London, 1903. Joseph Conrad is struggling with his new novel (‘I am
placing it in South America in a Republic I call Costaguana’). Progress
is slow and the great writer needs help from a native of the Caribbean
coast of South America. José Altamirano, Colombian at birth, who has
just arrived in London, answers the great writer’s advertisement and
tells him his life story. José has been witness to the most horrible
things that a person or a country could suffer, and drags with him not
just a guilty conscience but a story that has almost destroyed him.
placing it in South America in a Republic I call Costaguana’). Progress
is slow and the great writer needs help from a native of the Caribbean
coast of South America. José Altamirano, Colombian at birth, who has
just arrived in London, answers the great writer’s advertisement and
tells him his life story. José has been witness to the most horrible
things that a person or a country could suffer, and drags with him not
just a guilty conscience but a story that has almost destroyed him.
But when Nostromo is published the following year José is
outraged by what he reads: ‘You’ve eliminated me from my own life. You,
Joseph Conrad, have robbed me.’ I waved the Weekly in the air again, and then threw it down on his desk. ‘Here,’ I whispered, my back to the thief, ‘I do not exist.’
outraged by what he reads: ‘You’ve eliminated me from my own life. You,
Joseph Conrad, have robbed me.’ I waved the Weekly in the air again, and then threw it down on his desk. ‘Here,’ I whispered, my back to the thief, ‘I do not exist.’
The Secret History of Costaguana, the second novel by Juan
Gabriel Vásquez to be published in English, is José Altamirano’s riposte
to Joseph Conrad. It is a big novel, tragic and despairing, comic and
insightful by turns, told by a bumptious narrator with a score to
settle. It is Latin America’s post-modern answer to Europe’s modernist
vision. It is a superb, joyful, thoughtful and rumbustious novel that
will establish Juan Gabriel Vásquez’s reputation as one of the leading
novelists of his generation.
Gabriel Vásquez to be published in English, is José Altamirano’s riposte
to Joseph Conrad. It is a big novel, tragic and despairing, comic and
insightful by turns, told by a bumptious narrator with a score to
settle. It is Latin America’s post-modern answer to Europe’s modernist
vision. It is a superb, joyful, thoughtful and rumbustious novel that
will establish Juan Gabriel Vásquez’s reputation as one of the leading
novelists of his generation.
