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Exiled from Almost Everywhere
In Exiled from Almost Everywhere, Juan Goytisolo's perverse mutant protagonist the Parisian Monster of Le Sentier is blown up by an extremist bomber and finds himself in the cyberspace of the Thereafter with an infinite collection of computer monitors. His curiosity piqued, he uses the screens at hand to explore the multiple ways war and terrorism are hyped in the Hereafter of his old life where he once happily cruised bathrooms and accosted children. Ricocheting from life to death and back again, meeting various colorful demagogues along the way the imam Alice, a pedophile Monsignor, and a Rastafarian rabbi our Monster revisits seedy democracies that are a welter of shopping-cities and righteous violence voted in by an eternally duped citizenry and defended by the infamous erogenous bomb.
At once fantastical and cruelly real, Exiled from Almost Everywhere hurtles the reader through our troubled times in a Swiftian series of grisly cartoon screenshots.
At once fantastical and cruelly real, Exiled from Almost Everywhere hurtles the reader through our troubled times in a Swiftian series of grisly cartoon screenshots.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
3 people are currently reading
260 people want to read
About the author
Juan Goytisolo
177 books168 followersDesde la trilogía formada por Señas de identidad, Don Julián y Juan sin tierra, que le situó entre los mejores autores de la literatura española contemporánea, la obra narrativa de Juan Goytisolo (Barcelona, 1931) ha derivado en cada nueva singladura hacia territorios inexplorados que cuestionan siempre el género de la ficción. Esta voluntad de ir a contracorriente ha propiciado la gestación de textos tan singulares como Makbara (1980), Las virtudes del pájaro solitario (1988), La cuarentena (1991), La saga de los Marx (1993), El sitio de los sitios (1995), Las semanas del jardín (1997), Carajicomedia (2000), Telón de boca (2003) o El exiliado de aquí y allá (2008).
No obstante, Juan Goytisolo no destaca sólo como autor de ficción, sino que también cultiva con maestría el género del ensayo, con obras como Contra las sagradas formas (2007) o Genet en el Raval (2009). En 2014 se le ha otorgado el Premio Cervantes de las Letras.
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Juan Goytisolo Gay was born in Barcelona at 1931. A vocal opponent of Franco, he left Spain for France in 1956.
In Paris, he worked as a consultant for the publisher Gallimard while he was also working on his own oeuvre. There he met his future wife, Monique Langue, and Jean Genet, who influenced his vision of literature. While living in Paris, he started the most experimental side of his books. Mixing poetry with painting and fiction with non-fiction, he explored the possibilities of language, leaving behind the social commentary of his first novels. "Marks of Identity" was the start, but then he turned even more radical with "Count Julian" and "Juan the Landless", where he rejected definitely, because of a lack of identification, his Spanish identity in favor of adopting a "cervantina" nationality.
In the 1970s he visited Marrakech often. In 1981 he bought a house there. In 1996, after the death of his wife, he moved there and adopted Morocco as his main residence.
He is widely considered one of the most important Spanish authors of his time. His brothers, José Agustín Goytisolo and Luis Goytisolo, are also writers. In 2008 he won Spain's Premio Nacional de las Letras and in 2014 the Cervantes Prize.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Goy...
No obstante, Juan Goytisolo no destaca sólo como autor de ficción, sino que también cultiva con maestría el género del ensayo, con obras como Contra las sagradas formas (2007) o Genet en el Raval (2009). En 2014 se le ha otorgado el Premio Cervantes de las Letras.
========
Juan Goytisolo Gay was born in Barcelona at 1931. A vocal opponent of Franco, he left Spain for France in 1956.
In Paris, he worked as a consultant for the publisher Gallimard while he was also working on his own oeuvre. There he met his future wife, Monique Langue, and Jean Genet, who influenced his vision of literature. While living in Paris, he started the most experimental side of his books. Mixing poetry with painting and fiction with non-fiction, he explored the possibilities of language, leaving behind the social commentary of his first novels. "Marks of Identity" was the start, but then he turned even more radical with "Count Julian" and "Juan the Landless", where he rejected definitely, because of a lack of identification, his Spanish identity in favor of adopting a "cervantina" nationality.
In the 1970s he visited Marrakech often. In 1981 he bought a house there. In 1996, after the death of his wife, he moved there and adopted Morocco as his main residence.
