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The Adventures and Misadventures of the Extraordinary and Admirable Joan Orpí, Conquistador and Founder of New Catalonia
Joan Orpí (Piera, 1593 - New Barcelona, 1645) is one of the most unknown characters in Spanish history. In this torrential book we are told the odyssey that brought him first to Barcelona, later to Sevilla and finally to America, where he would experience all kinds of outlandish situations.
Using historical facts as raw material, and with stellar appearances of characters such as Miguel de Cervantes or the brigand Serrallonga among others, Besora converses with the satirical tradition of works such as Gargantua and Pantagruel, Gulliver's Travels or Don Quixote, to paint a fresco of Catalonia in the seventeenth century and the Golden Age of the Spanish empire, creating a novel, fresh, sharp and bursting with exuberant adventures.
A triumphant, playful masterpiece brought into a unique style of English thanks to the triumphant creativity of translator Mara Faye Lethem.
Using historical facts as raw material, and with stellar appearances of characters such as Miguel de Cervantes or the brigand Serrallonga among others, Besora converses with the satirical tradition of works such as Gargantua and Pantagruel, Gulliver's Travels or Don Quixote, to paint a fresco of Catalonia in the seventeenth century and the Golden Age of the Spanish empire, creating a novel, fresh, sharp and bursting with exuberant adventures.
A triumphant, playful masterpiece brought into a unique style of English thanks to the triumphant creativity of translator Mara Faye Lethem.
400 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2017
28 people are currently reading
485 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
June 3, 2021
Parodies of the picaresque are not the rarest of literary species, whether we’re talking old-timers The Pickwick Papers or The Good Soldier Švejk, or newishbies The Sot-Weed Factor, Falstaff, or Forbidden Line. Catalan writer Max Besora respects this rich tradition of the rollicking picaresque-on-speed, keeping the form chuckling along with his first novel in translation.
Being the tale of one Joan Orpí founder of New Catalonia (the title tells no lies), the narrative is related to us by your classic untrustworthy narrator, chronicling our hero’s years bumming around the Catalan liminals, accosted at sabrepoint by highwaymen and women while struggling to please his perpetually unimpressed father, through his years sweltering in the jungles of Venezuela trying to form a less genocidal Catalan republic free from the butchery of noblemen. Most of the shenanigans are familiar to any readers of Cervantes (whose Quixote is deferentially rimmed throughout, making a brief appearance to share with Orpí his MS), and the star of the novel is the ebulliently inconsistent linguistic whirlwind on show—a punny and playfully parodic assault on Middle English, with frequent forays into Ebonics by a dwarf rapper and Chicano smack from Orpí’s loose-tongued sidekick.
As the original novel parodied the Catalan dialect of the period, translator Mara Faye Lethem has had to invent her own comical lexicon, and as a translation feat this places her on a par with Suzanne Jill Levine’s translations of Guillermo Cabrera Infante, or Michael Henry Heim’s translations of Sasha Sokolov and Karel Čapek. The range of comedic flair on show here make this novel a remarkably accomplished collaborative effort between Lethem and Besora. Beneath the work’s unflagging vim are sharply satirical assaults on the atrocities committed by Spanish colonisers of the New World, lending the novel an edge beneath the onslaught of frequently hilarious (and often tiresome) humour.
Being the tale of one Joan Orpí founder of New Catalonia (the title tells no lies), the narrative is related to us by your classic untrustworthy narrator, chronicling our hero’s years bumming around the Catalan liminals, accosted at sabrepoint by highwaymen and women while struggling to please his perpetually unimpressed father, through his years sweltering in the jungles of Venezuela trying to form a less genocidal Catalan republic free from the butchery of noblemen. Most of the shenanigans are familiar to any readers of Cervantes (whose Quixote is deferentially rimmed throughout, making a brief appearance to share with Orpí his MS), and the star of the novel is the ebulliently inconsistent linguistic whirlwind on show—a punny and playfully parodic assault on Middle English, with frequent forays into Ebonics by a dwarf rapper and Chicano smack from Orpí’s loose-tongued sidekick.
