Feast of the Goat

(a bit OUT OF ORDER)

This is one of those books you don't want to put down. I easily got roped into the story lines and characters, probably enjoying the assassins' storyline best. Having multiple story lines always means I'm going to be tempted to skip some chapters to continue reading the thread I was enjoying most. I always cheat like this. (I'm one of those people who sometimes reads the last few pages first...) The translation seemed really good unlike a few other books we've read where you can tell they'd been translated, yet there were a few terms I had to look up like "caliés" (of which I still don't particularily understand).

It's really easy to start hating Trujillo in this novel. It's hard to feel any sort of sympathy for him, as we did for Simon Bolivar, with his constant foul mouth and history of human rights violations. In comparison, this book was most like Facundo in that we begin to understand the history of the DR but also very different as we have his point of view. In that way it's similar to the other novels (with the exception of The President) as we are privy to his every thought and action. I really fail to understand why each dictator needs so many names! I think we've heard, Excellency, Generalissimo, the Chief, The Benefactor, just to name a few. Why not just sir or President or General or something that can be used all across the board.

Every character is intimately described, unlike what we've seen in 0ther dictator novels where we learn about certain characters only from the feelings of the other characters. We are given a window into the inner workings of almost every character.

As a historical novel, it taught me a bit about the relationships between Trujillo and other dictators in Latin America. I can't quite recall what page but I believe he discussed both Fidel Castro and Romulo Betancourt, the latter whom I'd never read about. On page 60, Trujillo makes his feelings clear describing him as a "black bastard" who was responsible to putting a stranglehold on the DR economy. He openly admits to attempting to assassinate him. In addition, through Trujillo's conversations with Abbes Garcia, we learn about the long history of human rights violations, namely killings.

A strong theme in all of our dictator novels is gender. In this novel, we have a stark contrast between the strong feminist role of Urania and the treatment of women by Trujillo. Urania is intelligent, successful, unmarried, while Trujillo depends on women to prove his masculinity. His need to humiliate the men who work under him is pretty pathetic. Forcing himself upon these men's wives is disgusting. It reminds me of bullies who need to make other people feel bad to improve their own self-confidence. I'm not sure what kind of choice these men had. If they or their wives did anything to try and stop him, they'd be out of favour and forced into exile or swiftly murdered.

Hopefully more on Feast of the Goat later tonight.

Final Thoughts

This course has really opened my eyes to books that I never would have read otherwise. In doing research for my wiki article, "The Dictator Novel", I discovered a whole range of books that I want to read. I like what Wikipedia is trying to do. It could prove to be an extremely valuable resource if each page was referenced properly. I kind of got a bit obsessed with it, I'm not going to lie.

One thing that user Mahanga made me realize today is that there is a huge BIAS! in Wikipedia towards North America and Europe. Jon's project really allowed us to help counter that system bias. I'm probably sounding like a total keener but I really enjoyed this assignment. It was something that you could peg away at slowly, never really feeling too overwhelming like some other projects/papers do. Even after this assignment is over, I think I'll continue editing. As a group project, it certainly highlighted the reason why they simply don't work. I was about to go on a rant about my particular experience but I don't think it's necessary. All in all, I think this was a great experiment and I hope more teachers at UBC start doing this.

In Anth 420 last semester, Andrew Martindale proposed a similar assignment that worked really well. Twice in the semester, we were responsible for leading a discussion about a particular article and doing a write-up for WikiUBC. This current one is a little different but both were a nice break from the norm of midterm, paper, final.

The books we read in class, while at times frustrating (*cough* I, the Supreme), were insightful, telling a story while also providing the history. I would probably argue for less books next time as two weeks didn't feel like enough time for each.

As for blogging, I definitely will NOT continue to do it. It's like having a diary that everyone can read. Seems to defeat the purpose of writing down your private thoughts. I'd really be curious to know why people do it since I don't understand it at this point.

The General in His Labyrinth - 2nd Half

Well I'm pretty sure this is going to sound like babble since I'm extremely exhausted from and my mind is mush from writing one too many papers but here goes.

The death watch is finally over. I knew before reading this book that it was going to be a fictionalized telling of the last few months of Simon Bolivar's life but didn't really expect his death to be so drawn out. I found myself admiring the general for refusing to give in to defeat, never accepting the disease that was taking over his body. The first time the general's death is mentioned explicitly I was actually surprised.

I don't think I quite get the book's title. Is 'his labyrinth' supposed to represent the torture of his keen mind inside a withering body, or the reminiscing of better days? Someone help me out here.

