and
destroys their values to the extent that compassion for one's companion in
distress ceases to exist." His only happy moment is in a dream-like state,
which highlights harsh reality.
Temas/ideas importantes
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Estilo de escritura / genre
o
Breaks way from historic and realist trend and
uses a style much closer to the “boom, new novel” sort of experimental style
o
Surrealist
o
Frequent use of figurative language (onomatopoeia,
simile, repetition of phrases) – this is somewhat baroque
o
Frequent appeals to the reader’s auditory senses
o
Some stream of consciousness writing
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Magical realism
o
“Most evident in Asturias’s exploration and
depiction of the innermost reality of the human mind” (Richard Franklin,
Wikipedia)
o
Inanimate objects act and feel
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Surrealism
o
Experimentation with language
o
Figurative language
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Influence of social context – dictatorship
o
Dictator was Manuel Estrada Cabrera, then
followed by Jorge Ubico
o
Critique of dictatorial rule throughout Latin
America
o
“first real dictator novel” (Gerald Martin,
Wikipedia)
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Reality vs. dream
o
Unclear time scale; avoids specific dates (gains
wider audience this way)
o
Idea that the President is who decides what is
true, denying any other opinion, even if other characters witness an event with
their own eyes or ears (Wikipedia)
o
Example: Carvajal’s arrest – reality unexpectedly
becomes unreality (falsely incriminated); no longer comprehensible by a logical
mind
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Writing and power
o
Power of literature/writing. Asturias uses
language to challenge dictatorial power.
o
President has authority over the people through
his control of what they write.
o
Language can be manipulated into lies that
eventually kill.
o
Example: Miguel Angel Face is killed by the
manipulation of words – he is told that Camila has become the President’s
mistress, and upon hearing this falsified news, he loses the will to live
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Hope
o
Hope is suppressed by the dictatorship – love is
the only thing that offers hope
o
Camila represents hope at some points in the
novel, but this hope is destroyed by the President
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Alienation (due to tyranny)
o
Dictatorship alienates the people of the country
and creates “others”
o
Dictatorship also prevents the country itself
from achieving European modernization
o
Characters slowly lose identities under the
conditions of the dictatorship
§
Ex: El Pelele
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Fertility vs. destruction
o
Best represented in opposition between the
President (destruction, sterility) and Miguel Cara de Angel (fertility,
positivity)
The Book – General Plot Notes
I)
-begins with
alliteration, rhyming
-lazo común of
beggars is la miseria.. They were almost enemies of one another (shared
food with dogs before their colleagues)
-mentions women
with hankies soaked with tears, wiping the bloody footsteps of their man being
taken political prisoner…
-el idiota, Pelele…a él también le daba risa su
pena, hambre….
-José Sonriente
dies rather brutally at the hands of Pelele.
II La muerte del
Mosco
-Sus compañeros
lagrimeaban como animales, tormented by darkness, suffering of hunger and
thirst, worried that they would be made into car soap or decapitated to feed
the police (CRAZY nightmares about life).
-all of the
beggars being interrogated by police, name Pelele as the murderer.
-then Auditor
name Canales and Carvajal. (the beggars are beaten for telling the truth)
III La fuga de
Pelele
Pelele flees
through the "calles intestinales" of the city. "Corría sin rumbo
fijo"
mentions all of
those who are associated with the president...corruptly earning money at
expense of others.
When he's on his
own, Pele makes lots of weird noise "disociación de ideas. elasticidad del
mundo en los espejos..."
IV Cara de Ángel
Pele dreams of
his mom. She is a maternal refuge for him. More dreamy wandering.
Then, this beautiful girl-tez de dorado mármol,
cabellos rubios, aire de mujer en contrast con la negrura de sus ojos
varoniles...un ángel, piensa el leñador.
Leñador mentions that los pobres son los más
conformes and when children learn to read, andan influenciados de
cosas imposibles.
V) Ese animal!
President talks
to Doctor Barreño. Says he'll tell about how he was injured in war, many ppl
died in mili hospital because of poor medical treatment (he knows what caused
their deaths). President doesn't want to hear anything that will discredit him.