He is widely considered one of the most important Spanish authors of his time. His brothers, José Agustín Goytisolo and Luis Goytisolo, are also writers. In 2008 he won Spain's Premio Nacional de las Letras and in 2014 the Cervantes Prize.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Goy...
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 26, 2015
The coarsest morsel of private life invades the public sphere and the brutalized inhabitants of our insignificant marble only seem exist as news items.
Goytisolo has always been lurking in my adult life. Slipping into the frame, always out of focus. Most novelists wind up drifting away. I can't explain the mechanics of literary gravity. I don't know the flaws of orbit. What merits retention? G's biography has always held an integrity for me. This remains the case even if it is steeped in humiliation. Ostracized as a Red, a Queer and finally as Arabophile, Goytisolo kept his poise even if his prose is often maddening. I keep approaching the late works as postscripts or summations. They are hardly such.
This is a novel about Extremism and Information. The afterlife is an internet cafe and cyberspace is our posterity. A suicide bomber has killed an author. (maybe Our Author) He'd prefer to stay dead but instead is inundated by updates and status feeds form the world, especially Revolutionaries and the Beautiful Ones, whose tension is a synergy, one predicated on the ongoing suffering in the shanties of the world. This is the Goytisolo of Marx Family Saga or States of Siege. Exiled is brusque satire, one weedy with resignation.
Goytisolo has always been lurking in my adult life. Slipping into the frame, always out of focus. Most novelists wind up drifting away. I can't explain the mechanics of literary gravity. I don't know the flaws of orbit. What merits retention? G's biography has always held an integrity for me. This remains the case even if it is steeped in humiliation. Ostracized as a Red, a Queer and finally as Arabophile, Goytisolo kept his poise even if his prose is often maddening. I keep approaching the late works as postscripts or summations. They are hardly such.
This is a novel about Extremism and Information. The afterlife is an internet cafe and cyberspace is our posterity. A suicide bomber has killed an author. (maybe Our Author) He'd prefer to stay dead but instead is inundated by updates and status feeds form the world, especially Revolutionaries and the Beautiful Ones, whose tension is a synergy, one predicated on the ongoing suffering in the shanties of the world. This is the Goytisolo of Marx Family Saga or States of Siege. Exiled is brusque satire, one weedy with resignation.
July 22, 2016
Posle terorističkog napada u Nici kada je najmanje osamdeset ljudi izgubilo život, a više od stotinu povređeno nakon što je kamion uleteo među šetače tokom proslave Dana pada Bastilje svet je ponovo počeo da se pita šta je to što natera čoveka na ovakav (samo)ubilački pohod. U moru analitičkih tekstova i stručnih emisija u kojima su pokušavali da daju odgovor na ovo pitanje naleteo sam i na knjigu Prognan sa svih strana španskog pisca Huana Gojtisola koji nudi specifično književno objašnjenje ovog fenomena.
Prognan sa svih strana nije konvencionalan roman. On se, kako stilski tako i po strukturi, razlikuje od knjiga sa kojima se obično upuštamo u koštac. Čak i sam narator, lukavo tek na samom kraju romana, kaže „Ako želite da zavapite ‘vratite mi pare za ulaznice, nisam ništa razumeo’, ili nešto slično, ne brinite, tako se oseća i naš zbunjeni junak nakon završene predstave.“
Dakle, pare vam neće biti vraćene i zato slobodno možete da se, tokom čitanja romana Prognan sa svih strana, opustite i prepustite leksičkoj bujici majstora španske književnosti. Verujte mi, na kraju će vam se svi fragmenti romana stopiti u jasnu celinu, a tokom čitanja uživaćete u misaonim, stilskim i jezičkim bravurama kao i britkom humoru i satiri koju nemilice rabi Huan Gojtisolo.
I sam autor ima fantastično zanimljiv životopis. Jedan je od najznačajnijih savremenih španskih pisaca. Bio je veliki protivnik Frankove diktature, ali i potonjih struktura vlasti tako da je veći deo života proveo u dobrovoljnom izgnanstvu u Parizu i Marakešu. U Parizu upoznaje Bunjuela, Sartra, De Bovoar, Kamija i Žana Ženea. Takođe je bio blizak prijatelj sa Karlosom Fuentesom, a odigao je i važnu ulogu u upoznavanju Evrope sa latinoameričkim magičnim realizmom.