As the original novel parodied the Catalan dialect of the period, translator Mara Faye Lethem has had to invent her own comical lexicon, and as a translation feat this places her on a par with Suzanne Jill Levine’s translations of Guillermo Cabrera Infante, or Michael Henry Heim’s translations of Sasha Sokolov and Karel Čapek. The range of comedic flair on show here make this novel a remarkably accomplished collaborative effort between Lethem and Besora. Beneath the work’s unflagging vim are sharply satirical assaults on the atrocities committed by Spanish colonisers of the New World, lending the novel an edge beneath the onslaught of frequently hilarious (and often tiresome) humour.
June 5, 2022
A fun read with lots of Easter eggs for anybody with knowledge of the history, but just a bit too much scatological humor for me
February 27, 2021
Humor is one of the most highly subjective qualities of all. Far more of us can agree on the quality of a great drama or adventure than a great comedy, and even classic comedic films and novels feel far more controversial than others.
I love the film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," for example, but I know others who found it a total bore. Likewise, those Judd Apatow films — most of which star the terminally unfunny Seth Rogan — do absolutely nothing for me, though they clearly have a large and devoted fan base.
My first experience of watching a Charlie Chaplin film was in Kharkiv, Ukraine back in 2012. A girlfriend at the time had taken me as, being a silent film, it was one of the only movies we could go out and enjoy together. But we didn't enjoy it together. I laughed the whole way through, while she barely cracked a smile. I trace the unraveling of our relationship back to that evening.
That's partly because, however much we might try and deny it, shared tastes regarding films and literature matter far more than we might let on.
I've heard tell of people who base their relationships on whether or not a potential friend or partner enjoyed A Confederacy of Dunces. It's the first question they'll ask on a date or, all too often these days, an app.
As a result, I am not friends with nor have I dated any of these people, as I believe that book to be one of literature's most overrated.
Ultimately, though, I believe that judging people based on the types of books they do or don't like is a luxury that's quickly vanishing from society. It won't be long before a first date professes his or her love of "Twilight" or the latest James Patterson schlock and we propose to them right then and there.
"At least you read!" We'll say.
So it will be when someone professes their love for "The Adventures and Misadventures of the Extraordinary and Admirable Joan Orpí, Conquistador and Founder of New Catalonia."
That is, if they can actually manage to get that title out without turning purple and dropping dead on the spot.
We can discuss our mutual love of the independent publisher Open Letter Books, which is how I learned about this book, which was a part of my yearly subscription with them. We can debate whether paperback or hardcover books are ultimately superior. We can even discuss the quality of Catalan literature.
But what we cannot do is discuss our shared love of this particular book, as I very much do not harbor any kind feelings toward it whatsoever.
On the back of my lovely paperback edition, there is a blurb by one Ryan Chapman that states "If Cervantes and the Monty Python guys were shoved into the Large Hadron Collider ... we might get something like Joan Orpí."
I must disagree with Chapman there, because despite my aforementioned love for Monty Python and my very, very fond feelings for Cervantes' Don Quixote, which I think we would all agree is an incomparable classic, "Joan Orpí" is a crude, unfunny, tortuous slog.
One of the things I especially love about my Open Letter Books subscription is that its publisher, Chad Post, includes a letter with each book speaking to its finer qualities. About "Joan Orpí" he writes:
"I'm willing to guarantee that you'll find yourself chuckling out loud before page 20..."
I made it to page 50 with nary a chuckle, read a few more pages toward the middle, and the last three or four pages, and still no pleasurable sound escaped my lips.
There are an assemblage of fart jokes, a great number of absurd medieval songs, and an episode featuring vagina dentata that all failed to amuse me even the slightest.
Perhaps it's me. Perhaps I'm just a tense, humorless sod. I won't rule it out.
But "Joan Orpí" feels to me like a book for a person who thought "Don Quixote" needed to be ratcheted up by about 10,000%, who needs to be beaten into bloody, beefy pulp with their humor, for whom the word "subtle" feels utterly foreign.
