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El desierto
Reedición, corregida por el autor, de la novela ganadora del Premio La Nación-Sudamericana 2005.
1993. Veinte años después de haber sido destituida como jueza, Laura Larco regresa de su exilio en Berlín a Pampa Hundida, pueblo detenido en el tiempo en el norte de Chile, a enfrentar los fantasmas de los años posteriores al golpe de Estado, y así responderle a su hija adolescente, sobre su participación durante los años de la represión. Simultáneamente, ha regresado también el mayor Cáceres, quien fuera el encargado de los campos de prisioneros, juicios militares, ejecuciones y desapariciones. Con la celebración de la Diablada como música de fondo, en este reencuentro se revelará un oscuro pasado en el que se conjugan el débil rol de la justicia, el poder del mal y la responsabilidad ética de la sociedad.
1993. Veinte años después de haber sido destituida como jueza, Laura Larco regresa de su exilio en Berlín a Pampa Hundida, pueblo detenido en el tiempo en el norte de Chile, a enfrentar los fantasmas de los años posteriores al golpe de Estado, y así responderle a su hija adolescente, sobre su participación durante los años de la represión. Simultáneamente, ha regresado también el mayor Cáceres, quien fuera el encargado de los campos de prisioneros, juicios militares, ejecuciones y desapariciones. Con la celebración de la Diablada como música de fondo, en este reencuentro se revelará un oscuro pasado en el que se conjugan el débil rol de la justicia, el poder del mal y la responsabilidad ética de la sociedad.
480 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 27, 2024
Laura fue la jueza más joven del país, en Pampa Hundida, en el norte de Chile, cuando el Golpe en Estado de Pinochet (1973); veinte años después, académica de Filosofía, es cuestionada por su hija Claudia: “¿Dónde estabas cuando ocurrían esas terribles cosas?”.
Una carta y su vuelta al pueblo y al cargo pretenden ser una respuesta: cuesta encontrar las palabras para describir lo vivido. La historia se va impregnando con los conceptos antagónicos de Apolo y Dionisos; la Ley y el Poder; la Razón y el arraigo sincrético milenario.
Aparecen los personajes de Mario, ex - marido y periodista decadente; el Mayor Mariano Cáceres Latorre, el caporal Mamani, el Padre Penna, el Dr. Ordóñez, el joven abogado, el tonto Iván.
En el desierto no siempre lo ideal, lo nuevo, lo inocente es capaz de dar cuenta del mundo; avanzar en un conocimiento es asomarse al abismo, escuchar cosas que tal vez no deberían haberse oído.
La novela es muy buena, reveladora y capaz de poner en palabras cuestiones humanas muy complejas. Alternan los capítulos con la carta de Laura, y su llegada a Pampa Hundida. Por momentos se hace larga, angustiante, como un desierto. El final tal vez es excesivamente racional, apolíneo, como oposición a los finales dionisíacos de Las Ménades o las obras de Osvaldo Soriano.
Una carta y su vuelta al pueblo y al cargo pretenden ser una respuesta: cuesta encontrar las palabras para describir lo vivido. La historia se va impregnando con los conceptos antagónicos de Apolo y Dionisos; la Ley y el Poder; la Razón y el arraigo sincrético milenario.
Aparecen los personajes de Mario, ex - marido y periodista decadente; el Mayor Mariano Cáceres Latorre, el caporal Mamani, el Padre Penna, el Dr. Ordóñez, el joven abogado, el tonto Iván.
En el desierto no siempre lo ideal, lo nuevo, lo inocente es capaz de dar cuenta del mundo; avanzar en un conocimiento es asomarse al abismo, escuchar cosas que tal vez no deberían haberse oído.
La novela es muy buena, reveladora y capaz de poner en palabras cuestiones humanas muy complejas. Alternan los capítulos con la carta de Laura, y su llegada a Pampa Hundida. Por momentos se hace larga, angustiante, como un desierto. El final tal vez es excesivamente racional, apolíneo, como oposición a los finales dionisíacos de Las Ménades o las obras de Osvaldo Soriano.