Tokom Arapskog proleća, u osamdesetoj godini života, Gojtisolo putuje kroz taj region kao izveštač za El Pais.
Glavni junak romana Prognan sa svih strana je Monstrum iz Santjea inače junak romana Pejzaži nakon bitke iz 1982. godine. Ako niste pročitali ovu knjigu ništa ne mari. Naš Monstrum, Monstrumčić kako mu u romanu tepaju, je na samom početku romana poginuo tokom terorističkog napada kada ga je raznela bomba bombaša samoubice. Monstrum se obreo u Onostranom svetu gde pati od selektivne amnezije. Ne seća se u potpunosti svog prethodnog života koji, zapravo, i nije bitan za radnju romana.
Onostrani svet u kome se obreo nije kao Raj (ili Pakao) pre Pada. To je, zapravo, jedan ogroman internet kafe sa nepreglednim nizom stolova na kojima se nalaze računari. Naš pokojni junak seda za jedan sto i postaje internaut. Preko interneta se povezuje sa radikalnim teroristima jer želi da, kada već za života nije uspeo, nakon smrti dao neki smisao svom… hm… neživotu.
Cilj mu je da kao bombaš samoubica svom posthumnom životu da neki smisao. Stupa u vezu sa Alisom, misterioznom islamskom fundamentalistkinjom, a tu su i rabin sa rasta dredovima kao i Monsinjor „koji voli Isusa Hrista preko Dece“. Svi oni, iako nominalno pripadaju različitim religijama, govore istim jezikom mržnje i netolerancije i sasvim lepo se razumeju i sarađuju.
Kroz njihova međusobna dopisivanja, ali i spamove koje Monstrum dobija sa svih strana, Gojtisolo na satiričan i duhovit način kritikuje sadašnje društvo, kapitalizam i ceo vladajući sistem u kome živimo, ali i antisistem, borce protiv sistema, revolucionare, šezdesetosmaše, angažovane pop-zvezdice, golfere, kao i lepe ljude koji su nas opkolili sa svih strana medija… Prikazuje ih u svoj njihovoj nemoći i komičnoj frustraciji zbog toga.
Pitanje je kako će Monstrum uz pomoć opskurnih likova i bizarnog spoja Onostranog i Ovostranog sveta uspeti da podari smisao svom (ne)postojanju, a kako ćemo to učiniti mi koji čitamo njegove dogodovštine.
Prognan sa svih strana je pravo osveženje na književnoj sceni copy-paste romana, knjiga uz koju ćete uživati ili ne, ali koja vas svakako neće ostaviti ravnodušnim već će vas naterati da razmišljate. A ovo je iskustvo koje književnost 21. veka sve ređe pruža.
Objavljeno na http://www.bookvar.rs/?p=8871
Prognan sa svih strana nije konvencionalan roman. On se, kako stilski tako i po strukturi, razlikuje od knjiga sa kojima se obično upuštamo u koštac. Čak i sam narator, lukavo tek na samom kraju romana, kaže „Ako želite da zavapite ‘vratite mi pare za ulaznice, nisam ništa razumeo’, ili nešto slično, ne brinite, tako se oseća i naš zbunjeni junak nakon završene predstave.“
Dakle, pare vam neće biti vraćene i zato slobodno možete da se, tokom čitanja romana Prognan sa svih strana, opustite i prepustite leksičkoj bujici majstora španske književnosti. Verujte mi, na kraju će vam se svi fragmenti romana stopiti u jasnu celinu, a tokom čitanja uživaćete u misaonim, stilskim i jezičkim bravurama kao i britkom humoru i satiri koju nemilice rabi Huan Gojtisolo.
I sam autor ima fantastično zanimljiv životopis. Jedan je od najznačajnijih savremenih španskih pisaca. Bio je veliki protivnik Frankove diktature, ali i potonjih struktura vlasti tako da je veći deo života proveo u dobrovoljnom izgnanstvu u Parizu i Marakešu. U Parizu upoznaje Bunjuela, Sartra, De Bovoar, Kamija i Žana Ženea. Takođe je bio blizak prijatelj sa Karlosom Fuentesom, a odigao je i važnu ulogu u upoznavanju Evrope sa latinoameričkim magičnim realizmom.
Tokom Arapskog proleća, u osamdesetoj godini života, Gojtisolo putuje kroz taj region kao izveštač za El Pais.