Adiós, doctorcito.
-again, general disinterest in learned people.
-Ese animal era un hombre pobremente
vestido, con la piel rosada como ratón tierno...Prez orders him to be beaten. Treatment
is brutal...repeats that he can't even scream to relieve himself. Prez is
unmoved by the fact that he dies in his beating.
VI)
La cabeza de un general
Angel Face, el hombre de toda la confianza del
Presidente....era bello y malo como Satán. Sucks up to president and
tells him he should be the leader of Switzerland! or France! (the unattainable
Euro dream)
Prez tells him
that they want Canales to flee.
Later, Angel
Face meets Camila in the bar.
VII)
Absolución
Arzobispal
After the
assassination of Sonriente, the Secret Police always kept a close eye on el
Portal del Señor. Police seem to be waiting for the crazy man who actually did
kill Sonriente (?) according to one guy at the bar.
Two men (Rodas,
Vásquez?) shoot and kill Pele. No
one saw anything, "pero en una de las ventanas del Palacio Arzobispal, los
ojos de un santo ayudaban a bien morir al infortunado..." As he died, he
absolved him, "abriéndole el Reino de Dios" (ironic)
VIII)
El titiritero del Portal
-puppet master
with silly words? That's all I got from this chapter.
IX)
Ojo de vidrio
La impresión de los barrios pobres a estas horas
de la noche era de infinita soledad, de una miseria sucia con restos de
abandono oriental, sellada por el fatalismo religioso que le hacía voluntad de
Dios.
We are now in
the home of Fedina and Genaro. Secret police just came by. Her husband starts
to have visions of an eyeball. "Es que me veo las manos. ¡No, no puede ser! Son mis ojos, es un
oko...!" she thinks he's drunk. He's on to what's happening... "Lucio
me contó que hay orden de captura contra el general
Canales y que un tipo que él conoc se va a robar a la señorita su hija ahoy en
la noche." -Camila, it turns out, is the friend of Fedina.
X) Príncipes de
la milicia
Canales leaves
Angel Face's house. Canales knows that if he escapes, it's like admitting his
guilt. He's told that it doesn't matter if he's guilty or innocent-what matter
is if he has the favor of the govt', el amo. A man writes a letter-parece
teje una telaraña.
It is a letter-
Angel Face has been seen by the cook, who is a spy. It's reported he talked to
Canales for 45 minutes.
XI) El rapto
Vásquez and La
Masacuata have a romantic encounter.
Angel Face tells
his cronies that once the girl is in his hands, they can sack the house. It's
evening and with a quick bribe of a policeman, Angel Face is on his way.
Basically, the idea is to distract gendarmes with the kidnap so Canales can
escape. "Un tonto, un loco, y
un niño no habrían concertado tan absurdo plan."
Angel Face has second thoughts- "Relampagueó
en su frente la idea de volver atrás, llama a casa de Canales, prevenirle...
Then, Canales sort of says goodbye to his
daughter..."Así abracé a tu madre cuando salí a la última guerra en
defensa de la patria. La pobrecita se quedó con la idea de que yo no regresaría
y fue ella la que no me esperó..."
Canales doesn't
feel it's dignified to flee...but he just imagines himself coming back with una
revolución libertadora.
Part Two
24-25-26 de abril
XII) Camila
C. is in front of the mirror, "15 años y no
paso de ser una burrita con muchos tíos y tías, primos y primas, que siempre
han de andar juntos como insectos." (Not feeling like an
independent adult.-doesn't go out much)
Now, flash
forward and Vásquez and Cara de Angel are kidnapping Camila. Police are
stealing things from her house. Yesterday, things were fine-today, her flowers
have been trampled, her canary is dead...
Camila is crying...Angel Face le acariciaba la
cabeza.
13) Capturas
Auditor comes to the house and says: ¿Qué...
que... que se ha fugado...? —rugió aquél; dos venas se le hincharon en la
frente como interrogaciones negras— ... ¿Y que, que, que, que han saqueado la
casa?..." HOW DID HE ESCAPE? ¡Ordenes; para eso se inventó el teléfono,
para capturar a los enemigos del gobierno! (Anti-modernity-use
technology to control, not liberate)
14) ¡Todo el
orbe cante!