When the moon Nazis descend, burn all our books, and make "reading" a thing of the past, I might consider a relationship with such a person.
But not today.
I love the film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," for example, but I know others who found it a total bore. Likewise, those Judd Apatow films — most of which star the terminally unfunny Seth Rogan — do absolutely nothing for me, though they clearly have a large and devoted fan base.
My first experience of watching a Charlie Chaplin film was in Kharkiv, Ukraine back in 2012. A girlfriend at the time had taken me as, being a silent film, it was one of the only movies we could go out and enjoy together. But we didn't enjoy it together. I laughed the whole way through, while she barely cracked a smile. I trace the unraveling of our relationship back to that evening.
That's partly because, however much we might try and deny it, shared tastes regarding films and literature matter far more than we might let on.
I've heard tell of people who base their relationships on whether or not a potential friend or partner enjoyed A Confederacy of Dunces. It's the first question they'll ask on a date or, all too often these days, an app.
As a result, I am not friends with nor have I dated any of these people, as I believe that book to be one of literature's most overrated.
Ultimately, though, I believe that judging people based on the types of books they do or don't like is a luxury that's quickly vanishing from society. It won't be long before a first date professes his or her love of "Twilight" or the latest James Patterson schlock and we propose to them right then and there.
"At least you read!" We'll say.
So it will be when someone professes their love for "The Adventures and Misadventures of the Extraordinary and Admirable Joan Orpí, Conquistador and Founder of New Catalonia."
That is, if they can actually manage to get that title out without turning purple and dropping dead on the spot.
We can discuss our mutual love of the independent publisher Open Letter Books, which is how I learned about this book, which was a part of my yearly subscription with them. We can debate whether paperback or hardcover books are ultimately superior. We can even discuss the quality of Catalan literature.
But what we cannot do is discuss our shared love of this particular book, as I very much do not harbor any kind feelings toward it whatsoever.
On the back of my lovely paperback edition, there is a blurb by one Ryan Chapman that states "If Cervantes and the Monty Python guys were shoved into the Large Hadron Collider ... we might get something like Joan Orpí."
I must disagree with Chapman there, because despite my aforementioned love for Monty Python and my very, very fond feelings for Cervantes' Don Quixote, which I think we would all agree is an incomparable classic, "Joan Orpí" is a crude, unfunny, tortuous slog.
One of the things I especially love about my Open Letter Books subscription is that its publisher, Chad Post, includes a letter with each book speaking to its finer qualities. About "Joan Orpí" he writes:
"I'm willing to guarantee that you'll find yourself chuckling out loud before page 20..."
I made it to page 50 with nary a chuckle, read a few more pages toward the middle, and the last three or four pages, and still no pleasurable sound escaped my lips.
There are an assemblage of fart jokes, a great number of absurd medieval songs, and an episode featuring vagina dentata that all failed to amuse me even the slightest.
Perhaps it's me. Perhaps I'm just a tense, humorless sod. I won't rule it out.
But "Joan Orpí" feels to me like a book for a person who thought "Don Quixote" needed to be ratcheted up by about 10,000%, who needs to be beaten into bloody, beefy pulp with their humor, for whom the word "subtle" feels utterly foreign.
When the moon Nazis descend, burn all our books, and make "reading" a thing of the past, I might consider a relationship with such a person.
But not today.
April 13, 2021
A fun picaresque novel, playing with the tropes of 16th century literature a little. More like Monty Python than anything terribly deep and meaningful although I suspect the many digs at "Castellians" would probably ring true for the original Catelan readership.
Worth checking out for a quick, amusing read.
Worth checking out for a quick, amusing read.