Glavni junak romana Prognan sa svih strana je Monstrum iz Santjea inače junak romana Pejzaži nakon bitke iz 1982. godine. Ako niste pročitali ovu knjigu ništa ne mari. Naš Monstrum, Monstrumčić kako mu u romanu tepaju, je na samom početku romana poginuo tokom terorističkog napada kada ga je raznela bomba bombaša samoubice. Monstrum se obreo u Onostranom svetu gde pati od selektivne amnezije. Ne seća se u potpunosti svog prethodnog života koji, zapravo, i nije bitan za radnju romana.
Onostrani svet u kome se obreo nije kao Raj (ili Pakao) pre Pada. To je, zapravo, jedan ogroman internet kafe sa nepreglednim nizom stolova na kojima se nalaze računari. Naš pokojni junak seda za jedan sto i postaje internaut. Preko interneta se povezuje sa radikalnim teroristima jer želi da, kada već za života nije uspeo, nakon smrti dao neki smisao svom… hm… neživotu.
Cilj mu je da kao bombaš samoubica svom posthumnom životu da neki smisao. Stupa u vezu sa Alisom, misterioznom islamskom fundamentalistkinjom, a tu su i rabin sa rasta dredovima kao i Monsinjor „koji voli Isusa Hrista preko Dece“. Svi oni, iako nominalno pripadaju različitim religijama, govore istim jezikom mržnje i netolerancije i sasvim lepo se razumeju i sarađuju.
Kroz njihova međusobna dopisivanja, ali i spamove koje Monstrum dobija sa svih strana, Gojtisolo na satiričan i duhovit način kritikuje sadašnje društvo, kapitalizam i ceo vladajući sistem u kome živimo, ali i antisistem, borce protiv sistema, revolucionare, šezdesetosmaše, angažovane pop-zvezdice, golfere, kao i lepe ljude koji su nas opkolili sa svih strana medija… Prikazuje ih u svoj njihovoj nemoći i komičnoj frustraciji zbog toga.
Pitanje je kako će Monstrum uz pomoć opskurnih likova i bizarnog spoja Onostranog i Ovostranog sveta uspeti da podari smisao svom (ne)postojanju, a kako ćemo to učiniti mi koji čitamo njegove dogodovštine.
Prognan sa svih strana je pravo osveženje na književnoj sceni copy-paste romana, knjiga uz koju ćete uživati ili ne, ali koja vas svakako neće ostaviti ravnodušnim već će vas naterati da razmišljate. A ovo je iskustvo koje književnost 21. veka sve ređe pruža.
Objavljeno na http://www.bookvar.rs/?p=8871
February 7, 2017
Roman "Prognan sa svih strana" Huana Gojtisoloa usmeren je protiv svih oblika hipokrizije - društvene, medijske, političke, religijske, terorističke i svake druge. Autor se ostrvljuje na legitimne predstavnike i zastupnike pobrojanih kategorija čineći to veoma posprdno. Međutim, iako ima zanimljivih ideja i zapažanja, način na koji je to Gojtisolo izveo meni lično nije legao. Mislim da bi roman bio mnogo efektniji da su stil i sadržaj bili manje zbrkani, a atmosfera za nijansu ozbiljnija. U pitanju je poetički vrlo osvešćen autor što će reći da to nije uradio slučajno. Uveren sam da će ga rado čitati ljubitelji Basarine proze.
November 25, 2014
Es un hecho que el medio virtual ha desplazado a buena parte de la comunicación presencial, que por tanto los cafés de "Paisajes después de la batalla" han sido substituidos por los foros y los e-mails de "El exiliado de aquí y allá" y son, como se leen en las noticias acerca de atentados suicidas, el marco que permite la omnipresencia desde el cual concentrarse en las ideas más obsesivas y reconducir el descontento y la confusión que provoca la vida diaria hacia desenlaces terminales que sirven para satisfacer a líderes de uno y otro dogma.
