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Makbara
In Makbara, Juan Goytisolo—widely considered Spain's greatest living writer—again dazzles the reader with his energetic, stylistic prose, which he himself compares to a snake: cunning, sly, sinuous. But the themes in Makbara are perhaps more universal than in his earlier works. Makbara is full of its own kind of warmth, humor, and love. After all, makbara is an Arab word referring to the spot in North African cemeteries where young couples meet for romantic encounters. Sex, for Goytisolo, is clearly the greatest cosmic joke, the great leveller. "Sex," he says, "is above all freedom."
240 pages
First published January 1, 1980
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About the author
Juan Goytisolo
179 books169 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 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 22, 2023
Boże, jaka to była trudna przeprawa
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October 25, 2016A little about fascism, a lot about consumerist kitsch, a whole lot about orientalism. A darkly funny and interesting read if you don't mind being confused the whole time.
October 16, 2019
its not as good as landcapes after the battles but i enjoyed all the run on sentences and denunciations of the west and its 'culture'.
November 14, 2024
Definitely not my favorite Goytisolo. There were some isolated vignettes that were really interesting, specifically the base love story between the Moroccan guy and the European chick, but overall this book was pretty gimmicky in the worst way possible.
December 12, 2018
God, I love Goytisolo. There is so much of his language that appeals to the aesthete in me. Whereas Musil's writing blooms with ideas where it is barren in plot (as it was meant to be), Goytisolo's garden is lush with language and imagery. Much of the pleasure of Goytisolo's language lies in its frenetic propulsion & the frantic convulsion of images coruscating in the reader’s mind.
Makbara is far more gentle than the books in his trilogy, having been published 5 years after Juan the Landless which closed the trilogy. Goytisolo compares his language to a snake - sly, sinuous, cunning - although it seems exhausted of its venom here in Makbara, although this is no point of complaint since its readers need not subordinate themselves to Goytisolo's abuse as was the condition for his earlier novels. One need only lose themselves in a sprawling and profusive language.
The serpent of Goytisolo's language slithers not through plot, but through a convulsion of images; this time through images of markets, North African bazaars, American malls, designer clothing, and Moroccan djellabas and kaftans; of bodies - in dress or in flesh - of vaginas, asses, cocks, hands, & eager mouths. These two dissimilar themes are, of course, synthesized; one cruises for commodities, products, and bodies alike as they walk along the streets of the bazaar or the aisles of the supermarket in Goytisolo's N. Africa. Maqbara is Arabic for 'grave', & Goytisolo used Makbara to refer to cemeteries where lovers steal away to be intimate.
The idea that Goytisolo intended Makbara to communicate the idea of sex as freedom is amusing to me since I took all of the passages conflating the market and the body, or commerce and sexuality, to be a more severe commentary on human sexuality, one devoid of intimacy. All of the talk of markets and bodies is not quite a language to liberate or an image to edify - Guyotat, too, writes of North African markets & bodies as does Goytisolo, although the same images give birth to savage sexual cruelty, and slavery in Guyotat's universe.
Makbara is far more gentle than the books in his trilogy, having been published 5 years after Juan the Landless which closed the trilogy. Goytisolo compares his language to a snake - sly, sinuous, cunning - although it seems exhausted of its venom here in Makbara, although this is no point of complaint since its readers need not subordinate themselves to Goytisolo's abuse as was the condition for his earlier novels. One need only lose themselves in a sprawling and profusive language.
The serpent of Goytisolo's language slithers not through plot, but through a convulsion of images; this time through images of markets, North African bazaars, American malls, designer clothing, and Moroccan djellabas and kaftans; of bodies - in dress or in flesh - of vaginas, asses, cocks, hands, & eager mouths. These two dissimilar themes are, of course, synthesized; one cruises for commodities, products, and bodies alike as they walk along the streets of the bazaar or the aisles of the supermarket in Goytisolo's N. Africa. Maqbara is Arabic for 'grave', & Goytisolo used Makbara to refer to cemeteries where lovers steal away to be intimate.
The idea that Goytisolo intended Makbara to communicate the idea of sex as freedom is amusing to me since I took all of the passages conflating the market and the body, or commerce and sexuality, to be a more severe commentary on human sexuality, one devoid of intimacy. All of the talk of markets and bodies is not quite a language to liberate or an image to edify - Guyotat, too, writes of North African markets & bodies as does Goytisolo, although the same images give birth to savage sexual cruelty, and slavery in Guyotat's universe.
December 30, 2017
This book was meant to schock. It's hard to rate it, because of this reason.
Language it is written by I could describe as a flow of thoughts, leaved in it's messy, pristine form. Do not expect capitalized letters too often, or normal sentence constructions. It barely keeps chronological order of events, but it is not so necessary.
This is an interesting satire on western society, showing it generalizing as artificial, steeped in consumerism, worthless. As an opposite was shown an arabic society, acting freely and sexually uninhibited.
Sometimes it was pushing me away by detailed descriptions of sexual acts, not always falling within the social norms. By often comparisons to sexual acts almost everything. God, a way too much of this. I know, that the purpose was to make us feel uneasy, that it can be easily classified as naturalistic, but as resistant I am, it was just repulsive at this intensity. Everything and everybody was crazy about sex and penises. The whole world.
And I'm not so sure about psychological compliance heroes' reactions with their causes. Especially the reaction of our angel to rape attempt... Unsuccessful, but who the hell reacts like this?! This is the beginning of her story, and I don't believe it could have been this way.
I hesitated a lot before rating. Gave 2/5, because parts I appreciated were in minority to the ones that irritated me. Even that the parts about western society were magnificent. I was annoyed by too much of sexual references, and glorification of pure desire, without even knowing each other.
Language it is written by I could describe as a flow of thoughts, leaved in it's messy, pristine form. Do not expect capitalized letters too often, or normal sentence constructions. It barely keeps chronological order of events, but it is not so necessary.
This is an interesting satire on western society, showing it generalizing as artificial, steeped in consumerism, worthless. As an opposite was shown an arabic society, acting freely and sexually uninhibited.
Sometimes it was pushing me away by detailed descriptions of sexual acts, not always falling within the social norms. By often comparisons to sexual acts almost everything. God, a way too much of this. I know, that the purpose was to make us feel uneasy, that it can be easily classified as naturalistic, but as resistant I am, it was just repulsive at this intensity. Everything and everybody was crazy about sex and penises. The whole world.
And I'm not so sure about psychological compliance heroes' reactions with their causes. Especially the reaction of our angel to rape attempt... Unsuccessful, but who the hell reacts like this?! This is the beginning of her story, and I don't believe it could have been this way.
I hesitated a lot before rating. Gave 2/5, because parts I appreciated were in minority to the ones that irritated me. Even that the parts about western society were magnificent. I was annoyed by too much of sexual references, and glorification of pure desire, without even knowing each other.
September 15, 2010
This was written in a weird way that made reading this book hard. The text on the cover was saying the book is going to be about romance between Maroccan guy living in catacumbs and female angel. But cause of form of sentences the book just pushed me away.
December 24, 2023
Makabra
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October 9, 2010Makbara never come across so innovative story writing with arabian culture and profundity
September 21, 2016
Dificilillo.
Pero con tintes exóticos y eróticos que merecen la pena.
Pero con tintes exóticos y eróticos que merecen la pena.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews