Joyful Reading!

I love reading AUNT JULIA AND THE SCRIPTWRITER (La Tía Julia Y  El Escribidor) by Llosa! What an enjoyable book. I'm going to spend a lot of time with this work of wonderful literature before moving on. Pedro Camacho is a name I'm remembering as I work thriugh this book.

Llosa versus Màrquez

I absolutely LOVE reading AUNT JULIA AND THE SCRIPTWRITER! My first Llosa reading. Can it be that I will like Llosa better than Màrquez?

I am thinking of creating a second blog where I write in Spanish, and use this one for English. If I choose to do so, I know that I will make plenty of mistakes using the Spanish language, for it is not my native tongue. But it will be fun, and I may get that much closer to native ability.

Understanding La Latindad--Or Trying To!

En Fuente's EL AMANTE DEL TEATRO, I catch something of the Latino mindset..at least I think.  When Lorenzo falls in love with the woman across from him by watching her through his window, he thinks nothing of going to a Spanish doctor (there in la Gran Bretaña) and requesting a fake certificate of illness so he can sit and wiatch this woman for a month without going to work. Why would an otherwise honest Spanish doctor in Great Britain do this? Because AMOR comes first, before all other causes. Also because it is a great way to "get back" at snooty British who feel themselves so superior. For those of you who read Spanish, consider these lines:

"Oponerle obstàculos al amor es un delito superior a extender un falso certificado de enfermidad."

"La Latindad, cuando no es ejercicio que perfecciona la envidia, es complicidad nutrida por el sentimiento de que, siendo culturalmente superiores, recibimos trato de segundones en tierras imperiles."


These lines are from Carlos Fuentes' El Amante Del Teatro or The Theater Lover. I hope I'm not breaking any laws by quoting them.

Native American versus the Spanish White

The Pedro Paramo story took place during the Mexican Revolution, a time of Indian Revolt against the White Mexican establishment. Actually, most Mexicans had got their blood mixed by this time. But darker and poorer, Indian by culture, having no social status, marked you as un Indígeno, and you knew which side you were on.

So Abundio kills Pedro Pàramo in the end. In the beginning of the story, Abundio reveals himself to Juan Preciado as another son of Señor Paramo, born on a petate on the floor. That probably means that he was not legitimate, as Juan Preciado was though his mother had been cast off.

Abundio's description of Sr. Pàramo was: "He's hate. He's just pure hate."

Pedro Páramo Movie?

I found the old Pedro Páramo movie in Spanish on You Tube. I have only watched asmall part so far, but it is helping me to "connect" with the story.

Some Thoughts on Pedro Páramo

Juan Preciado travels back to Comala to meet his father, as his dying mother had requested. On the way he meets a man who says that this father, Pedro Páramo, was also his father, and that "He's hate. He's just pure hate." and that "we were born on a petate on the floor." (Not Juan Preciado, who's mother was legally married to Señor Preciado).

These quotes of from an English translation of Pedro Páramo by Lysander Kemp.