Goytisolo retoma su protagonista de la novela de 1982 para situarlo en el siguiente estadio de su evolución lógica. Si en aquella novela mudaba los revolucionarios rojos obreros en unos revolucionarios inmigrantes, aquí su vista parece cansada y su tesis final parece ser de un escepticismo y de un desencanto total pues su conclusión es que esa lucha es ficticia y amañada, un tablero de juego entre los pro-sistema y anti sistema, mutuamente retroalimentados, que sólo permiten el juego dentro de unos márgenes que ellos mismos delimitan. Como al personaje de esta novela, cualquier exceso provoca su eliminación del juego. Ciertamente flota en el mundo cierta sensación que esa lucha necesita retroalimentarse para sencillamente existir y sacar provecho de esa existencia sin por ello alcanzar conclusión alguna o un nuevo escenario cómo sí sucedía en siglos pasados. No creo que esa idea resulte tan extravagante cuando a diario observamos como en los debates televisados los defensores de un extremo y de otro se acompañan mutuamente a los medios de una y otra ideología y ahí se lanzan todas las pullas que hagan falta por tal de multiplicar los índices de audencia.
Este par de ejemplos son más bien veniales, se sabe que la realidad es mucho más ponzoñosa y desalentadora, por eso no me resulta en absoluto manierista el tono cínico y desasosegado de Goytisolo en esta nouvelle. Cuando lo leo siento que habla sin embudos en los mismos términos que a veces puedo yo pensar y por eso me siento tan conectado a sus escritos. Encuentro que pocos escritores reflejan una opinión tan próxima a la mía sin tener que esquinarse en pequeñas miniaturas alusorias, todo en él me parece pensamiento en neto.
Ciertamente no es un librazo épico y culminante, sin embargo me maravilla que un hombre de casi 80 años se exprese en esos términos y siga conservando esa prosa tan sonora y rica, salpicada tanto por cultismos como por vulgarismos, que no obstante consigo leer sin esfuerzos. En casi cada página encuentro alguna aportación interesante y lúcida y nada en sus ideas o su forma de expresarse me suena falso, dubitativo o amanerado. Siendo así, no puedo más que decir que su lecutra es más que recomendable, aunque es mejor abordarlo a modo de postre del cuerpo principal de su obra: 'La saga de los Marx', 'Señas de identidad', 'Reivindicación del Conde Julián' o la ya nombrada 'Paisajes después de la batalla'. E insisto: por más que su nivel sea algo inferior respecto a esos títulos anteriores, no deja de ser un buen texto, muy superior respecto a otros escritores de edad pareja, más amanerados a la hora de encarar la realidad, como por ejemplo Philip Roth.
Goytisolo retoma su protagonista de la novela de 1982 para situarlo en el siguiente estadio de su evolución lógica. Si en aquella novela mudaba los revolucionarios rojos obreros en unos revolucionarios inmigrantes, aquí su vista parece cansada y su tesis final parece ser de un escepticismo y de un desencanto total pues su conclusión es que esa lucha es ficticia y amañada, un tablero de juego entre los pro-sistema y anti sistema, mutuamente retroalimentados, que sólo permiten el juego dentro de unos márgenes que ellos mismos delimitan. Como al personaje de esta novela, cualquier exceso provoca su eliminación del juego. Ciertamente flota en el mundo cierta sensación que esa lucha necesita retroalimentarse para sencillamente existir y sacar provecho de esa existencia sin por ello alcanzar conclusión alguna o un nuevo escenario cómo sí sucedía en siglos pasados. No creo que esa idea resulte tan extravagante cuando a diario observamos como en los debates televisados los defensores de un extremo y de otro se acompañan mutuamente a los medios de una y otra ideología y ahí se lanzan todas las pullas que hagan falta por tal de multiplicar los índices de audencia.
Este par de ejemplos son más bien veniales, se sabe que la realidad es mucho más ponzoñosa y desalentadora, por eso no me resulta en absoluto manierista el tono cínico y desasosegado de Goytisolo en esta nouvelle. Cuando lo leo siento que habla sin embudos en los mismos términos que a veces puedo yo pensar y por eso me siento tan conectado a sus escritos. Encuentro que pocos escritores reflejan una opinión tan próxima a la mía sin tener que esquinarse en pequeñas miniaturas alusorias, todo en él me parece pensamiento en neto.
Ciertamente no es un librazo épico y culminante, sin embargo me maravilla que un hombre de casi 80 años se exprese en esos términos y siga conservando esa prosa tan sonora y rica, salpicada tanto por cultismos como por vulgarismos, que no obstante consigo leer sin esfuerzos. En casi cada página encuentro alguna aportación interesante y lúcida y nada en sus ideas o su forma de expresarse me suena falso, dubitativo o amanerado. Siendo así, no puedo más que decir que su lecutra es más que recomendable, aunque es mejor abordarlo a modo de postre del cuerpo principal de su obra: 'La saga de los Marx', 'Señas de identidad', 'Reivindicación del Conde Julián' o la ya nombrada 'Paisajes después de la batalla'. E insisto: por más que su nivel sea algo inferior respecto a esos títulos anteriores, no deja de ser un buen texto, muy superior respecto a otros escritores de edad pareja, más amanerados a la hora de encarar la realidad, como por ejemplo Philip Roth.
