Περαστικός

by Paco Ignacio Taibo II, Κρίτων Ηλιόπουλος (translator)

"Κανένας δρόμος δε θα πάρει το όνομα του Σάν Βισέντε. Ακόμα και σήμερα είναι μονάχα ένας λεκές, ένα κομμάτι σύννεφο. "Η σκιά της σκιάς" θα πω για εκείνον και για άλλους φίλους του σε κάποιο μυθιστόρημα.
"Σκαλίζοντας αρχεία, μέσα σε παλιά χαρτιά και μικροφίλμ, το όνομά του εμφανιζόταν εδώ και κει. Μερικές φορές αρκεί για να υφάνεις ένα κομματάκι ιστορία· ποτέ δεν φτάνει για να ολοκληρωθεί. Δεν υπάρχει κείμενο με την υπογραφή του, ούτε μια παρέμβασή του σε συνέδριο στενογραφημένη, ούτε ένα δικό του άρθρο ολόκληρο. Δεν υπάρχουν φωτογραφίες, ούτε αποδείξεις ενοικίου στο όνομά του (ποτέ δεν είχε σπίτι), ούτε πιστοποιητικό γάμου ή εγγραφές γεννήσεων παιδιών σε μητρώα. Μόνο σκόρπια αποσπάσματα σε στήλες εφημερίδων, που δημιουργούν μια σκιά του ανθρώπου εκείνου".

Ο Σεμπάστιαν Σαν Βινσέντε πέρασε από το Μεξικό το 1921. Σκιά της σκιάς, επί τρία χρόνια ήταν επικεφαλής των χωρικών που έκαναν εφόδους σε πλούσια αγροκτήματα φωνάζοντας "Ζήτω ο Λένιν!". Έσωσε πόρνες, συμμετείχε σε τσίρκο, έπαιξε αξιοπρεπώς σονάτες του Σοπέν σε ένα εγκαταλελειμμένο πιάνο, δανείστηκε βιβλία που δεν τα επέστρεψε ποτέ, καθοδήγησε απεργίες, υπέφερε από εφιάλτες και κήρυξε την τελευταία ουτοπία. Στη συνέχεια εξορίστηκε και βυθίστηκε πάλι στη σκιά. Δεν έχουν μείνει ίχνη του, φωτογραφίες ή άλλα χειροπιαστά ντοκουμέντα.

Ο Πάκο Ιγνάσιο Τάιμπο ΙΙ ακολουθεί την πορεία αυτού του στρατευμένου επαναστάτη μέσα από επιστολές, αναφορές της αστυνομίας, άρθρα σε εφημερίδες και μαρτυρίες, κατασκευάζοντας μια λογοτεχνική προσωπικότητα.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Latin American

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Paco Ignacio Taibo II, birth name Francisco Ignacio Taibo Mahojo, is a popular Mexican writer and novelist. He is the son of the late journalist Paco Ignacio Taibo I.

Reviews

[Eternauta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ξεκίνησα την ανάγνωση με μισή καρδιά, ίσως γιατί με ξένισε το κάπως λυρικό ύφος, ίσως επειδή επιθυμούσα να διαβάσω αχόρταγα μια ακόμα περιπέτεια του αγαπημένου Μπελασκοαράν. Όπως και να'χει, κλείνοντας μετά από τρεις συναρπαστικές ώρες ανάγνωσης την τελευταία σελίδα νομίζω πως κρατάω στα χέρια μου το πιο δυνατό βιβλίο του Taibo.
Με φράσεις αποσπασματικές, ημιτελή στιγμιότυπα, βιαστικά αλλά μεστά σκίτσα, ο Taibo προσπαθεί να δώσει μορφή σε έναν σκιώδη Ισπανό επαναστάτη, για την ύπαρξη του οποίου κανείς άλλωστε δεν είναι απολύτως σίγουρος!
Στα χέρια ενός λιγότερο προικισμένου συγγραφέα το εγχείρημα θα κατέληγε σε μια φτηνή άσκηση μεταμοντέρνου ύφους. Εδώ, αντίθετα, γίνεται πανδαισία που περιέχει σε ίσες ποσότητες αναρχοσυνδικαλιστικό ακτιβισμό, έρωτα πάνω σε στρώμα από φοινικόφυλλα, άπειρο γέλιο, στεγνές μπουκάλες μεσκάλ, έναν καμπούρη γιατρό, θηριοδαμαστές, οδοφράγματα, κ.ο.κ.
Πληθωρικό αριστούργημα !

