Like Mr Asturias, I too became interested in learning about my suffered and beautiful little country of Guatemala while growing up in New Orleans. I was a science major in college but spent hours , perhaps in detriment to my grades, studying about Latin American history, politics and culture. It breaks my heart that he is buried in a land far away from his beloved Guatemala and that he doesn’t receive more recognition in his own native land. My dad, who was born in 1933, the year his novel was first published, was also named Miguel Angel. I heard him mention Mr Asturias a thousand times growing up but it wasn’t till recently that I bought my first Spanish copy of , “ El Señor Presidente”. Thank you for your discussion. It was brilliant.
Thank you so much, Juan, for sharing your story with us! 😃 Your experience during your college years resonates with me. I was a history major, but I spent most of the time reading literature. I'm thinking of exploring something else by Asturias, maybe for a video in Spanish, so we'll see. I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed the video. Thanks again for stopping by, my friend, and have a fantastic day!
I absolutely agree with you re Asturias being unfairly underrated. I'd read his Men of Maize many times before a publishing house in Thailand gave me a green light to translate it into Thai, and I'd spent nearly a whole year getting the job done. The Thai translation is now in the hand of Bangkok-based Samanchon Publishing House. So, this clip of yours gave me such a great happiness. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much for watching and commenting, my friend! 😃 Congratulations on your translation!! Men of Maize is one of the monuments of Latin American literature. I was actually thinking about rereading it and maybe doing a video on it in Spanish. Hopefully soon. I'm so happy to hear that more readers will get the chance to enjoy Asturias, and his masterpiece in particular. Thanks again, and have a wonderful day!
I was searching for an asturias' book to read and I've bumped in this video of yours. I think I'll read mr president because I want to made a comparison with la fiesta del chivo, yo el supremo, otono del patriarca and el recurso del metodo(which you have just pointed out). Thanks for another of your amazing review! You are a source of inspiration. Have a nice day, my friend!
Thank you so much, Marinella! 😃 This really is a great novel, and I also recommend Hombres de maíz if you want to go for something totally different. But yes, as far as dictator novels go, this one was tremendously influential. Asturias definitely deserves more attention and more credit than he gets. Hope you enjoy the reading experience! Have a fantastic day, my friend!
I think this may be the best video I could have found to cement my decision to read this novel. Thank you for taking the time and including the errors in the translation as well!
I'm so glad you liked it, my friend, and hope you enjoy the novel! 😃 Thank you for watching and commenting. Please let me know what you think of El señor Presidente. Best regards!
This was a really good discussion of Mr. President, I just bought this new translated edition and am even more excited to read it now! Also, loved the larger analysis of Asturias and the various contexts to understand him, as well as this book, within. It was a nice surprise to see a new video up from you today! Great stuff as always!
Thank you so much, Dylan! 😃 Please let me know what you think about the novel. I enjoyed it a lot, both in Spanish and in English. One of the reasons why I wanted to add my two cents on Asturias is that the authors of his generation have (perhaps understandably) been eclipsed by the Boom writers. I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed the discussion. Happy reading, my friend!
¡Mil gracias a vos, Jesús! 😃 Totalmente de acuerdo; una lectura difícil tanto por la textura de la prosa como por el tema, pero definitivamente vale la pena. Voy a seguir promoviendo la literatura en español; a ver con qué autor sigo. ¡Muchos saludos y gracias nuevamente!
Hi Jorge, thank you for this. SPOILER ALERT. What do you think of the possibility that the Teacher is the double who is being sent to NYC instead of Angel Face? P. 205 The Teacher is described as "a man who had never lost his adolescent face, who ..." (that's a description of an Angel Face) P.206 He seems to be above an honest job. From his short biography we learn that he was on the path to priesthood, then did some manual labor but at one point concludes "why does the only nephew of an extremely wealthy woman have to work?" His aunt being extremely wealthy means that the President must know her well, and vice versa. The teacher floats around in these circles: he's one of the guests at the party (p. 238) The President does not have a high opinion of him, calling him a "mental reject" (p.216) but he can use him in this case: - he looks similar to Angel Face - sending him as a diplomat to NYC gets him out of the way and placates the extremely wealthy aunt who is undoubtedly trying to land her nephew a job of some sort. Another reason that the President may want him out of the way is that he is interested in Camilla (just like the President himself, as we learn later, who will have her as a mistress). The indication that the teacher is enamored with Camilla is here: p. 207 When the ceremony ended, Teacher cried: "Make thee another self, for the love of me!" I grant that it might be the paranoia of the novel spilling over to the reader but I do not think it is a weak case 🙂 Are there stronger hints as to the validity of this in the Spanish text? A little aside on the "Double" , apart from being (p.262) "as tall, pale, and sandy-haired as Angel Face himself", Angel Face is in Dungeon number 17 and his impersonator on the ship is in cabin number 17. If this is meaningless, there is no reason at all for Asturias to mention the number of a dungeon or a cabin. Let alone to make it the same number. Cheers, Günther
WOW, Günther. Just... wow. This is *mind-blowing*, my friend!! 😃 I wish I could tell you more about this in regard to the original Spanish text, but honestly I feel like rereading the novel again now that I've read your interpretation. This is just an amazing possibility. I don't recall the details of the text, unfortunately, but your evidence is compelling! Thank you so much for this thought-provoking perspective!!