March 19, 2025
Jezivo je koliko su neke stvari univerzalne
March 20, 2017
Odlična, niz komentara na dešavanja u svetu... pritom duhovito, promišljeno, inteligentno.
Lik u knjizi je prognan jer na svetu postoji ogroman broj različitih grupa, organizacija, verskih klika i terorista koji pokušavaju da ga nagovore da usvoji njihov način razmišljanja, ulozi interneta i siromaštva, marginalizacije u celom tom zamešateljstvu...
Sve što mu preostaje u tom haosu jeste da otupi i "umre".
Lik u knjizi je prognan jer na svetu postoji ogroman broj različitih grupa, organizacija, verskih klika i terorista koji pokušavaju da ga nagovore da usvoji njihov način razmišljanja, ulozi interneta i siromaštva, marginalizacije u celom tom zamešateljstvu...
Sve što mu preostaje u tom haosu jeste da otupi i "umre".
October 13, 2020
Mislim da nisam trenutno kompetentan za broj zvezdica iza ovog dela. . .
Nasumicno 4
Nasumicno 4
July 22, 2012
When you reject place as the origin of identity both conceptually as well as physically, it opens a world to you that is filled with pluses and minuses in comparison to the alternative, and thats neither better or worse, its just a truth. Actually, whether it is better or worse depends on how you take this new world with its pluses and minuses. For example, when place does not define your existence, you are free to create the image of self you want without any baggage, without any reference, without any influence. This can be rather frightening and overwhelming for most, though, and so why the norm is to have the archtypes we experience in our day to day in whatever place we happen to actually be in. Because no matter how hard we try to take place out of identity we cannot ever take identity out of place....
This is essentially the basis for Goytisolo's Exiled from Almost Everywhere; however, he comes up with a clever device to deal with this last problem, by making his story based outside of place in the final resting place where there is no there. But to contextualize this space in a way we all can understand, he makes that nerve-center a computer screen, the most placeless location we have today. Where you can be everywhere and nowhere at the same time. You can whisk to Kuwaiti hotels on a travel website, then look at the Chilean mountain ranges from an aerial view on a mapping site next, then explore underground caves from a photoset on a photography site all surrounded by darkness illuminated only by the pale glow providing the information.
Once Goytisolo takes us there, he weaves a story based on our post-modern predicament of ideology and empire, the controlling domains of both thought and place, through the eyes of a martyr who in his former life in the real world was equally placeless and uncertain as he made sense of the maddening intersections with religious sects, the panopticon, corporate hegemony, and even noisy neighbors and the proverbial man on the street.
Goytisolo rapid-fires this story in such a simple yet forceful way, its compulsive. You do not want to put this down as you savor the next witty critique of postmodern life, at least for those of us that have rejected the foolishness of people, yet cannot help but be enamored with it. This novella you will put down in a day, but the truth of it will linger as you contemplate taking up the battle cry that indeed, I wish to be an extremist for love.
This is essentially the basis for Goytisolo's Exiled from Almost Everywhere; however, he comes up with a clever device to deal with this last problem, by making his story based outside of place in the final resting place where there is no there. But to contextualize this space in a way we all can understand, he makes that nerve-center a computer screen, the most placeless location we have today. Where you can be everywhere and nowhere at the same time. You can whisk to Kuwaiti hotels on a travel website, then look at the Chilean mountain ranges from an aerial view on a mapping site next, then explore underground caves from a photoset on a photography site all surrounded by darkness illuminated only by the pale glow providing the information.
Once Goytisolo takes us there, he weaves a story based on our post-modern predicament of ideology and empire, the controlling domains of both thought and place, through the eyes of a martyr who in his former life in the real world was equally placeless and uncertain as he made sense of the maddening intersections with religious sects, the panopticon, corporate hegemony, and even noisy neighbors and the proverbial man on the street.