[George K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Τελευταία φορά που διάβασα βιβλίο του τρομερού Πάκο Ιγκνάσιο Τάιμπο ΙΙ, ήταν τον Φεβρουάριο του 2013, δηλαδή τέσσερα και βάλε χρόνια πριν. Τα αδιάβαστα βιβλία του στα ελληνικά που ανήκουν στην βιβλιοθήκη μου είναι πολύ λίγα (το "Περαστικός" είναι το δέκατο βιβλίο του που διαβάζω), οπότε πρέπει να είμαι αρκετά εγκρατής για να μην ξεμείνω, αλλά τόσος χρόνος... απεξάρτησης μου φαίνεται πολύς και βασανιστικός. Ο Τάιμπο ΙΙ είναι ένας από τους πιο ιδιαίτερους και αγαπημένους συγγραφείς που έχω την τύχη να γνωρίσω αναγνωστικά, και με το "Περαστικός" μου απέδειξε ακόμη μια φορά το γιατί.

Τι είναι ακριβώς το "Περαστικός"; Μυθιστόρημα; Βιογραφία ενός αναρχικού επαναστάτη, δημιούργημα της φαντασίας του συγγραφέα; Υπήρξε ο Σεμπάστιαν Σαν Βισέντε, πέρασε από το Μεξικό, έμπλεξε σε απεργίες και συνδικάτα και τα έβαλε με τις διεφθαρμένες Αρχές; Έχει σημασία; Ο Τάιμπο ΙΙ ακολουθεί αυτόν τον Σαν Βισέντε μέσω επιστολών, αναφορών της αστυνομίας, άρθρων εφημερίδων, τηλεγραφημάτων και μαρτυριών, σκιαγραφώντας έτσι το πορτρέτο ενός στρατευμένου επαναστάτη, που όπως έτσι ξαφνικά εμφανίστηκε, άλλο τόσο ξαφνικά εξαφανίστηκε, χωρίς να αφήσει πίσω του φωτογραφίες ή χειροπιαστά ντοκουμέντα.

Γιατί να διαβάσει κανείς το συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο; Πρώτον, γιατί το γράφει ο γαμάτος Πάκο Ιγκνάσιο Τάιμπο ΙΙ, που (ξανά)δίνει ρέστα με την απίθανη γραφή του, το μοναδικό του συγγραφικό ύφος, την μαύρη αίσθηση του χιούμορ του, τον απίθανο τρόπο που έχει να περιγράφει ωμά και ρεαλιστικά την ιστορία της πατρίδας του. Δεύτερον γιατί το ιδιαίτερο στιλ αφήγησης της ιστορίας σίγουρα θα τραβήξει το ενδιαφέρον αναγνωστών που λατρεύουν ιστορίες με (κάθε είδους) επαναστάτες ή/και που διαδραματίζονται στο σχετικά μακρινό και πολύπαθο παρελθόν του Μεξικού. Τρίτον... ε, τέλος πάντων, δεν χρειάζονται πολλά-πολλά, απλά διαβάστε το βιβλίο!

[Comfortably · Rating 4 out of 5]

η αλληλεγγύη δεν αγοράζεται

[Patryx · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basandosi su fittizie interviste e rapporti di polizia, Paco Ignacio Taibo II cerca di ricostruire gli episodi della vita di Sebastiàn San Vicente, un anarchico di origine spagnola vissuto in Messico dal 1921 al 1923. San Vicente è un personaggio di fantasia che fornisce all’autore l’occasione per ripercorrere gli anni della lotta per i diritti dei lavoratori durante i quali anarchici e comunisti lottarono insieme nonostante differenti ideologie e obiettivi (almeno quelli a lungo termine).



Il protagonista è un eroe solitario che incarna, con il suo stesso stile di vita, i fondamenti del pensiero di Errico Malatesta (un anarchico e scrittore italiano, tra i principali teorici del movimento anarchico); Sebastiàn San Vicente è un ideale di fedeltà ai propri valori verso cui tutti dovremmo tendere ma, per la sua stessa natura, rimane irraggiungibile.