November 9, 2019
Pământul este oraşul Pampa Hundida, o oază înconjurată de miraje din deşertul Atacama. Memoria ei este celălalt deşert. Laura a fost cea mai tânără judecătoare din ţara ei. În Germania, a studiat filozofia şi a scris o carte celebră, intitulată Moira. Din Berlin, înainte de a se întoarce în ţară, i se confesează fiicei sale într-o scrisoare. Îi povesteşte tot ce i s-a întâmplat în Chile, după lovitura militară din anul 1973, cum a fost violata de comandantul lagarului de prinzonieri din localitate si infinal cum va ramane gravida in urma acelui viol. Lucruri pe care le ştia şi altele pe care le va descoperi treptat în amintirea ei ascunsă.
Rând pe rând, vreme de trei zile ameţitoare, în timpul marii sărbători religioase de la Pampa Hundida, între dansuri şi măşti diavoleşti, Laura înfruntă mai multe mistere. in final fiica ei va afla lucruri teribile iar localnicii il vor ucide intr.o procesiune colectiva in cadrul marii sarbatori, pe comandantul lagarului reintors in localitate. Sindromul Stockholm este redat foarte bine. Va reuşi ea oare să învingă acea «gratitudine abjectă» pe care a resimţit-o cândva?"
Rând pe rând, vreme de trei zile ameţitoare, în timpul marii sărbători religioase de la Pampa Hundida, între dansuri şi măşti diavoleşti, Laura înfruntă mai multe mistere. in final fiica ei va afla lucruri teribile iar localnicii il vor ucide intr.o procesiune colectiva in cadrul marii sarbatori, pe comandantul lagarului reintors in localitate. Sindromul Stockholm este redat foarte bine. Va reuşi ea oare să învingă acea «gratitudine abjectă» pe care a resimţit-o cândva?"
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 15, 2019
Tras haber visto comentarios de gente que sabe de literatura más que yo , colocándola dentro de las novelas chilenas más importantes del último tiempo, debo reconocer que quedé algo decepcionado. Siento que a veces la novela se justificaba más por lo que quería decir que por lo que realmente decía. Presentó una historia interesante, pero sentí que entre elipsis, flashbacks y monólogos interiores y algunos diálogos y descripciones que me parecieron pretenciosas al nivel de lo cursi, ésta fue perdiendo interés y no siento que haya logrado culminarla bien y los personajes terminaron quedando inconclusos. Seguramente una lectura más académica o crítica revelarán elementos que contiene y que la enriquecen, pero dentro de mi primera y algo superficial lectura quedé con una sensación de insatisfacción...
June 10, 2011
Review forthcoming on Hey Small Press!
May 10, 2021
Gran novela postdictatorial en Chile. El problema: algunos fragmentos parece muy forzados y excesivos.
May 26, 2012
There are times in our lives in which we must face something unthinkable. We must face our fears with no one around for guidance or support, isolated. The decision we make in that moment can often define who we are. When facing pure evil and with many lives at stake could we make the right decision? Furthermore, should we judge those placed in that position? These are some of the points made in Franz's The Absent Sea. Set upon the backdrop of Pampa Hundida, an isolated spot in Chile, spanning from the coup de etat of 1973 to 1993 after the end of the dictatorship of Pinochet. Those decisions from our youth come back to haunt us. Can we redeem ourselves now for our past decisions and set things right?
Laura Larco was the youngest judge in Chile before the 1973 coup de etat. When the military took over she fled the country. 20 years later her daughter challenges her to return, almost tauntingly. Asking where she was when all these horrible things happened. The military tribunals, the killing of political prisoners and so much worse. The horrors revealed in this book highlight both the cruelty of those with power as well as those to afraid to speak against them. That fear and the guilt thereafter drive the story both past and present as Laura attempts to answer her daughters accusation.