Beginning of
chapter is image of class divide-farmers vs. casas ricas....bread deliverymen
under the weight of their basket....
Ridiculous discourse: "el sol, en
este día de radiante hermosura, el cielo viste, cuida su luz tus ojos y tu
vida, enseña del trabajo sacrosanto que sucede en la bóveda celeste a la luz la
sombra, la sombra de la noche negra y sin perdón de donde salieron las manos
criminales que en lugar de sembrar los campos, como tú, Señor, lo enseñas,
sembraron a tu paso una bomba que a pesar de sus científicas precauciones
europeas, te dejó ileso (without lesions)...» (Trying to get support of
lower classes)
Then, Auditor hears
some explosions.
15) Tíos y tías
(I don't really know what's going on anymore...there are some side stories and
I'm distracted)
¡Qué cuento es ése! Un crimen es siempre repugnante y más en este caso,
tratándose de quien se trataba, de una persona apreciabilísima por todos
conceptos, de un hombre que era la honra de nuestro Ejército y, sobre todo,
diga usted, de un amigo del Señor Presidente.
Tío Fulgencio,
guy who sells lottery tickets (writes down his dialect)
Woman, Judith, says, 'El dinero no respeta
sangre!'
16) En la casa nueva
Niña Fedina is locked up in a dungeon, era casi
una sepultura en forma de guitarra. Find on her a letter from Canales. Changes
the lyrics of Cielito Lindo song to say: De la Casa-Nueva a las casas
malas, cielito lindo, no hay más que un paso,. ...Later "quiso
alejarse de aquel mundo de locuras perversas." She prays. Auditor
comes and interrogates her. (Again, like original guy who's blamed, the truth
counts for nothing)
she hears her
son crying...Auditor says, "He'll die of hunger if you don't answer!"
"Fedina
callaba como una bestia herida" -again, mother as self-sacrificing, to no
avail...she can't hear the voice of the Auditor, just the cry of her son.
17) Amor
urdemales
We are with
Camila and Masacuata (Angel Face?). Cara de Ángel se veía en aquella luz disminuido en su personalidad, medio
enfermo, y miraba a Camila más pálida, más sola y más chula que nunca en su
trajecito color limón. Camila wants to go to her Tío Juan's house. Angel
Face tries to tell her they don't want to see her. She says they're nuts.
18) Toquidos
Goes to Tío
Juan's house. No one answers her. She finds out that her family does ignore
her. Y al salir sintió por
primera vez, desde la muerte de su madre, los ojos llenos de lágrimas.
19) Las cuentas
y el chocolate
Auditor is
drinking his chocolate, someone knocks on the door. There is a "New
girl" at the Casa Nueva, want to buy her for 10.000 pesos.
Now, orden de captura contra Angel Face....
20) Coyotes de
la misma loma
Telling the
story of the night at the cathedral. (I think this is Vásquez and Rodas telling
how they shot Pelele). In his interrogation, we find out Vásquez is
single, worked for gov't, doesn't know how old he is. Auditor says to write
down that Vásquez murdered Pele with Rodas' help.
21) Vuelta en redondo
Angel Face is thinking, imagining things: El
piso, más que de cemento, parecía de hielo. ¡Qué horror! De hielo con sal. De
hielo de lágrimas. Then, all sorts of weird thoughts about urine, women,
cemeteries....
22) La tumba viva.
Fedina's son "había dejado de existir".
she cries incessantly for him.
She's still in prison: El ambiente,
para las personas de cierta edad, conservaba su aire de convento. Antes de ser
prisión de delincuentes había sido cárcel de amor. Mujeres y mujeres.
Women look at her as she holds her dead baby. (Maybe she's in the whorehouse
now...and all of the women are kinda curious about her). There is a strange empathy for her: A
todas se les había muerto aquella noche un hijo.
23) El parte al
Señor Presidente
Observations
about people in city, their whereabouts and actions, others begging/asking the
president for things or privileges (I suppose this part is to show the absolute
control that a dictator exerts). Also,
gives some information-e.g FEdina is sick.