November 29, 2020
"ye packe of mindless nitwits!" swears the captain. "what hath mercantilism to do with true literature? here what's required is merely a pact betwixt the printed worde and its reader, by dint of a paineless 'act of faith.'"rollicking and hilarious (and irreverent and bawdy and ribald and licentious, too), max besora's the adventures and misadventures of the extraordinary and admirable joan orpí, conquistador and founder of new catalonia (aventures i desventures de l'insòlit i admirable joan orpí, conquistador i fundador de la nova catalunya) is a delectably entertaining quasi-historical 17th century self-referential picaresque romp spanning the old world and the new. besora, loosely basing his novel on the real-life (and largely forgotten) story of the founder of venezuela's new catalonia province (and its capital, new barcelona), reinvents orpí's tale, reimagines his era, and remixes his vernacular.
"numbskulls!" bellows the infuriated captain. "when i speak of going against the narration i don't mean there shall bee no story, no adventures, no characters! i speak of the need for a hybrid construction, plurilingualism, exaggeration, hyperbole, pastiche, and bivocal discourse to bring together what convention & morality strive to keep separate. literature must be a frontal attack designed to suspend all rational judgment in order to reinvent it each second anew!"besora packs his pages with jokes, witticisms, and asides aplenty, sparing the reader nary a moment to catch their breath from the previous paragraph's profound preposterousness. joan orpí mixes tomfoolery and satire, lampooning so many sacred cows, including empire, history, religion, and literature. besora's prose is the real star, merging language of yore with modern day slang. boisterous, bright, freewheeling, and playful, the adventures of misadventures of the extraordinary and admirable joan orpí, put simply, is a shit-tonne of fun.
"i cannot bear these sermons..." says one of the soldiers.
"if he keeps up this proselytizing, i'm outta hither..."
"perhaps, captain, but the way thou mocketh language itself leads to absolute ethical relativism and the impotence of ordering existential chaos," exclaims a different soldier. "i mean, i hope no pissed-off reader comes to me later complaining he's been duped by the back jacket copy, that it's all too parodical and scatterbrained, or that it's an attempt to write in a spoken catalan or how they spoke in orpí's time but without any sense of grammar, morphology, or syntax..." gripes the soldier.
"and so what is it that you want?" the enraged captain asks. "you want me to use more popular prose that fully respects the pact with the reader and the aristotelian principles of realism? would that make thou happy? maybe you'd appreciate some sort of less autonomous literature, that takes part in the collective project? come on, man, gimme a break! your obsessions would make plato himself laugh! you're worried they'll criticize thee for writing incorrectly? well you tell them that you've invented a language that constitutes the topography of its own world... and that's that! withal, as far as i knowe, catalan doesn't yet have any normative grammar—or descriptive, or prescriptive, or predictive, for that matter! and if we ever do, it will be like taxidermying the language and putting it in a museum, because everything's better when it's mixed! so just write down what i sayeth and quit yer jibber-jabber."
*translated from the catalan by mara faye lethem (sala, pron, kopf, nopca, cabré, sánchez piñol, et al.). lethem's translation of joan orpí is a work of art unto itself and what she's accomplished in successfully rendering this novel is truly breathtaking.
February 27, 2017
Divertidíssima sàtira de les novel·les d'aventures i viatges. L'astracanada i l'escatologia que ja es trobaven presents a l'anterior «La tècnica meravellosa» apareixen aquí de forma molt més mesurada, potenciant la història i afavorint la trama en lloc d'entorpir-la. Tot i l'humor, la documentació que hi ha al darrere no passa desapercebuda i la quantitat de detalls històrics aconsegueix que el lector realment es submergeixi en la societat de l'època. Tampoc manca l'ús del llenguatge marca de la casa, sobretot en els diàlegs, on trobem des de català antic barrejat amb expressions ben actuals a catanyol o fins i tot spanglish.
Una delícia.
Una delícia.
September 2, 2024
Divertidíssima i rocambolesc obra de sàtira plena de fantasia i humor escrit en la tradició d'algunes de les millors obres d’humor i sàtira com “Els viatges de Gulliver”, “El Quixot”, “Nunca digas vodka, nunca jamás” i “Una confabulació d'imbècils”. M’agrada com l’autor agafa l’esquelet de la vida de Joan Orpí trobat en la biografia escrit per Pau Vila i confabula una mena d'obra mestra que m’ha fet riure moltíssim. He llegit el llibre en un parell de dies i no he volgut fer més que llegeix aquest llibre aquests dies de festa. Moltes gràcies a l'autor per la bons temps que m’ha regalat!
March 16, 2017
Ací en podeu llegir la ressenya sencera:
http://especulacionsapeudepagina.blog...
Una frikada important.
Poso molt en relleu l'extens treball de documentació, les múltiples referències literàries de l'època i el llenguatge utilitzat, molt atrevit. Els diàlegs, també, són molt Besora; passant-se pel forro qualsevol regla, són divertits, anàrquics i esperpèntics.
La història és entretinguda i té ritme, però només s'aguanta en el to de paròdia. Sense el to desfasat, seria una història bastant regular.
M'ha agradat però potser és el menys Besora dels llibres que ha escrit fins ara.
http://especulacionsapeudepagina.blog...
Una frikada important.
Poso molt en relleu l'extens treball de documentació, les múltiples referències literàries de l'època i el llenguatge utilitzat, molt atrevit. Els diàlegs, també, són molt Besora; passant-se pel forro qualsevol regla, són divertits, anàrquics i esperpèntics.
La història és entretinguda i té ritme, però només s'aguanta en el to de paròdia. Sense el to desfasat, seria una història bastant regular.
M'ha agradat però potser és el menys Besora dels llibres que ha escrit fins ara.
June 13, 2020
Max Besora revisa la conquesta d'Amèrica des del pastitx i l'humor en clau postcolonial. Histriònic i capitular, en Joan Orpí és un Quixot modern, un retaule sobre l'amistat i la dissidència de la història negra. A la revenja de tot, i des d'una documentació colossal, Besora troba un ritme, un marc narratiu i un encadenat d'insòlits que, per equilibrats, semblen insuperables. La Nova i Secreta Catalunya se'ns torna el lloc mític per repoblar; i en Joan Orpí, el nou Colom a honorar. El volem a l'escola, ben a prop de Cervantes.
May 14, 2021
Don Quixote eat your heart out.
January 14, 2021
𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮 𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗳 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁.
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘈𝘥𝘮𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘑𝘰𝘢𝘯 𝘖𝘳𝘱í, 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘍𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘊𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘢 is a highly embellished historical novel about, you guessed it, Joan Orpí, a little known Catalan conquistador from the 17th century. The book follows his life and all its ridiculous meanderings from birth until his final demise. It's a story within a story being relayed by an army captain to his troops and, as a result, is a most bizarre mix of modern and old dialects, creating something wholly original. It is also chock full of references to historical and literary figures and, fortunately for me, footnotes explaining their relevance for those that aren't already familiar. All this adds up to create one of the most self-aware books I've read. I was giggling on and off throughout its entirety. The humor ranges from silly to absolutely obscene. Do some research on content warnings if you're sensitive.
I think whether or not you jive with this book will be completely down to its style and your tolerance for the gross and degenerate. I did cringe at some of the more disgusting scenes and the—no doubt intentional—use of charged historical terms, but most of the story's oddities I found charming and entertaining. Early on I was nervous about its length; 400 pages of absurd satire seemed like a bit much. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could fly through it. Between the short chapters and outlandish plot I found it to be no trouble.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the invisible star of the show: the translation itself. It's would be hard to overstate how inventive and creative this translation is. The book is an incredibly eclectic mix of language that surely made for an ambitious undertaking. I haven't read the original text but I still feel confident that the spirit lives on in the english edition. Congratulations to Mara Faye Lethem and Open Letter Books!
