Rupert Copping's Blog - Posts Tagged "magic-realism"

A few reviews of my novel,Before the Dawn, are now starting to appear on Amazon. Here's one of them:
5.0 out of 5 stars An important novel about the impact of "civilization" on indigenous cultures 26 Jan 2014
By Garry C. Powell - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
First, I should say that although I have never met Rupert Copping, we share the same publisher. However, I do not publish favourable reviews for anyone, even my friends, unless I genuinely admire them. So, to come to the point: I found this a fascinating and important novel, and a highly original one in subject matter, as it deals with a previously "undiscovered" indigenous culture in South America, the Arayana, who are under threat from the outside world, and their story is told entirely and very convincingly from the point of view of several key members of their tribe. I don't know whether the Arayana are a real or fictional people, but the details of their life, which are not romanticized at all, have the very ring of truth. I know that Mr. Copping lived in Ecuador in his youth, and I would venture the opinion that he knows what he's speaking about. In the novel we meet few "purinis" or westerners--Spanish speakers all, rather than gringos--and the ones we do not meet are not all brutal and bad (Copping does not present us with a black and white vision), but the Indians come across as real individuals with complex lives, not so different from our own in their essential longings and hopes, and the richness of the culture, in terms of their history and mythology, is very apparent. I don't wish to spoil the reader's pleasure by giving away too much of the plot, but let me say that while the sovereign, Rumicuri, goes on a journey to the world of the purinis to discover whether his people are under a direct threat, his people are visited by soldiers. The story is as exciting as it is complex and artfully structured. Highly recommended for lovers of literary fiction and anyone with any interest in post-colonial realities, particularly in Latin America.

Good interview of me today on Chris Hill's blog. Take a look: http://songofth
eseagod.wordpress.com/2014/02/01/rupe...

My novel seems to be selling more now. I'm hoping it will increase as word of mouth spreads. The main difficulty is that I'm not really very good with computers and don't know too well how to promote myself through this medium... Anyway I'm glad some people are reading my novel and, it seems, really liking it. I think it's a novel that should be read - for more reasons than one; not least that it is a cracking good story, full of drama, intrigue and adventure and if it helps people become aware of the terrible things that are happening to isolated indigenous communities and their environment, all the better.

For me what is important in literature are stories that transcend their setting and by this means can appeal to readers everywhere, regardless of their nationality or culture. I tried to do this with my novel Before the Dawn by giving the characters I created ways of thinking and behaving that people can identify with. It seems like a simple task but actually it's very difficult to make characters from a different culture than your own fully human and therefore believable. This is a problem with a lot of fantasy and science fiction and novels like Lord of the Rings; the characters don't live in the real world and therefore lack real human depth. Stories that not only entertain but also tell us something about our condition as human beings, those are the stories I like best and am most drawn to.

An author shouldn't have to blow his own trumpet. It's demeaning. A book should speak for itself. It should be all about the writing, not the author. However,it seems that in this modern age a book by an unknown author has no chance of being discovered if left to itself,without publicity,whether this publicity comes from the publisher or the author or both. So unknown, struggling writers find themselves having to do all sorts of things they'd, perhaps, rather not be doing in order to publicize themselves as authors in the hope that it will get them more sales. And the authors who are best a this game of self promotion will succeed over those others who are not so good even if their actual work - ie their book - is the less accomplished. So a book's commercial success is not necessarily an indication of it's merit. Lucky the author who manages to write a book that is worthy, that has merit and is also a commercial success!