24) Casa de mujeres malas
"surtido de mujeres" en El Dulce
Encanto...todas olían a hombre-olor acre de marisco viejo (GROSS). Mentions
their "clients" too- journalist, burgués, lawyer, civil servant...One
woman is crying about her ovaries (HUH?) Most are only concerned that if she's
really injured, the police could come and they'd get in trouble.
Don 'Miguelito'
comes, talks to Top Lady, and tells her about the useless girl she has there.
She paid good money for her and now...(Top Lady keeps telling the story about
how Fedina arrived, dead baby, etc- —Aquí en casa lo velamos; las
muchachas son muy embelequeras. Hubieron
tamales...)
25) El paradero de la muerte
Camila goes to confession. She's very
innocent- her only sin is missing mass and riding a horse like a man[this part
shows that indios don't count as people because "no people saw her...just
indios"] (clock tic-tocks in the background). Priest says: —Y tú te sentiste por eso capaz
de igualar al hombre y por lo mismo en grave pecado, ya que si Dios Nuestro
Señor hizo a la mujer, mujer, ésta no debe pasar de ahí,.
Example of corrupt system: El delito de
sangre era ideal; la supresión de un prójimo constituía la adhesión más
completa del ciudadano al Señor Presidente.
Dos meses de cárcel, para cubrir las apariencias,
y derechito después a un puesto público de los de confianza, lo que sólo se
dispensaba a servidores con proceso pendiente, por la comodidad de devolverlos
a la cárcel conforme a la ley, si no se portaban bien.
26) Torbellino
?
27) Camino al destierro
Canales listening to indio discuss theft and
thieves. Indio says, " —Vas a ver, tatita, que robo sin ser ladrón de
ofice, pues antos yo, aquí como me ves, ere dueñe de
un terrinete, cerca de aquí, y de oche mulas. Tenía mi casa, mi
mujer y mis hijes, ere honrade como vos..."And the
President demanded that he turn over his things. Involves hipoteca de tres mil
pesos.
Canales has sympathy-the feelings of un hombre
de bien in the face of injustice. Canales offers to take him to
another state and, like a tree with no roots, he agrees.
Now, three kids
with no parents, forced to pay back 9.000 pesos or give their house... Threaten
to take their mother out of the grave.
Canales gets a
righteous anger. Yo juro hacer la
revolución completa! And just like that, shoots the doctor. Neighbors
come out and see the scene, but they don't really react too much.
Part three
Semanas, meses, años
28 Habla en la sombra
3 voices talking
in prison. Want to know how life outside the cell walls is going. One is afraid
of silence. One notes that their lashings are so painful, even their
grandchildren will feel them.
Sacristán tells
why he's there. I was just walking around the church, changing the schedule and
I took out the papel del jubileo de la madre del Señor presidente (como no sé
leer...)
Student wants to talk about freedom....Don't sick people talk of healing in a
hospital? Sacristán wants to pray and student wants revolution.
29) Consejos de guerra
14 witnesses
about what happened between Canales y Carvajal. (again saying they're guity of
Sonriente's death) Meanwhile, Carvajal is shocked as to what he finds in his
file....all false! This seems like a dream, mitad rido, mitad comedia bufa. In
the jail, a man keeps screaming, dying of thirst...they execute him around 3
am.
30) Matrimonio in extremis
How Camila can be saved: Pues yo tengo la
clave; provocaremos el milagro. A la muerte únicamente se le puede oponer el
amor, porque ambos son igualmente fuertes, como dice El Cantar de los
Cantares; y si como usted me informa, el novio de esa señorita la adora,
digo la quiere entrañablemente, digo con las entrañas y la mente, digo con la
mente de casarse, puede salvarla de la muerte si comete el sacramento del
matrimonio, que en mi teoría de los injertos se debe emplear en este caso.
So, they arrange
for a marriage between Angel Face and Camila.