[Sevi Salagianni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ο,τι χρειαζόταν για να αποχαιρετήσω το 2022! Ένα βιβλιο... κάτι μεταξύ λογοτεχνίας και δοκιμίου, που πολύ το ευχαριστήθηκα!

[Χρήστος Γιαννάκενας · Rating 4 out of 5]

Κάτι σαν τον Πολίτη Κέην της αναρχίας, αυτή η ιστορία αποτελεί non ficton/stranger than fiction. Ο Τάιμπο με την γνωστή αφηγηματική του δεινότητα καταφέρνει να συνθέσει ένα σύντομο χρονικό της παραμονής του Σεμπάστιαν Σαν Βινσέντε στο Μεξικό μέσα από τα μάτια συντρόφων, αντιπάλων και συχνά πυκνά του ιδίου του συγγραφέα, που δεν μπορεί να είναι σίγουρος για τίποτα αλλά θέλει να τιμήσει έναν πραγματικό αγωνιστή της Επανάστασης που δεν άφησε πραγματικά ίχνη πίσω του, παρά ήταν ένας περαστικός μέσα στα γεγονότα.

[Tentatively, Convenience · Rating 4 out of 5]

review of
Paco Ignacio Taibo II's Just Passing Through
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - January 9-10, 2019

For the complete review go here: https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/...

Taibo can do no wrong, from my perspective. This novel's a tad different from other ones I've read insofar as the thin historical sources he's trying to flesh out don't result in much meat. That's ok, though, it's still good food-for-thought.

"A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

"Much of what is written on the pages that follow is faithfully based on original documents, like conference minutes, police files, reports from foreign secret agents, witnesses' memoirs, articles from union newspapers, magazines and national newspapers.

"It would be difficult to describe this work as a novel."

"ANOTHER NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

"The majority of what is written on these pages has been reconstructed using the aurhor's imagination, as well as his personal and not very reliable accounts of events that took place in Tampico, Atlixco, Veracruz and Mexico City between 1920 and 1923. The documentary evidence is just the framework around which the fiction is built.

"It would be difficult to describe this work as a documentary; it is obviously a novel."

"A FINAL NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

"Just what the hell is a novel?"

Taibo quotes telegrams back & forth between J. Edgar Hoover & various agents. This was before the FBI existed so Hoover wd've been "head of the Bureau of Investigation's new General Intelligence Division" (Wikipedia) at the time of the following quote:

"AUG 20, 1920.

"ALL PORTS ARREST WARRANT SAN VICENTE AKA RUBIO. PREVENT DEPARTURE FROM COUNTRY. FOLLOW UP IF THE CONTRARY. AUTHORIZATION LIMITED TO MEXICO, CUBA, CANADA. MAX ALLOCATION SIX AGENTS FOR SAME.

"HOOVER" - p 2

"War Emergency Division

"He soon became the head of the Division's Alien Enemy Bureau, authorized by President Woodrow Wilson at the beginning of World War I to arrest and jail allegedly disloyal foreigners without trial. He received additional authority from the 1917 Espionage Act. Out of a list of 1,400 suspicious Germans living in the U.S., the Bureau arrested 98 and designated 1,172 as arrestable.

"Bureau of Investigation

"Head of the Radical Division

"In August 1919, the 24-year-old Hoover became head of the Bureau of Investigation's new General Intelligence Division, also known as the Radical Division because its goal was to monitor and disrupt the work of domestic radicals. America's First Red Scare was beginning, and one of Hoover's first assignments was to carry out the Palmer Raids.

"Hoover and his chosen assistant, George Ruch, monitored a variety of U.S. radicals with the intent to punish, arrest, or deport those whose politics they decided were dangerous. Targets during this period included Marcus Garvey; Rose Pastor Stokes and Cyril Briggs; Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman; and future Supreme Court justice Felix Frankfurter, who, Hoover maintained, was "the most dangerous man in the United States."