Goytisolo rapid-fires this story in such a simple yet forceful way, its compulsive. You do not want to put this down as you savor the next witty critique of postmodern life, at least for those of us that have rejected the foolishness of people, yet cannot help but be enamored with it. This novella you will put down in a day, but the truth of it will linger as you contemplate taking up the battle cry that indeed, I wish to be an extremist for love.
September 26, 2024
Me tocó leer este libro en la facultad, no lo recordaba y me dio por releerlo. Ahora entiendo por qué no lo recordaba. Es un galimatías incomprensible y lo único bueno que tiene es que es corto.
February 27, 2025
A weak book that floats on concept, but isn’t really that interested in its own questions it poses. Will have to try other Goytisolo, I hear nice things
December 14, 2016
A very peculiar book. Each chapter is typically only a few paragraphs long and typically less than a page. It moves quickly from scene to scene in these chapters, though they are connected and you do get the thread of narrative through them. But it is a challenge to keep track of that thread. For the first half of the book I had pretty much entirely lost that thread. But I began piecing together the story by the latter half of the book. It was confusing to understand whether the narrator was talking about actual events happening in the real world or events in 'Hereafter'/afterlife. It is perhaps extra confusing due to something being lost in translation as it was originally written in Spanish.
Anyway, the general idea of the book is that it tells the thoughts of a suicide bomber as he philosophizes in his afterlife about both his actions as a bomber and the realities of what the afterlife was for him. Definitely an interesting topic for a book and I wish I could have understood it better/it was written less airily and more direct and to the point.
However, as I said I got a little more out of it by the second half. The author gave a few interesting insights into the actions of suicide bombers and those networks. One thing I found especially interesting was the idea that we should be much more angry with the leaders/organizers of the radical groups than the bombers themselves. The author painted the bomber as a person who grew up in obscurity, lived each day with really nothing special to do or look forward to, and saw his future as just as bleak and obscure. He was living a life that no one looked twice about or cared about. He would love nothing more than to be noticed by others, to be noticed by the world at large. Then the leader of the radical group approaches him and offers him this opportunity to have the spotlight of the world on him when he completes a suicide bombing. While the obscure man may not fully buy into the religious/radical ideas behind the reason for the bombing, he can be convinced to do it because he figures he was already on the brink of suicide so here he is offered a chance to commit that suicide but be recognized for it. And in his last few days he can take 'comfort' in knowing that he would noticed by the world OR better yet, he thinks, he may live in the afterlife and look down and actually witness the world's reaction to it.
So a very interesting topic and gave an insight into what could be the thinking of some suicide bombers. Still awful that anyone would choose to do such a thing, but it does seem to show that we could be much much more disgusted and angry with the leaders themselves because they are seeking out these types of people and manipulating them to do their dirty work AND because the leaders know the ridiculousness of their rhetoric because they are not doing the bombing themselves but sending others to do it.
Here is a quote that summarizes that thought. It is an email from the organization trying to recruit the bomber.
We can rescue you from this dark pit and guarantee you a few moments of glory as an incredible celebrity. An estimated audience of over ten million viewers fascinated and captivated by the heavenly climax to your life. How often have you thought of committing suicide, even though you knew such an end would go unnoticed, and indeed confirm your total insignificance in the world’s spotlights! All you have to do is contact us and follow our instructions to the letter, and your dreams will come true.
Anyway, the general idea of the book is that it tells the thoughts of a suicide bomber as he philosophizes in his afterlife about both his actions as a bomber and the realities of what the afterlife was for him. Definitely an interesting topic for a book and I wish I could have understood it better/it was written less airily and more direct and to the point.
However, as I said I got a little more out of it by the second half. The author gave a few interesting insights into the actions of suicide bombers and those networks. One thing I found especially interesting was the idea that we should be much more angry with the leaders/organizers of the radical groups than the bombers themselves. The author painted the bomber as a person who grew up in obscurity, lived each day with really nothing special to do or look forward to, and saw his future as just as bleak and obscure. He was living a life that no one looked twice about or cared about. He would love nothing more than to be noticed by others, to be noticed by the world at large. Then the leader of the radical group approaches him and offers him this opportunity to have the spotlight of the world on him when he completes a suicide bombing. While the obscure man may not fully buy into the religious/radical ideas behind the reason for the bombing, he can be convinced to do it because he figures he was already on the brink of suicide so here he is offered a chance to commit that suicide but be recognized for it. And in his last few days he can take 'comfort' in knowing that he would noticed by the world OR better yet, he thinks, he may live in the afterlife and look down and actually witness the world's reaction to it.