I think you could read this book a few times and not notice some of its subtleties. In one instance, I actually laughed out loud though I'm not sure others would find this section as funny as I did. On page 237, Senora Molinares compares the General to a saint and he replies, "if that's the case, they should let that poor innocent go".

Some random things I found interesting about this book:
- Throughout the book we can't seem to grasp why none of his relationships with women ever worked out. It's not until the end that we find out he was married for a very short time many years ago and hasn't let any woman fill that void. Funniest part of his exploits was when on page 183 the woman said "no one is a virgin after a night with Your Excellency". Again not sure if people find this funny.
- In most books, there's some sort of explanation of each character yet in this book we don't get descriptions of the men in his convoy until late in the second half of the book. What purpose might this serve. Not to mention the fact that I couldn't keep half the people in this book straight especially their allegiances.
- Was the cost too high? He visits many cities that are in a terrible state of poverty and destruction, stemming from the civil wars raged there. Even Bolivar admits, "What a price we've had to pay for an independence that's not worth shit"(170).

I'll try and add some more thoughts tomorrow! Must sleep!

The General in his Labyrinth - 1st half

This is admittedly a little out of order since I haven't finished I The Supreme yet but I'm trying to catch up!

This book felt like a god send. It is shorter, easier to read (sigh of relief for speech indicators!), interesting, and it has an oh-so-soft cover. I first wondered if there is any significance to some books which have the translators name prominently on the outside (Facundo, Feast of the Goat) and those in which it is hidden in the inside pages. I realized later that this is probably not that important as The Feast of the Goat and The General in his Labyrinth are both translated by Edith Grossman yet each feature a different method of telling the reader that.

As a dictator novel, it's quite unusual, as Simon Bolivar is seen as both a dictator and a liberator of 5 countries. As a dictator, he seems somewhat lacking in many of the characteristics that one might expect, clearly due to his diminishing physical state. As a reader, if you didn't already feel compassion for a man who tried to set into motion a dream of a unified Latin America (free from outside control), you surely would begin to almost pity him as he falls from power and is defeated by a body that has aged much more than his mind. There are some times where you feel that he still has his wits about him such as during his conversation with Sucre ("The General's response was spirited. "Don't repeat the enemy's vile remarks.." (18)) when he makes the decisive choice to leave Columbia, and by proving that his memory is fully intact. (eg."But on the other hand, he could remember any sentence he had ever heard.." (58) there are also times when even his mind fails him, largely evidenced by the card game scene. It's impossible, however, to ignore the places where he does come alive and you do see his strength. (eg. the length of time he chose to stay in the saddle during their journey (43) or his unwillingness to be seen as weak evidenced on pg45 when he ordered his hammock to be hung in the broad open gallery facing the ravine where he would be exposed to the dangers of the night air, refusing the much more comfortable room)

One thing that really bothers me about Jose Palacios is how he sleeps on the floor at the General's feet. Seriously, isn't that is taking dedication a little too far?!

What is the purpose of the journey? More specifically, why is it the focus of this book and why is the general making it? To answer the second question, one could believe the rumour that the journey is nothing but a political ruse. (59) If that was true, why would he continue in light of the election results and in spite of the fact that many people seem to have forgotten him or ridicule him. The governor had to go out two days ahead to announce his arrival or else people might not even know who he was when he entered. How is a man like this forgotten????? Again we feel pity for him.

I, The Supreme: First Half

This is extremely long overdue, but better late than never I suppose.

I The Supreme is a very challenging book to read mostly because the reader constantly has to decipher who is speaking, who they are speaking to, when they are speaking or writing, and finally, what the hell they are trying to say. I find Roa Bastos' use of interior monologues at the same time frustrating and interesting. It's an interesting way of getting inside the character's heads, thereby getting intimate knowledge of thoughts behind the actions.

Knows of an audience:

The Supreme, or Excellency, as Patino refers to him, is constantly plagued by feelings of mistrust. He can't trust the scribes, his secretary, his doctors, priests, his countrymen, the Spaniards, and certainly not the countries around him. The only character that he seems to trust is Jose Gervasio Artigas, a Uruguayan general seeking asylum in Paraguay. "Artigas's letter was sincere. He was not lying when he spoke.." (77) It is actually likely that his Excellency has reason to fear attacks from outsiders. Practically every other page he mentions a new threat to the "sovereignty and independance against Spain, against Lima, against Buenos Aires, against Brazil, against any foreign power that attempts to subjugate us" (94).