"Head of the Bureau of Investigation

"In 1921, Hoover rose in the Bureau of Investigation to deputy head and, in 1924, the Attorney General made him the acting director. On May 10, 1924, President Calvin Coolidge appointed Hoover as the fifth Director of the Bureau of Investigation, partly in response to allegations that the prior director, William J. Burns, was involved in the Teapot Dome scandal. When Hoover took over the Bureau of Investigation, it had approximately 650 employees, including 441 Special Agents. Hoover fired all female agents and banned the future hiring of them."

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Edga...

I checked Hoover's history online because I wanted to doublecheck whether he was as powerful in 1920 as Taibo presents him as being. He was. Hoover, of course, is an archetype of what's wrong with the Injustice System in the US insofar as he persecuted people active in causes that I support, such as the Civil Rights movement. He, of course, is notorious for denying the existence of Organized Crime at the same time that he was getting tips on the horse races from Mafiosa.

San Vicente, a dedicated revolutionary, is the hero of this bk.

"He told me about the Paris Commune as if he had been there, about Red Barcelona and the May 1 Chicago Haymarket Martyrs like Louis Ringg who blew his face off with an exploding cigarette before they could hang him" - p 12

"Ringg" is what it says in the bk & I find that peculiar b/c, as far as I know, the person in question was Louis Lingg. Is this a typo? Or is this the author presenting the narrator as a person w/ flawed memory or a person who misunderstood in the 1st place? I doubt that Taibo made a mistake.

Alas, even the hero gets robbed & the usual separation between poor people w/ consciences & poor people w/o consciences comes into play:

"On top of all that—in a little notebook with just a few leaves—he jotted down notes about Tampico, wrote a few unfinished letters, and balanced some accounts... A pair of pickpockets who worked for Slippers stole the notebook from him in San Lázaro station, who in turn passed it to a reserve polcieman, who turned it over to the authorities and, years later, it turned up on the desk of Gendarmerie Capt. Arturo Gómez." - p 19

A report to Hoover:

"While there, one of the most active members of anarchist groups and IWW. Said to have been involved in Mayflower assassionation attempt when Pres. Wilson got back Europe (JA)." - p 26

I find no mention of an attempt on President Wilson in James W. Clarke's excellent American Assassins, The Darker Side of Politics so I looked online. In Wikipedia's "List of United States presidential assassination attempts and plots" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of... ) there's no mention of a plot against Wilson. Given that I think Taibo's an excellent researcher I wonder what he knows that might not've gotten into general circulation. Then again, I wonder if this was some Hoover-manufactured bullshit being used as an excuse to arrest 'political undesirables'.

One of Taibo's fictional filling-in-of-the-gaps is about someone being hired to kill San Vicente:

""I'm told you were given some bills to kill me," he said straight off and without so much as a hello.

[..]

""Take the money out of your vest pocket with your two fingers and put it on the table," he told me. People were gathering round, and they were no assholes either, all getting behind him. It was clear that if there was going to be a shoot-out, it would all come my way.

"I spread the money out like a deck of cards, juts like they'd given it to me.

""You know this isn't for me. I won't touch a penny of it."" - p 34

"That asshole of a boss at the Cantabria squealed to some working stiff there so if I didn't kill San Vicente, he'd kill me, and then he'd send the cops in to finish things off. It wasn't the double-cross that bothered me most, it was the lack of trust.

"So I went along to Cantabria offices and put a slug between the wise-ass' eyes." - pp 34-35

Taibo's fiction has a hit man turn on his employer & kill him. Nice fantasy. I wonder if that's ever happened? Taibo touches further on his research:

"Once when I was in Washington, D.C., in the basement of the National Archives, I did a computer search to turn over the FBI's database for all the information they had on lists of foreign anarchists who had roamed around Mexico. I waited in the white-walled booth in which I was closed up. The computer rejected the name Sebastián San Vicente. I suppose that is where this story began.

"I wrote his name again, joining up the two words in his surname (Sanvicente), and the computer grudgingly gave me a list of files, that half an hour later turned into six rolls of microfilm, which a girl with spectacles like bottle tops brought to my electronic cavern." - pp 37-38

""Excuse me, is this the San Vicente family house?"

""..."

""I know this may seem a little strange, but I'm a writer trying to find out about a Mr. San Vicente who lived in Mexico City in the twenties."" - p 91

The Mexican Revolution is said to've lasted from November 20, 1910, to May 21, 1920. As such, this attempt at a history of San Vicente takes place after the revolution.. but not long after. Presumably, there were many people who felt that the revolution had not succeeded enuf. One of my favorite scenes in the novel is one in wch San Vicente & a fellow revolutionary, Phillips, continue to discuss political issues while they're being arrested & imprisoned.

"San Vicente's forty-five rolled along the waxed floor, and then followed the man, with his hands in the air.

""You're completely wrong, Phillips," he said, looking at his friend, without even glancing at the gun-barrels aiming at him. "The revolution is an act of will. What the bleedin' hell has science got to do with it?"

""Move your ass, jerk," a gendarme said, poking him with his rifle." - p 62

""Why not the soviets? But they must be soviets for all tendencies, soviets with room for all political organizations. Soviets elected from the grass roots, from the workers' assemblies."

""That's the way the soviets are in Russia."

""If that's the way they really were. But they've shut out the anarchists and social revolutionaries."

""They weren't elected in the last congress."

""They're being persecuted."

""They've acted against the revolution."

""They've acted against the Bolshevik dictatorship," said San Vicente." - p 64

""Are you a Bakuninite, one of Malatesta's pure anarchists, like one of those Spanish anarcho-syndicalists from the CNT, or what?" Phillips asked, and then added, "I met Pestaña in Moscow last year."

""I haven't had the pleasure. I happen to be an anarcho-syndicalist, or hadn't you noticed all these months we've been seeing each other? I like chorizo sausage, but I'm a vegetarian like all the Spanish working class," said San Vicente, half jokingly but half seriously." - pp 66-67

Mexican authorities institute a campaign of surveillance.

"The undersigned had been commissioned together with nine other agents from his group to keep a surveillance watch on the Gneral Workers' Confederation local at No. 27 Uruguay Street, hoping that the Spanish subversive José San Vicente, error, Sebastián San Vicente, a.k.a. Pedro Sánchez, a.k.a. the Tampico Man would show up, since he is on our wanted list. Although he was deported from Mexico last year, he has returned to continue with his illegal activities" - p 95

San Vicente goes into action against scabs.

"the streetcars were running, driven by scabs and with army escorts!" - p 107

"It was 11:15 on a cloudy morning. The first streetcar—a motorized one, No. 798—with a car in tow, had left the depot at eleven and went through the Plaza de Armas a few minutes later. There were no passengers on board because nobody had felt like stopping it. A scab was driving it escorted by eight soldiers—all Yaqui Indians amed with Mausers—from the palace guards regiment." - pp 107-108

"San Vicente cocked his pistol but was not the first to act. Robert Etagere, a streetcar worker, took a running jump and threw himself through a streetcar window and wrestled a Mauser off one of the soldiers. Then he shot the scab who was driving. San Vicente jumped through the door opposite. Rifle shots flew around inside the streetcar. The Spaniard fired off six shots at the solfiers, wounding three of them." - p 108

"A friend, a comrade says to him, "Sebastián, normal men fall in love with a whore once in their lives, idealists spenf time trying to reform them, but you couldn't stop there. No, you just had to go and organize them."" - p 113

""But did this man exist or didn't he?" my publisher Marco Antonio Jiménez—who's really suspicious—asks.

""Of course he existsed."

""But how do you tell his story?"

""I just go along, a few details here and there."

""Real details?"

""Well, are you going to publish it nor not? What the fuck does it matter whether he was really like this or like that, whether his clothes were this color or that?"

""But did he exist?"

""Sure enough."

""Good."" - p 117

There's a hunchback doctor who treats people for free, essentially another revolutionary.

"It's not for nothing that I'm the only hunchback with a medical diploma from the Sorbonne who treats people for free in the Bolsa district, who practices abortions, cures bleeding runaways, watches out for venereal diseases and quack herbal remedies. All that, and preventative medicine, selling condoms at cost, curing skin diseases and curing uncontrollable drug and alcohol addiction using the Prado method where if the patients don't die, it's a cinch they're saved for the rest of their vice-free days." - p 121

Remember VD? Venereal Disease? Does anyone say that anymore? Or is it just STDs (Sexually Transmitted Diseases)? Or is thre a new term I don't know? & what about this "Prado method"? What is it? I looked for it online & didn't find it. Perhaps it was a method that's considered too dangerous or untrustworthy now that doctors don't want information about it online out of fear of misuse. Dunno.