31) Centinelas de hielo
Wife of Carvajal
comes to jail, wants to know if he's alive. She goes to President, says they're
going to fusilar mi marido...again, begging for mercy. . No era posible que lo fusilaran hombres así, gente
con el mismo color de piel, con el mismo acento de voz, con la misma manera de
ver, de oír, de acostarse, de levantarse, de amar, de lavarse la cara, de
comer, de reír, de andar, con las mismas creencias y las mismas dudas...
32)
El Señor
Presidente
Angel Face wants
to know how Camilia is doing. Angel Face meets with Prez...things are
different-sonrió para cubrir su encono.
President finds
out that Camila and Angel Face gets married.reads it in the newspaper but
doesn't believe it!
33) Los puntos sobre las íes
Wife gets a
letter about the death of Carvajal (from a supposed son-of-a-victim of
Sonriente)
Rodas (who must be indio? doesn't speak much spanish), is given a sentence of 6
yrs. 8 mos for being an accomplice.
Carvajal's wife enters scene again; wants to know where her husband was
buried.
XXIV Luz para ciegos
Camila, with her marido, "Andaba fuera del
mundo, con los ojos abiertos, recién nacida, sin presencia..."
Example of narrative style: La luna desapareció completamente tras el
cráter erecto y una neblina de velos de novia se hizo casa entre las casas. Cara
de Ángel cerró la ventana. En la alcoba de Camila se percibía su respiración
lenta, trasegada, como si se hubiera dormido con la cabeza bajo la ropa o en el
pecho le pesara un fantasma.
(seems like a
chapter in which Cam. and Angel Face are just hanging out....?)
35) Canción de
canciónes
Pres is throwing
a party- obligatory attendence. On their way out of the town, an official stops
their carriage....arrive at the party....small talk.
Something strange happens at the end of the
chapter: Se abrieron las puertas y mientras los caballeros que habían
pasado la fiesta en el corredor ganaban la sala tiritando, el Poeta vino hacia
Camila y la invitó a cenar. Ella se puso en pie e iba a darle el brazo cuando
una mano le detuvo por detrás. Casi da un grito. Cara de Ángel había
permanecido oculto en una cortina a espaldas de su esposa; todos le vieron
salir del escondite.
36) La
revolución
Canales
dies...Camila finds out days later that it's because some newspaper reported
that the Prez was padrino in the boda.
37) El baile de
Tohil
Angel Face at
the bar.
Cartelón impreso with message about the President
(Completely b.s propaganda- "hombres libres", we want his
re-election) vamos a mejorar el país; mas, como te decía al
principio, nadie hace nada y, naturalmente, soy yo, es el Presidente de la
República el que lo tiene que hacer todo.
Angel Face has
some vision, says goodbye to pres.
38) El Viaje
Angel Face cries
because Camila is moving away. He tells her to write often and don't trust
anyone. (Headed to new york?)
39) El puerto
Y desde entonces que esta Cara de Ángel andaba en
cuentos con el general Canales; era un ten con ten con su hija, la que después
fue su mujer, y que, según dicen, se comió el mandado del patrón. Todo esto lo
sé yo porque Vásquez, el Terciopelo, lo encontró en una fonda que se
llamaba El Tus-Tep, horas antes de que se fugara el general.
40) Gallina
Ciega
Camila gets
letters from Angel Face.
Time passes...Pero un buen día la enferma salió
a la calle. Los cadáveres flotan. Refundida en un carruaje, hurtando los ojos a
los conocidos —casi todos escondían la cara para no decirle adiós— estuvo ir
e ir adonde el Presidente. Su desayuno, almuerzo y comida era un pañuelo
empapado en llanto.
President won't
respond to her. She writes the consul. they tell her he might have gone to
Singapore?! (but, according to wiki, this is an impostor) She gets more
ill, has a baby now.
41) Parte sin
novedad
Angel Face.
Diverts himself in prison by thinking about really mundane things-life there is
boring and awful. Dos horas
de luz, veintidós horas de oscuridad completa, una lata de caldo y una de
excrementos, sed en verano, en invierno el diluvio; ésta era la vida en
aquellas cárceles subterráneas. He stays vibrant by imagining life with Camila. He's been
there for years. Then, from some informe, a woman matching Camila's description
is described as being the Prez's new squeeze.