Laura attempts to answer her daughter in a letter. The story alternates between what happened then and Laura's return during the Diablo festival. In those three days not only is Laura's story revealed, but all of Chile's.
Although the author tends to use overly flowery language (or it could be the translation), I loved the imagery, symbolism, and the use of guilt. It reminded me of books that use the German Guilt as in Bernard Schlink's The Reader. The next generation judging what happened before. Although in this case, it is those who stood by, who endured that is called into question. In Claudia's question is a question of the people of Chile, how could you let this happen? Laura's answer reveals so much more in the book's shocking conclusion.
Favorite Lines:
" That could be one paradoxical virtue of old age, I suppose: the memories which used to frighten us, sadden us, gradually lose their power to be so devastating." p. 59
"He lacked the ability to burn all those stories and begin others from scratch, starting from zero until coming up with a fair copy at last. He lacked what it took to die at least once, which is what every writer needs before setting himself to write..." p. 29
"He still hand't had time enough to learn that you can't save the truly innocent ones. Laura imagined the years of his career ahead of him, the assignments, the promotions, the demotions into the abyss of bureaucracy that would become more and more tedious, while for him the dead child would still be drowning in his impossible dream..." p. 287
"And at the same moment, I realized that my attempted resignation was the last arrogant gesture of an insolent youth when I had believed myself capable of serving justice. My ridiculous project of resigning "publically" was completely out of place, since one does not renounce innocence; you lose it, that's all." p. 324
"...just as in the huge stadiums, people needed to hear the description of what lay before their eyes in order t comprehend its meaning, in order to see themselves in their collective dimensions. She thought: the people, the nation, the church are always the "others", the story that makes the "other" out of us; but in truth we are isolated individuals, all alone, incapable of narrating us to ourselves, barely touched by the voice calling out to us in the desert." p. 328
Laura Larco was the youngest judge in Chile before the 1973 coup de etat. When the military took over she fled the country. 20 years later her daughter challenges her to return, almost tauntingly. Asking where she was when all these horrible things happened. The military tribunals, the killing of political prisoners and so much worse. The horrors revealed in this book highlight both the cruelty of those with power as well as those to afraid to speak against them. That fear and the guilt thereafter drive the story both past and present as Laura attempts to answer her daughters accusation.
Laura attempts to answer her daughter in a letter. The story alternates between what happened then and Laura's return during the Diablo festival. In those three days not only is Laura's story revealed, but all of Chile's.
Although the author tends to use overly flowery language (or it could be the translation), I loved the imagery, symbolism, and the use of guilt. It reminded me of books that use the German Guilt as in Bernard Schlink's The Reader. The next generation judging what happened before. Although in this case, it is those who stood by, who endured that is called into question. In Claudia's question is a question of the people of Chile, how could you let this happen? Laura's answer reveals so much more in the book's shocking conclusion.
Favorite Lines:
" That could be one paradoxical virtue of old age, I suppose: the memories which used to frighten us, sadden us, gradually lose their power to be so devastating." p. 59
"He lacked the ability to burn all those stories and begin others from scratch, starting from zero until coming up with a fair copy at last. He lacked what it took to die at least once, which is what every writer needs before setting himself to write..." p. 29
"He still hand't had time enough to learn that you can't save the truly innocent ones. Laura imagined the years of his career ahead of him, the assignments, the promotions, the demotions into the abyss of bureaucracy that would become more and more tedious, while for him the dead child would still be drowning in his impossible dream..." p. 287
"And at the same moment, I realized that my attempted resignation was the last arrogant gesture of an insolent youth when I had believed myself capable of serving justice. My ridiculous project of resigning "publically" was completely out of place, since one does not renounce innocence; you lose it, that's all." p. 324
"...just as in the huge stadiums, people needed to hear the description of what lay before their eyes in order t comprehend its meaning, in order to see themselves in their collective dimensions. She thought: the people, the nation, the church are always the "others", the story that makes the "other" out of us; but in truth we are isolated individuals, all alone, incapable of narrating us to ourselves, barely touched by the voice calling out to us in the desert." p. 328
June 20, 2011
“Where were you Mamá, when all those horrible things were taking place in your city?” This question, put to Laura by her daughter Claudia, is what has drawn The Absent Sea’s protagonist back to the fictional town of Pampa Hundida at the start of novelist Carlos Franz’s exploration of the turbulent aftermath of Chile’s 1973 coup.