Like Mr Asturias, I too became interested in learning about my suffered and beautiful little country of Guatemala while growing up in New Orleans. I was a science major in college but spent hours , perhaps in detriment to my grades, studying about Latin American history, politics and culture. It breaks my heart that he is buried in a land far away from his beloved Guatemala and that he doesn’t receive more recognition in his own native land. My dad, who was born in 1933, the year his novel was first published, was also named Miguel Angel. I heard him mention Mr Asturias a thousand times growing up but it wasn’t till recently that I bought my first Spanish copy of , “ El Señor Presidente”. Thank you for your discussion. It was brilliant.
Thank you so much, Juan, for sharing your story with us! 😃 Your experience during your college years resonates with me. I was a history major, but I spent most of the time reading literature. I'm thinking of exploring something else by Asturias, maybe for a video in Spanish, so we'll see. I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed the video. Thanks again for stopping by, my friend, and have a fantastic day!
I absolutely agree with you re Asturias being unfairly underrated. I'd read his Men of Maize many times before a publishing house in Thailand gave me a green light to translate it into Thai, and I'd spent nearly a whole year getting the job done. The Thai translation is now in the hand of Bangkok-based Samanchon Publishing House. So, this clip of yours gave me such a great happiness. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much for watching and commenting, my friend! 😃 Congratulations on your translation!! Men of Maize is one of the monuments of Latin American literature. I was actually thinking about rereading it and maybe doing a video on it in Spanish. Hopefully soon. I'm so happy to hear that more readers will get the chance to enjoy Asturias, and his masterpiece in particular. Thanks again, and have a wonderful day!
I was searching for an asturias' book to read and I've bumped in this video of yours. I think I'll read mr president because I want to made a comparison with la fiesta del chivo, yo el supremo, otono del patriarca and el recurso del metodo(which you have just pointed out). Thanks for another of your amazing review! You are a source of inspiration. Have a nice day, my friend!
Thank you so much, Marinella! 😃 This really is a great novel, and I also recommend Hombres de maíz if you want to go for something totally different. But yes, as far as dictator novels go, this one was tremendously influential. Asturias definitely deserves more attention and more credit than he gets. Hope you enjoy the reading experience! Have a fantastic day, my friend!
I think this may be the best video I could have found to cement my decision to read this novel. Thank you for taking the time and including the errors in the translation as well!
I'm so glad you liked it, my friend, and hope you enjoy the novel! 😃 Thank you for watching and commenting. Please let me know what you think of El señor Presidente. Best regards!
This was a really good discussion of Mr. President, I just bought this new translated edition and am even more excited to read it now!
Also, loved the larger analysis of Asturias and the various contexts to understand him, as well as this book, within.
It was a nice surprise to see a new video up from you today! Great stuff as always!
Thank you so much, Dylan! 😃 Please let me know what you think about the novel. I enjoyed it a lot, both in Spanish and in English. One of the reasons why I wanted to add my two cents on Asturias is that the authors of his generation have (perhaps understandably) been eclipsed by the Boom writers. I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed the discussion. Happy reading, my friend!
Thanks for a super nice video! I’m reading now el senor presidente and your video helped me! Gracias ❤
Thank you so much for watching, Sorin! 😃 Enjoy the novel, my friend!
Gracias por el video. Estoy leyendolo este mes, es una lectura dificil pero muy bella.
¡Mil gracias a vos, Jesús! 😃 Totalmente de acuerdo; una lectura difícil tanto por la textura de la prosa como por el tema, pero definitivamente vale la pena. Voy a seguir promoviendo la literatura en español; a ver con qué autor sigo. ¡Muchos saludos y gracias nuevamente!
Hi Jorge, thank you for this.
SPOILER ALERT. What do you think of the possibility that the Teacher is the double who is being sent to NYC instead of Angel Face?
P. 205 The Teacher is described as "a man who had never lost his adolescent face, who ..." (that's a description of an Angel Face)
P.206 He seems to be above an honest job. From his short biography we learn that he was on the path to priesthood, then did some manual labor but at one point concludes "why does the only nephew of an extremely wealthy woman have to work?"
His aunt being extremely wealthy means that the President must know her well, and vice versa. The teacher floats around in these circles: he's one of the guests at the party (p. 238)
The President does not have a high opinion of him, calling him a "mental reject" (p.216) but he can use him in this case:
- he looks similar to Angel Face
- sending him as a diplomat to NYC gets him out of the way and placates the extremely wealthy aunt who is undoubtedly trying to land her nephew a job of some sort.
Another reason that the President may want him out of the way is that he is interested in Camilla (just like the President himself, as we learn later, who will have her as a mistress). The indication that the teacher is enamored with Camilla is here: p. 207 When the ceremony ended, Teacher cried: "Make thee another self, for the love of me!"
I grant that it might be the paranoia of the novel spilling over to the reader but I do not think it is a weak case 🙂
Are there stronger hints as to the validity of this in the Spanish text?
A little aside on the "Double" , apart from being (p.262) "as tall, pale, and sandy-haired as Angel Face himself", Angel Face is in Dungeon number 17 and his impersonator on the ship is in cabin number 17. If this is meaningless, there is no reason at all for Asturias to mention the number of a dungeon or a cabin. Let alone to make it the same number.
Cheers,
Günther
WOW, Günther. Just... wow. This is *mind-blowing*, my friend!! 😃 I wish I could tell you more about this in regard to the original Spanish text, but honestly I feel like rereading the novel again now that I've read your interpretation. This is just an amazing possibility. I don't recall the details of the text, unfortunately, but your evidence is compelling! Thank you so much for this thought-provoking perspective!!
My pleasure! I'm glad it's meaningful to you. Thank you for what you're doing.