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘈𝘥𝘮𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘑𝘰𝘢𝘯 𝘖𝘳𝘱í, 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘍𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘊𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘢 is a highly embellished historical novel about, you guessed it, Joan Orpí, a little known Catalan conquistador from the 17th century. The book follows his life and all its ridiculous meanderings from birth until his final demise. It's a story within a story being relayed by an army captain to his troops and, as a result, is a most bizarre mix of modern and old dialects, creating something wholly original. It is also chock full of references to historical and literary figures and, fortunately for me, footnotes explaining their relevance for those that aren't already familiar. All this adds up to create one of the most self-aware books I've read. I was giggling on and off throughout its entirety. The humor ranges from silly to absolutely obscene. Do some research on content warnings if you're sensitive.
I think whether or not you jive with this book will be completely down to its style and your tolerance for the gross and degenerate. I did cringe at some of the more disgusting scenes and the—no doubt intentional—use of charged historical terms, but most of the story's oddities I found charming and entertaining. Early on I was nervous about its length; 400 pages of absurd satire seemed like a bit much. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could fly through it. Between the short chapters and outlandish plot I found it to be no trouble.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the invisible star of the show: the translation itself. It's would be hard to overstate how inventive and creative this translation is. The book is an incredibly eclectic mix of language that surely made for an ambitious undertaking. I haven't read the original text but I still feel confident that the spirit lives on in the english edition. Congratulations to Mara Faye Lethem and Open Letter Books!
May 30, 2020
La primera escena, com tota la novel·la, ja és d’allò més insòlita: desembre de 1714, Barcelona ¿resisteix? sota les bombes borbòniques. Un grup de soldats i el seu capità fumen i beuen en un teatre abandonat mentre discuteixen si seran herois per a la posteritat o cendra oblidada sota capes de terra. És llavors quan el capità, en un etílic intent d’apujar la moral de la tropa, explica la història de Joan Orpí, fundador de la Nova Catalunya allende los mares. Sencera, com toca: des del problemàtic part a Piera (pobra doña Eulàlia) el 1593 fins a la mort (aparició de la Verge de Montserrat inclosa) el 1645. El personatge, ho heu de saber, és real, però amb la història d’aquest català que volta pel món a mercè dels desitjos de Besora n’hi ha, com diríem vulgarment, per llogar-hi cadires. El lector es farà creus que quasi cinc-centes pàgines passin volant repletes de quixotades en català antic, morint-se de riure a cada capítol. I allò quixotesc no és casualitat: el protagonista de Cervantes hi fa cameos i el llibre té forma de novel·la cavalleresca, farcida d’aventures, però és que si a més li afegiu picades d’ullet al Gargantua i Pantagruel filtrades pel sedàs postmodern passat de voltes típic d’en Besora la combinació és delirant, escatològica i deliciosament sacrílega. Max Besora és algú que no només ha assimilat bé la tradició, sinó que té eines, motius i prou sentit de l’humor per donar-li la volta en un llibre magnífic que recordareu cada cop que vulgueu anar de viatge. ¿Oi que quan cerqueu vols a Internet per les properes vacances us apareix a la llista d’aeroports una Barcelona a Veneçuela? A partir d’ara us recordareu d’en Joan Orpí cada vegada, perquè va ser ell, el nostre heroi injustament oblidat, qui la va fundar. Vale.
October 19, 2018
Divertit i sarcàstic relat amb el més pur estil èpic i d’aventures i amb un marc històric real i alguna refrència genial a la Catalunya actual. Per passar- ho bé.
September 30, 2022
I loved this book. The tone, littered with misspellings and faux-hauty grammar, convey a silliness and self-righteous buffonery that is so tough to pull off, yet Besora nails it. I laughed often, and reread some whole chapters for fun. I found myself constantly in awe of how difficult the translation of something so stylistic must have been. A really fun read.
August 6, 2022
A parodic pastiche of a conquistador’s chronicles, mixed with Utopian fantasies, Spanish atrocities, and Catalan politics. The rich brew of lowbrow humor and metafictional excess can be a bit much, but the narrative just keeps barreling along - smart, silly and entertaining. The English translation by Mara Faye Lethem is endlessly inventive.