Pampa Hundida is a recurring setting for Franz’s work. He places it in the northern part of the country, an oasis hidden in the Atacama desert; he has described it as “above all, a region of the spirit.” In The Absent Sea’s opening pages the city is in the midst of La Diablada, Pampa Hundida’s annual religious festival. Costumed pilgrims from the region—“a disparate bewildering, arbitrary crowd”—come “to beseech and to celebrate, to plead and to dance” in an age-old collective reckoning with evil. After twenty years of self-imposed exile, Laura has returned for a reckoning of her own. She’s come to reclaim the same judicial post she left two decades before, and to face up to where she was when all those “horrible things” were happening in Pampa Hundida.
Read more: http://wordswithoutborders.org/book-r...
Pampa Hundida is a recurring setting for Franz’s work. He places it in the northern part of the country, an oasis hidden in the Atacama desert; he has described it as “above all, a region of the spirit.” In The Absent Sea’s opening pages the city is in the midst of La Diablada, Pampa Hundida’s annual religious festival. Costumed pilgrims from the region—“a disparate bewildering, arbitrary crowd”—come “to beseech and to celebrate, to plead and to dance” in an age-old collective reckoning with evil. After twenty years of self-imposed exile, Laura has returned for a reckoning of her own. She’s come to reclaim the same judicial post she left two decades before, and to face up to where she was when all those “horrible things” were happening in Pampa Hundida.
Read more: http://wordswithoutborders.org/book-r...
February 18, 2012
While constantly jerking its readers back and forth from the past to the present, this novel maintains just enough suspense as to what exactly has happened to its main characters. Sometimes you think you know, and you may be almost right, but it always exceeds your imagination. It perfectly weaves a domino effect of time to show how the scars of past days never quite fade away. From a roller coaster of a mother/daughter relationship, to the extinguished ashes of a once-upon-a-time love, to the twisted psychological spells of an overpowering dictator, this novel displays the depths of human emotion that connect us to our country and more importantly to the past we share with it.
August 21, 2017
Este libro me lo leí en 2 etapas.... cuando partí leí como 100 páginas y lo abandoné por un rato pues lo sentía demasiado cercano, la historia, los paisajes, las personas, la violencia, el norte.... como que me quemaba y dolía... como 6 meses después lo retomé y ahí lo terminé. Es muy bueno, me gustaron la historia, como está narrado, la descripción vívida de personajes y situaciones que todos sabemos que ocurrieron pero que nadie nunca había escrito... me gustó como siempre volvemos a los orígenes... lo recomiendo a quienes quieren conocer un poco el norte de Chile y las atrocidades que ocurrieron allí en nuestra reciente historia...
March 1, 2018
Este libro tiene muchos niveles. En el nivel más básico, hay la historia de una mujer que, después de un trauma horrible, decide volver a la ciudad donde ocurrió para enfrentar la memoria. Pero esta novela también examina la dictadura chilena en microcosmo; también explore el concepto de justicia en un contexto donde toda la población se siente culpable por no defender a los inocentes; también discute el amor y el deseo y la familia y la complicidad. Es una novela que quedará contigo para siempre. Impresionante.
August 12, 2011
Por fin lo terminé, justo a la llegada de papá Noel... un parto, pero una muy buena historia. Lo recomiendo, pero para vacaciones.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews