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Юный Владетель сокровищ
Мигель Анхель Астуриас (1899 - 1974) - классик мировой литературы XX века, лауреат Нобелевской премии. Перу гватемальского писателя принадлежат знаменитые романы Сеньор президент, Маисовые люди (одно из самых представительных произведений магического реализма), трилогия Ураган, Зеленый папа, Глаза погребенных и другие, а также многочисленные рассказы и стихотворения. В повести Астуриаса Юный Владетель сокровищ (1961) - шедевре поэтической прозы, предлагаемой вниманию читателей, - изящно переплетаются детские фантазии и сказочные мотивы, сон и явь, жизнь и смерть.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1961
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About the author
Miguel Ángel Asturias
141 books416 followersGuatemalan poet, novelist, diplomat, and winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1967. Asturias's writings combine the mysticism of the Maya with epic impulse toward social protest. His most famous novel is EL SEÑOR PRESIDENTE (1946), about life under the rule of a ruthless dictator. Asturias spent much of his life in exile because of his public opposition to dictatorial rule.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 25, 2022
Written about the same time as Leyendas de Guatemala and El Señor Presidente, that is to say in the 1920's in Paris, but first published (with some reworking) in 1961, the novella El Alhajadito is also written in surrealist style. It is from the consciousness (although in third person) of a boy who has (apparently) been kept from any knowledge of his parents, who have mysteriously "disappeared", and has been brought up by servants "with long braids". He discovers a "little corridor (corredorcito)" hidden behind the walls of his room. No, it doesn't lead to Narnia or anything like that; in fact it doesn't literally lead anywhere, and seems to have no function at all. However, when in "his" corredorcito, the boy gives himself over to imagination, or possibly dreams, which in surrealistic fashion are difficult to distinguish from reality, but express his hopes and anxieties.
In the first part, which is most of the book, after his discovery of the corredorcito, he is next with a group of fisherman mending their nets, then meets up with a stranger, an ill-dressed old man with a cane. There is a storm which floods the area, and he rescues the old man and takes him to his corredorcito. The man apparently dies, in the care of the servants, and the boy realizes in typical dream fashion that he has had breakfast with the old man every morning and that it is his grandfather. When he asks about him he is told that he has "disappeared" like the rest of his family. The next morning, a circus suddenly appears in the back yard, and the head of the circus seeks him out and asks his permission to set up their tent, as with the death of his "grandfather" he is now the owner of the house. He is treated as an honored guest, and the circus is about to begin when a torch falls and kills the head of the circus, which is then postponed. The next day, the various performers wage a civil war over who will be the new head of the circus, between the daughter of the old head and the lion tamer, who threatens to loose the lions and tigers if he is not made the new head. There is much fighting over the keys to the cages, which are eventually stolen by a monkey who gives them to his "brother", a Black man who is apparently some sort of janitor, who then becomes the new head of the circus.
I would have to dock the story by a couple stars because of the offensive way in which this character is presented, with ungrammatical and mispronounced dialogue that could be rendered as "No hurt neglo . . . Neglo not bad, neglo sweep with broom . . . No laugh, monkey, this how neglos smoke cigar at wedding . . . " and so on ad nauseam. The Chinese cooks are also treated in the same racist fashion; no one can understand them because they speak "chino o cocino" (Chinese or kitchen-ese). Asturias was well in advance of his time in his recognition of the human dignity of the Indians and mestizos, but unfortunately doesn't seem to have applied the same insight to Blacks and Chinese.
Meanwhile, a "counterfeit fisherman" for no apparent reason is attacking the circus performers with a slingshot, until they put aside their internal dispute to beat him almost to death. The Black man eventually decides to set him free and he ends up somehow in the corredorcito. The following night there is a second performance, but as soon as it begins the fishermen capture the performers in their nets. Without any transition, we are back in the corredorcito the next morning and the circus is leaving. One of the fishermen from the battle, sitting in the corredorcito, tells the boy the story of his (the boy's) family, who are pirates captained by the devil himself but will all eventually return. He then tells the boy the story of how his great-great-grandfather, whom the boy says is his great-grandfather and is apparently the same old man who was the grandfather before, married a girl who was a flying barrel, and then describes the casting of a giant bell that instead of sounds gave out odors.
There follow two shorter parts. In part two, the boy is on a small boat searching for a ghost ship. This was by far the most boring part of the novella. In part three, we are apparently in the real world, and the boy remembers two women he lives with who are called his mother and sister but whom he cannot tell apart. He makes friends with a gardener and his blind son, who overhears a conversation between his father and the boy's "mothers" which reveals his real situation, and the boy realizes that everything he has apparently experienced before, including the large house, the servants with braids and even the corredorcito itself may have been all dreams. The book ends in an ambiguous way.
If not for the unfortunate racism, which could perhaps be ignored if it had been published when it was written in 1929 but is clearly unacceptable in a book revised for publication as late as 1961, this would have been a wonderful introduction for students to the style of surrealism, with just enough plot to make it somewhat understandable.