So a very interesting topic and gave an insight into what could be the thinking of some suicide bombers. Still awful that anyone would choose to do such a thing, but it does seem to show that we could be much much more disgusted and angry with the leaders themselves because they are seeking out these types of people and manipulating them to do their dirty work AND because the leaders know the ridiculousness of their rhetoric because they are not doing the bombing themselves but sending others to do it.
Here is a quote that summarizes that thought. It is an email from the organization trying to recruit the bomber.
We can rescue you from this dark pit and guarantee you a few moments of glory as an incredible celebrity. An estimated audience of over ten million viewers fascinated and captivated by the heavenly climax to your life. How often have you thought of committing suicide, even though you knew such an end would go unnoticed, and indeed confirm your total insignificance in the world’s spotlights! All you have to do is contact us and follow our instructions to the letter, and your dreams will come true.
December 12, 2018
This novel is an utter farce of the anachronistic and the bizarre which I am usually a fan of (see: Malaparte, Kundera, Gombrowicz), but this one fell a bit flat. For being what I know to be the last of Goytisolo's works translated into English, maybe I approached the text with expectations heightened by that recognition as well as my mounting enchantment with Goytisolo's works.
It was a terribly short work - gone in a day - which might qualify it for a re-read soon to see if my view can't be corrected, but, with that said, Goytisolo, as always, is nothing if not thematically/conceptually peculiar: A pedophilic Frenchman's soul enters a sort of thereafter in the form of a cybercafe where he views all sorts of images of all sorts of corpses, victims of war and of terrorist actions (Goytisolo is ever the necrophilic aesthete), and soon comes into contact with the leader of a terrorist unit led by the bizarre "Alice" (the quotations are part and parcel of her identity), a woman who, when he is not performing in pornographic revues dressed in tights and garters, is coordinating attacks on the world the dead Frenchman left which he seems able to return to at will - and, no, the shift in she/he pronouns was no mistake; "Alice"'s gender shifts with every pronoun.
Goytisolo, fond of blurring dreams, visions and reality into an indistinguishable image; of synthesizing reality and irreality produces a seamless and nonsensical shifting of identity - of man or woman; of body or spirit - without ceremony and without explanation; it is a mere fact of Goytisolo's universe the same way most in this world do not question the fact of their simple physiological existence.
Nothing much makes sense, and even less is explained. As always, Goytisolo leaves everything obscured by ambiguity. The search for answers or for sense in Goytisolo's universe is a desperate and useless endeavor.
It was a terribly short work - gone in a day - which might qualify it for a re-read soon to see if my view can't be corrected, but, with that said, Goytisolo, as always, is nothing if not thematically/conceptually peculiar: A pedophilic Frenchman's soul enters a sort of thereafter in the form of a cybercafe where he views all sorts of images of all sorts of corpses, victims of war and of terrorist actions (Goytisolo is ever the necrophilic aesthete), and soon comes into contact with the leader of a terrorist unit led by the bizarre "Alice" (the quotations are part and parcel of her identity), a woman who, when he is not performing in pornographic revues dressed in tights and garters, is coordinating attacks on the world the dead Frenchman left which he seems able to return to at will - and, no, the shift in she/he pronouns was no mistake; "Alice"'s gender shifts with every pronoun.
Goytisolo, fond of blurring dreams, visions and reality into an indistinguishable image; of synthesizing reality and irreality produces a seamless and nonsensical shifting of identity - of man or woman; of body or spirit - without ceremony and without explanation; it is a mere fact of Goytisolo's universe the same way most in this world do not question the fact of their simple physiological existence.
Nothing much makes sense, and even less is explained. As always, Goytisolo leaves everything obscured by ambiguity. The search for answers or for sense in Goytisolo's universe is a desperate and useless endeavor.
March 4, 2017
Siguiendo su estilo a ratos críptico y siempre peculiar, Goytisolo actualiza los temas que le son propios: la diferencia, el encuentro con el otro, el miedo a la diferencia... A ratos resulta un tanto banal y ciertamente no es su mejor libro, pero aporta un punto de vista diferente a la reflexión sobre la convivencia en las sociedades multiculturales occidentales del siglo XXI.
September 19, 2025
Pettiness is our saving grace: that exquisite mix of meaninglessness and resolve.
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