""The CROM couldn't find any other way to move into the La Colmena works than hiring a bunch of unemployed men—unemployed cops sacked from El Oro—and put them under the command of a friend of Alvarez, a slob of a leader from the Mexico City Federation, whom even they had sent to Coventry because he had got addicted to drugs and was of no use, not even as an office worker.["]" - p 123

"The Confederación Regional Obrera Mexicana (CROM) (Spanish: Regional Confederation of Mexican Workers) is a federation of labor unions in Mexico.

"It was founded in Saltillo in 1918 at a congress of labor delegates called by Mexican President Venustiano Carranza. The federation, of which Luis Napoleón Morones was a major leader, marked a departure from the traditionally anarchist stance of Mexican labor to a nationalist position." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regiona...

In other words, a fake union meant to serve government purposes. As for being "sent to Coventry":

"To be ignored or ostracised. This behaviour often takes the form of pretending that the shunned person, although conspicuously present, can't be seen or heard.

"The origins of this phrase aren't known, although it is quite probable that events in Coventry in the English Civil War in the 1640s play a part." - https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/s...

Of course, the police are after San Vicente. One of them is Gómez.

"Gómez, that's me. Arturo Gómez, captain in the Mexico City mounted police. Shot my way up to Captain, rather than getting here by picking up housebreakers or punks who mug old women. A frustrated pianist too, if you must know. I don't mean frustrated by lack of time or talent, but because I had two fingers blown off my left hand in the Battle of Celaya, and nobody composes piano piecs for just the right hand." - p 131

NOT.

A
▪ Album for One Hand Alone No.1 (Beneking, Stephan)
▪ Album for One Hand Alone No.2 (Beneking, Stephan)
▪ Album for One Hand Alone No.3 (Beneking, Stephan)
▪ Album für das einhändige Klavierspiel (Hochstetter, Cäsar)
▪ Amygdala Nocturne No.1 in A minor (Beneking, Stephan)
▪ Amygdala Nocturne No.2 in A-flat minor (Beneking, Stephan)
▪ Amygdala Nocturne No.3 in A-sharp minor (Beneking, Stephan)
C
▪ Clavierstück für die rechte oder linke Hand allein, H.241 (Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel)
▪ 24 Concert Études (Giorni, Aurelio)
E
▪ 6 Elegies for One Hand in B minor (Beneking, Stephan)
▪ Etudes rhapsodiques, Op.51 (Kessler, Joseph Christoph)
G
▪ Glasperlenspiel (Beneking, Stephan)
▪ 3 Grandes Études, Op.76 (Alkan, Charles-Valentin)
▪ 5 Gymnopédies (Beneking, Stephan)
L
▪ Lyrische Stücke (Grieg, Edvard)
M
▪ 3 Morceaux de Concert (Satter, Gustav)
▪ 3 Morceaux (Lisovsky, Leonid)
N
▪ 10 Nocturnes for One Hand Alone in C-sharp minor (Beneking, Stephan)
▪ 10 Nocturnes-Etudes for One Hand Alone (Beneking, Stephan)
▪ 6 Nocturnes-Etudes for One Hand (Beneking, Stephan)
O
▪ Ohne (Mirzazade, Khayyam)
P
▪ 15 Pieces de clavecin faciles (Vogler, Georg Joseph)
▪ 18 Preludes for One Hand Alone (Beneking, Stephan)
▪ 20 Preludes, Op.52 (Foote, Arthur)
S
▪ Serenade for a Right Hand (Yamamoto, Jun)
▪ Springar (Zintl, Frank)
U
▪ Un Sourire à Papeete (Lyonnaz, Paul)
V
▪ Valse chantée, H 131 (Berlioz, Hector)
▪ 24 Valses melancoliques for One Hand (Beneking, Stephan)
▪ Vocalise (Bitensky, Laurence Scott) 
- https://imslp.org/wiki/Category:For_p...

But San Vicente evades capture.

""Come out, San Vicente, with your hands up!"