In the first part, which is most of the book, after his discovery of the corredorcito, he is next with a group of fisherman mending their nets, then meets up with a stranger, an ill-dressed old man with a cane. There is a storm which floods the area, and he rescues the old man and takes him to his corredorcito. The man apparently dies, in the care of the servants, and the boy realizes in typical dream fashion that he has had breakfast with the old man every morning and that it is his grandfather. When he asks about him he is told that he has "disappeared" like the rest of his family. The next morning, a circus suddenly appears in the back yard, and the head of the circus seeks him out and asks his permission to set up their tent, as with the death of his "grandfather" he is now the owner of the house. He is treated as an honored guest, and the circus is about to begin when a torch falls and kills the head of the circus, which is then postponed. The next day, the various performers wage a civil war over who will be the new head of the circus, between the daughter of the old head and the lion tamer, who threatens to loose the lions and tigers if he is not made the new head. There is much fighting over the keys to the cages, which are eventually stolen by a monkey who gives them to his "brother", a Black man who is apparently some sort of janitor, who then becomes the new head of the circus.
I would have to dock the story by a couple stars because of the offensive way in which this character is presented, with ungrammatical and mispronounced dialogue that could be rendered as "No hurt neglo . . . Neglo not bad, neglo sweep with broom . . . No laugh, monkey, this how neglos smoke cigar at wedding . . . " and so on ad nauseam. The Chinese cooks are also treated in the same racist fashion; no one can understand them because they speak "chino o cocino" (Chinese or kitchen-ese). Asturias was well in advance of his time in his recognition of the human dignity of the Indians and mestizos, but unfortunately doesn't seem to have applied the same insight to Blacks and Chinese.
Meanwhile, a "counterfeit fisherman" for no apparent reason is attacking the circus performers with a slingshot, until they put aside their internal dispute to beat him almost to death. The Black man eventually decides to set him free and he ends up somehow in the corredorcito. The following night there is a second performance, but as soon as it begins the fishermen capture the performers in their nets. Without any transition, we are back in the corredorcito the next morning and the circus is leaving. One of the fishermen from the battle, sitting in the corredorcito, tells the boy the story of his (the boy's) family, who are pirates captained by the devil himself but will all eventually return. He then tells the boy the story of how his great-great-grandfather, whom the boy says is his great-grandfather and is apparently the same old man who was the grandfather before, married a girl who was a flying barrel, and then describes the casting of a giant bell that instead of sounds gave out odors.
There follow two shorter parts. In part two, the boy is on a small boat searching for a ghost ship. This was by far the most boring part of the novella. In part three, we are apparently in the real world, and the boy remembers two women he lives with who are called his mother and sister but whom he cannot tell apart. He makes friends with a gardener and his blind son, who overhears a conversation between his father and the boy's "mothers" which reveals his real situation, and the boy realizes that everything he has apparently experienced before, including the large house, the servants with braids and even the corredorcito itself may have been all dreams. The book ends in an ambiguous way.
If not for the unfortunate racism, which could perhaps be ignored if it had been published when it was written in 1929 but is clearly unacceptable in a book revised for publication as late as 1961, this would have been a wonderful introduction for students to the style of surrealism, with just enough plot to make it somewhat understandable.
February 10, 2025
Dentro del mundo que crea Miguel Ángel de Asturias, El Alhajadito es la obra más familiar y resumida del autor, donde los elementos míticos, las descripciones cuantiosas y aventureras se implantan y retoman los recuerdos de un pasado no tan lejano.
El Alhajadito en un comienzo es un niño que describe el corredor donde pasó mucha gente y no volvió; después es un adulto que entrelaza su historia con la de otros personajes que no saben el por qué llegaron a tal lugar; y al final vemos al Alhajadito como un adulto que retoma sus historias pasadas para recodar quién es y la importancia de ese corredor de su infancia.
Se sigue pensando que Asturias es un pionero o gran referente entre los escritores del realismo mágico por el dominio y propuesta a la hora de narrar una historia, pero también por profundizar en el trasfondo de una historia que puede parecer simple, pero tiene diversas interpretaciones por cada elemento que utiliza para narrar algo tan simple como el paso de las hormigas en una pared y cómo su personaje se queda viéndolas; la misma mirada que sostiene a lo largo de su travesía y con la misma incredulidad de su niñez al ver las hormigas marchar y ser pisadas.
El Alhajadito en un comienzo es un niño que describe el corredor donde pasó mucha gente y no volvió; después es un adulto que entrelaza su historia con la de otros personajes que no saben el por qué llegaron a tal lugar; y al final vemos al Alhajadito como un adulto que retoma sus historias pasadas para recodar quién es y la importancia de ese corredor de su infancia.
Se sigue pensando que Asturias es un pionero o gran referente entre los escritores del realismo mágico por el dominio y propuesta a la hora de narrar una historia, pero también por profundizar en el trasfondo de una historia que puede parecer simple, pero tiene diversas interpretaciones por cada elemento que utiliza para narrar algo tan simple como el paso de las hormigas en una pared y cómo su personaje se queda viéndolas; la misma mirada que sostiene a lo largo de su travesía y con la misma incredulidad de su niñez al ver las hormigas marchar y ser pisadas.
January 6, 2024
Todo siempre es un sueño.
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September 12, 2025Guatemala
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews