Latin American Literature

[mringel]

and more...the end...
The color of the envelopes that death sends is purple and there is something childish and effeminate in the use of the purple color. Even though it is logical that her wish is that the letter will be prominent and it will not be possible to evade relating to it. And even so "this femininity" is something that enables Saramago to change her into an actual woman towards conclusion of the story. When the death decides to return and to order the residents the irony strengthen. The prime minister delivers, to the hands of general manager of the television,  a speech that he prepared in the two minutes to be read at midnight – announcement on returning of death from  the' holiday ' she took during seven months.
Death "filled with pity" with regard to the people gives an extension of seven days to the dead to the future to come. This is in order that they will be able to separate from their family, to write a testament and all other matter of closing of circuit of life. But people, their nature is to postpone these things and they are not glad to fill other mortal offers. Now, when death is again in work, staffs of psychologists treat the alive to overcome the trauma of what will happen to them again. –a process of inverted, on inverted, on inverted. From death to the eternal life and from there toward the eternal death.

In the newspapers death receives human qualities and nicknames her in the human nicknames like, harpy, oppressor, Dracula in the skirt – always in the female gender. Government clerks do not how to explain this phenomenon and they want to hunt her. A Purple letter is sent by death to the cellist in the symphonic orchestra of the city and the letter returns to the sender again and again.
Like majority of figures of the men in Saramago's work, also in this novel the hero, cellist in the symphonic urban orchestra, is a bachelor at the age of 50 that does take any part in real life. He lives his everyday in his apartment with no woman for a long time, with his dog, he never share his bed with a woman.

[S2B]

(MB3 will you please repost the address of the bookstore ? though my path does not take me to BA "this time" Argentina is on hold while the DH is in Santiago for now...enjoy the fantasy world of Sr Disney and come back safely to post here)

[pugetopolis]

Latino Pulp Fiction
—for José Saramago

What if I woke up—this morning
Suddenly polyvocal—and precise
Like Pessoa—with his heteronyms
Stuffed inside—a tight leather trunk?

What if I speak—the way Pessoa
Spoke—at the end of that novel
You know—the one about Lisbon
And returning there—to dream?

At the end of the novel—when
Pessoa says to Saramago—forget
Your books—forget your girlfriend
Forget everything—follow me?

How many voices—does it take
To reinvent yourself—thru another?
A lifetime of—transgressive others
Pondering doubles—honestly?

The sudden realization—that I'm
Completely Pulp Fiction—I'm into
Saramago satire—here and now
I was never—meant to fail?

[mringel]

Puge,
do fly to Lisbon, it is a wonderful trip
I am reading now in Portuguese the latest book of Saramago :The journey of the elefante
full of humor
Soon it will be in English, or maybe it is already.

[S2B]

mringel...I came across the Saramago book "El cuento de la isla desconocida" or something like that ? do you know it ? I have not yet read it...

hmmmm, interesante http://www.ciudadseva.com/bibcuent.htm

[mringel]

Of course
It is a wonderful short story Saramago wrote
The Tale of the Unknown Island
I used to teach it and pupils adore it.

[pugetopolis]

Joanna Silvestri

“The clinic wasn’t
luxurious”
—Roberto Bolaño
Distant Star

The last time I saw her—
Before we said goodbye
She turned on the TV
And switched to something
On the Italian channel.

We shook hands—
And I left—as I was going
Out the door—I couldn’t
Help glancing back at her

She already had the
Headphones on—and
There was an odd
Expression on her face

A military sort of—
Expression—I don’t know
How to describe it—
As if her sick room…

The cockpit of a spaceship—
And she were the pilot
Firmly in control. And what
Happened in the end?

[S2B]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6819865.ece

A moment to honor Christian Poveda... He was currently working on his documentary of gang violence in El Salvador, when he was killed probably by a gang member. He is the french film maker who did the film "La Vida Loca".

[pugetopolis]

[pugetopolis]

Hispanic Heart of Darkness

“This river, this concrete river,
Becomes a steaming, bubbling
Snake of water”—Luis J. Rodriguez
“The Concrete River”

The Hispanic Heart of Darkness—
Below El Paso—waking up slowly
A whole continent—somnambulant

I welcome the change—to be
Sculptured in—silver and turquoise
Speaking words—for the river

A pulsating darkness—perpetually
In love with—young barrio women
An electrified hum—in my teeth

I’m no longer your son—seeking
The security of shadows—now that
The Southwest is my brother again

The river—this river of language
Surging through new young poets
Tattooed San Salvadorian gods!!!

[S2B]

gracias Puget...

[Beppo]

Last visit to Lisbon, I visited the Rua do Alecrim not knowing really where the Hotel Braganca was situated and was quite surprised to see that the photographs I took where actually very close to the site of the old hotel.

http://bp2.blogger.com/_vMZxJeLUiJQ/R4DK5QXLX7I/AAAAAAAAABI/wrPDBCfujNM/s1600-h/Rua+do+Alecrim+01.jpg

I'm reading The Stone Raft at the moment by Saramago. As the story progresses some of the characters make their way to lisbon, and as they do so, I'm thinking I bet they end up in the Braganca, and sure enough, that's where Saramago has them stay.

I wonder why Saramago chooses this hotel for use in his fictions?

Well, I'm going to the site of where the hotel was tomorrow. There is also another hotel being utilised in TSR - the Hotel Borges in Chiado. I think I might have saw this the last time here but will probably check that out as well.

Also got a chance to visit Fatima which is famous in its own right but is mentioned in The Year of the Death Ricardo Reis.   

Boa tarde!

[madupont]

Beppo,

How long are you staying?  Have fun !

[pugetopolis]

Saramago’s Poetics

“Here the sea ends
and the earth begins”
—José Saramago
The Year of the Dead
of Ricardo Reis

Visiting Lisbon is like—
Returning to the scene of the crime
As Saramago did when he wrote
The Year of the Dead of Ricardo Reis

Like his other “political” novels—
Saramago tells a story within a
Story—in Death of Ricardo Reis
It’s about the origins of WWII

He sets the stage for his—
Heteronymic imagination to speak
Through the mask of Pessoa—
Including fictional “clues”

Such as when you’re dreaming—
One can’t read the words on a page
Of a book—nor can lovers move
Forward with you into time

[pugetopolis]

O Saramago Poético

"Aqui os fins de mar
e a terra começa"
—José Saramago
O Ano do Morto de Ricardo Reis

Lisboa visitante é como—
Retornando à cena do crime
Como Saramago fez quando escreveu
O Ano do Morto de Ricardo Reis

Como seus outros romances "políticos"—
Saramago conta uma história dentro de uma
História—em Morte de Ricardo
Reis Está sobre as origens de WWII

Prepara o caminho para seu—
imaginação de Heteronymic falar
Pela máscara de Pessoa—
Inclusive "indícios" imaginários

Tal como quando sonha—
Um não pode ler as palavras numa página
De um livro—nem pode amantes
adiantar com você em tempo