"There is a window—you lean out. You can hear bullets tearing through the door behind you. First things first—you throw a five-foot wardrobe against the door, then the cot and a trunk full of old plates. The window. On the first floor. You stick your head out, your hair on end as if you had just had a fright. And what the hell is this if it isn't a fright? The glass shatters and a shot comes in through the window. The bullet smashes into the ceiling, raising a neat little cloud of plaster. You smash the remaining window-panes with the barrel of your colt, and rattle off five shots in quick succession. The rifle butts are now splintering the door. You jump out of the window. You lose a shoe when your feet hit the ground, and you keep on shooting—using the revolver now—at two shadows that go scurrying away. You reload by lamplight" - pp 139-140

"San Vicente puts a copy of Anarchyby Errico Malatesta into his jacket pocket and breathes deeply. He cannot go to the Nuestra Palabra editorial meeting because the police are bound to be waiting for him when he gets there. Leave town? Go to Librado Rivera's anarchist group in San Luis Potosí? Or to Veracruz, where Fernando Oca from Santander was now trying to take anarchist unions into the countryside? Or to Bruschetta in Puebla? Or somewhere new, where the CGT hasn't spread, like the mining districts in Chihuahua, Coahuila or Zacatecas?" - p 143

I figure Malatesta is well enuf known for me to not go into him here — but what about the rest?

"Librado Rivera (August 17, 1864 - March 1, 1932) was an anarchist during the Mexican Revolution. He co-published the anarchist newspaper Regeneración with Jesús Flores Magón and Ricardo Flores Magón. He took over editorial duties for the anarcho-syndicalist newspaper Sagitario in 1924." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Librado...

For the complete review go here: https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/...

[Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me divertí, sobre todo al final

[Volker Rivinius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pour un étranger, le Mexique est probablement un pays qui permet de disparaître volontairement sans laisser de traces, ou alors juste le strict minimum. Ambrose Bierce (le "viejo gringo" de Carlos Fuentes) et le mystérieux B. Traven auraient pu en témoigner - mais bon, puisqu'ils ont disparu...

Le cas de Sebastian San Vicente est quelque peu différent: ses traces se perdent au moment même où il s'embarque à Veracruz pour quitter le Mexique. Anarchiste, syndicaliste, utopiste, il avait passé trois ans au Mexique, passage dont Paco Ignacio Taibo II tente de reconstituer le trajet. Loin d'en rajouter à une icônologie gauchiste, l'auteur mélange adroitement reportage et fiction, sans qu'on sache où commence l'une et ou finit l'autre. En revanche on reconnait l'ironie habituelle de PIT II, ce qui en fait une lecture assez poilante.

[Adrian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Historias del anarquista Sanvicente, muy buen trabajo, original, buenos argumentos, y invita al jaloneo de neuronas, el mejor libro de este escritor, que la verdad sus demas trabajos dejan mucho que desear.

[Rogue Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

A standalone, not Hector but still good and oh so Mexican. Regret and nostalgia and pride and history and future all mixed up in one. A splendid book jacket, Diego Rivera's "Dia de muertos"

[Octavio Villalpando · Rating 1 out of 5]

Supongo que, en cuestión de ideología anarquista, hay un amplio sector de lectores a los cuales este libro les puede gustar mucho. Taibo logra pintar un cuadro casi idílico de Sebastián San Vicente, exaltando su persona como solo se puede hacer cuando se siente la existencia de un lazo por los mismos ideales compartidos. No es sopresa pues, que Taibo recurriera a San Vicente no solo en este libro, si no también en "Sombra de la sombra", en 1986.

Desde el punto de vista técnico, se trata de un libro interesante, Taibo logra hacer que su protagonista viva en forma tangencial a los testimonios y reportes de los que la obra esta constituida, evocando a la perfección al caracter misterioso de San Vicente, siempre de paso por todos lados, sin domicilio fijo, cual si de un fantasma se tratara. A este respecto, nada que objetar, y de hecho, simplemente por este factor, bastaría para recomendar la lectura de este libro, que por otro lado, es muy sencilla de hacer, ya que en realidad, su extensión permite que sea lea prácticamente "de una sentada".