In this novel, the Supreme appears to be spiraling downwards as he gets more ill and gains more enemies. He is not only physically ill, as evidenced by his conversations with his herbalist(Don Vicente??), but also mentally ill as well, evidenced by his paranoia, delusions, and hallucinations. (43,53,87,89,111,115 etc) Is he imagining everything or is someone (Patino?) fostering these symptoms? He seems to be a little schizophrenic, always taking about He/I etc.

One of the recurring themes in the book religions. It is no secret that the Supreme has no respect for priests ("even though it is quite true that priests are good for next to nothing" (78) , even suspects them of plotting to kill him (ex.53), yet he seems to be Christian. "I granted him humanitarian, Christian treatment, in the true sense of the word" (78). Furthermore, he shows distain for Jesuits. "The imposter affirmed, to stipulate in my name...approval of the Jesuit system holding sway (cursed wretches!).." (74). As I don't know much about Christianity, I won't go any further into trying to understand this aspect of the book.

Another theme is the power of writing. Throughout the first half of this book, there is constant conflict between Patino and the Supreme as the latter doesn't trust the former to correctly write what he dictates. "When I dictate to you, the words have meaning; when you write them, another" (57). On pages 58-59, the Supreme tries to show Patino his way of writing, with little success. Also, the Supreme seems to limit the power of the written word and even speech. "..as images send forth sounds and audible silence, we would have no need to resort to the slowness of speech. And still less to the clumsiness of writing, which has already set us back millions of years" (57).

The President: Second half

So I'm officially a bad person but here goes! The President was one of those novels that you just don't want to put down. At the time of its conception, this book would have been revolutionary. His experimentation with literary styles and devices is evident from the very first page. I especially liked how each chapter seemed to have a different point of view. Towards the end of the book I realized that this is what connects the reader to the characters. You hear about their struggles through their own voice and thoughts.

The dictatorship of the President is received in many different ways. It's amazing that some people found his leadership respectable and good for the country. I remember a passage where a woman commented that while the president had been in power her husband had always had a job. How can these people be so naive? Do they really believe he is for the greater good of the country when there is no justice system. I suppose if his evil doesn't touch your home and you just turn a blind eye, life is all flowers and light. In the end, the President is not punished in any way for his actions. It's somewhat dissatisfying. The people really believed that he was on their side. Why else would they go to him with their pleas?

It's interesting that throughout the first half of the novel whenever Angel Face was mentioned it would also say 'he was as beautiful and wicked as Satan'. I haven't been able to find the page when this stops. Its ceased until one last time on page 243 in the context of arriving at the President's house for his party. This marks a significant point in the book which is the beginning of the end for Don Miguel Angel Face. Is it the authors intent to draw us to this fact.

The role of women in this novel is very complicated. They are shown in spectrum of ways yet they always seem to show strength and agency. From the proprietress of the brothel Dona Chon who will stand up against the Judge Advocate General, to Senora Rodas who will do anything to save her child, to La Masacuata who takes in Camila and brings food to Vasquez in prison, each show their strength in different ways. Camila, in contrast, comes across as weak and in need of protection. In this way Angel Face is seen as her saviour and hero, redeeming him as a character.

The President Ch.I - XX

I find that I am truly enjoying this book! Finally, plot development, character development, and some crazy characters at that! I will forever truly appreciate "the novel". The vivid descriptions of the characters and events truly make this novel unique. I can really picture the events that are taking place as if it was taking place before me in a movie theatre, or perhaps even before my very eyes. My favourite part so far has to go to the Zany as he dreams in the garbage pile. I was truly sad to see his character die.

On another note, Miguel Angel Face is another intriguing character. On the one hand, as the President's confidential adviser, we see him as evil. ("He was as beautiful and wicked as Satan" (pg. 37, 101, etc)) On the other hand, we see him show kindness to both the Zany and Camila. What are we to think of his paradoxical nature. He seems to be rapidly becoming one of the main characters of the book, yet we get the voice of many other characters in each chapter. It seems like the author is really experimenting with many different stylistic elements.

Hopefully I am understanding correctly that this book is utilizing both real characters and events, while combining aspects of magical realism. The effect is quite astounding and is one of the main reasons I like this book.

The portrayal of dictatorship is similar to our understanding of Rosas in Facundo. He rules with an iron fist, using violence to gain the respect of his underlings. Through the description of the celebration of the national holiday, we learn that there was already a foiled assassination plot against the president. I didn't quite understand the reference to forbidden fruit on page 95. Can anyone can explain the equivocation of the national holiday and the original sin?

If I had to make a prediction on the future for these characters, I would guess that Angel Face will start to feel like he must protect Camila from outside forces. Her character seems to soften his. Perhaps she will bring out the good side in him. I wonder if he will have to choose between his loyalty to the president and his feelings for her...