Sin embargo, dados los acontecimientos recientes, con Taibo ejerciendo como la cabeza del Fondo de Cultura Económica, como parte del sistema, ¡y peor! encajando a la perfección en este, los ideales planteados en el texto dejan un sabor un poco extraño en los labios. Es decir, en una parte, se justifica la imposición de una dictadura con el fin de conservar aquello que los rebeldes han ganado, y desde luego, aunque la libertad en si sea de dudosa existencia, no deja de resultar sospechoso el lamentable "Se las metimos doblada" expresado por Taibo cuando fue colocado a la cabeza de la dependencia que preside. Espero no sea una extensión del pensamiento colectivo de la denominada 4ta. En fin, supongo que es solo un prejuicio personal, pero es tanto el afán del autor por querer ser San Vicente que su actuar actual resulta muy chocante porque, cuando pudo haber dicho no y seguir según "luchando" por los ideales del pueblo, pues no se fue, y ahí sigue, lo que hace que prácticamente todo el libro suene como a un gran compendio sobre hipocresía que al menos a mi, si se me hace superior a los méritos literarios que pueda tener. Después de todo, el libro no esta presentado como una biografía, si no como una novela. Cuando un autor empieza a moralizar a través de su obra, de esta forma, pues se expone a no poder ser criticado simplemente desde los terrenos de la literatura misma, y ante la falta de congruencia exhibida por este señor, pues ni hablar. Creo que este va a ser uno de esos casos en los que no voy a ofrecer este libro a alguien más que quiera leerlo, si no que va a ser destinado a la basura, así sin más...

[Giulia Cacciatore · Rating 3 out of 5]

In questo libro ripercorriamo alcuni anni di San Vincente, il rivoluzionario di passaggio che dalla Spagna ha attraversato l'Atlantico fino al continente americano per lottare a fianco di chi vedeva pestati i suoi diritti.
Senza una casa e nessun altro possedimento, San Vincente si dedica al prossimo più che a se stesso finchè, le autorità non riescono a catturarlo e la sua figura si perde tra le pagine della storia.

[Owen Haines · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool structure idea in theory I think, but I ended up not really knowing what was going on

[J.R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not an ordinary novel and it’s difficult to say what genre it might fit. But, as Taibo himself says in a note, “Just what the hell is a novel?”

The novel is a brief “biography” of Sebastian San Vicente, an internationalist labor organizer who was twice deported from Mexico by the Obregon government in the 1920s.

It’s an odd mix of fiction, anarchist and radical labor movement history and social commentary in a style combining magic realism as well as telegrams, government reports and narrative from a variety of viewpoints including that of the assumed hero, Sebastian San Vicente, his associates and enemies and even the author.

For the reader unfamiliar with Mexico and labor history it may prove confusing, though the translator does a good job of providing footnotes to provide enlightenment on key figures and events.

This English translation of De Paso was brought out by Cinco Puntos Press of El Paso which is dedicated to opening a window on the culture and people of Mexico and the Southwest.

Taibo is best known in the United States for his mystery series starring the quirky Hector Balascoran Shayne. This book is definitely a departure from that but was still a fun and interesting read.

[D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do you rate a book higher because there aren't enough quasi-fictional books on Anarchism out there? I'd give this book a 3.5 stars based on novelty of subject matter, but overall, I didn't love it or anything. It was decent, and funny, and I'd certainly have kept reading if it was longer (it's more like 80-90pgs, with all the gaps between chapters, etc), but I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it. Can't say much against it though, except I never knew who's POV a given chapter was.

[Malamas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Με τον δικό του μοναδικό τρόπο ο Taibo μπλέκει ιστορία και μυθιστόρημα. Η ιστορία του San Vicente που εμφανίζεται σποραδικά σε κάποια έγγραφα της αστυνομίας εμπνέει το συγγραφέα να πλέξει ιστορία και μύθο σε ένα. Ευχάριστο βιβλίο που σου αφήνει μια πίκρα στο τέλος, γιατί όντως θα 'θελες να ξέρεις περισσότερα για αυτό το πρόσωπο. Ίσως όμως και όχι...

[tonyskapunk · Rating 4 out of 5]

buen libro, tipo novela historica, sobre un anarquista asturiano y su paso por Mexico.

[Mariana Prieto Montañez · Rating 5 out of 5]

si

[Tassos · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Ίσως ένας αυθεντικός άπατρις..."

[BibliofiliaFull · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leí la edición de Leega Literaria. Cuando sea grande, quiero escribir historia como Paco Ignacio Taibo II.