May 12, 2021
This title won the best Catalan Novel of the Year (2018). Fortunately for those of us unversed in Catalan a brilliant translation exists--so brilliant I almost want to study Catalan to read the original. Combining stylistic tropes from 18th century picaresque novels (you meet Cervantes and his knight, but the book reminds me more of CANDIDE), with extreme 21st century meta techniques, the novel manages to explore the wonders of languages, the ravages of colonialism, the plight of Catalan and still offer up an enjoyable plot with interesting characters. For all those language/literature nerds out there!
July 13, 2024
In the prologue to the descriptively titled The Adventures and Misadventures of the Extraordinary and Admirable Joan Orpí, Conquistador and Founder of New Catalonia, by Max Besora (and brilliantly translated by Mara Faye Lethem), an invented academic explains how he combed through centuries old archival documents to piece together the story of the forgotten conquistador, Joan Orpí del Pou. This academic allegedly found a version of Orpí’s story, as told by a bunch of soldiers during the Siege of Barcelona in 1714. What follows is a madcap adventure through the first half of the seventeenth century, full of anachronisms, literary references, obscene events, and a quest for glory...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss, for review consideration.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss, for review consideration.
September 21, 2021
Really disappointing. Not only did it not live up to the Cervantes and Rabelais comparisons, it wasn't even equal to Monty Python at its most puerile. To me it comes closest to the cheap pop cultural anachronism of Shrek.
December 29, 2025
i read the first 100 pages and decided not to finish :/ which i would usually give one star for but i think this genre just isn’t my cup of tea. it’s an insanely cool concept and well researched book so i wanted to like it so bad but i just couldn’t get into it :(
July 18, 2021
The Adventures and Misadventures of the Extraordinary and Admirable Joan Orpí, Conquistador and Founder of New Catalonia by Max Besora English edition. Translated from Catalan by Mara Faye Lethem
The book opens with the siege of Barcelona on September 10, 1714. In the middle of the siege, an infantry captain starts a tale of the Adventures and Misadventures of the Extraordinary and Admirable Joan Orpí de Pou, also known as Juan Urpín. This is a real-life conquistador who was born in 1593 in Piera and died on July 1, 1645, in Barcelona, Venezuela.
The book has three sections, Book I is the history of Orpí's infancy and childhood. Book II starts with his travels in the Iberian peninsula until his first voyage to the new world. Book III tells us about Orpí's rise from a low ranking soldier to lieutenant-general of the province of New Andalusia - to a royal representative in the city of Caracas - to the founder of New Catalonia until his death.
Narrated from a universal point of view, the book is weird. It has elements of magical realism such as sea monster creatures, apparitions of the Virgin of Monserrat (The Black Virgin), to battles in which arrows kill the people who shoot them.
The writer keeps talking to you, has footnotes that explain historical references - for instance when the prose says that Orpí talked to Sir Francis Drake, the footnote explains that this would have been impossible since Drake was dead by the time of their encounter. It has multiple orgies and sexual acts that are X-rated, and in my opinion, a distraction. Other than our hero, the characters have little development and you don't identify with them. Some keep coming back, especially Triboulet Duergan the Distasteful - a dwarf with more faces and circumstances than any other character. He meets Miguel de Cervantes - author of Don Quixote - has a nemesis in captain Domingo Vázquez de Soja. He earns followers like Martulina the Divina - an amazonian warrior - and Estebanico the Blackamoor - a slave liberated by Orpí, Araypuro his Indian translator, Father Claver, his faithful dog Friston, and his loyal horse, Acephalus.
In spite of this, it was an easy read - I finished it in two days, but I hated the phonetic language used. It was too bad the author did not stick to plain English, instead, you have a mix and match of English, Spanish, Catalan, French, German, and indigenous phrases. It certainly slowed me down and I hated the prose.
I have mixed emotions as to whether to recommend the book.
The book opens with the siege of Barcelona on September 10, 1714. In the middle of the siege, an infantry captain starts a tale of the Adventures and Misadventures of the Extraordinary and Admirable Joan Orpí de Pou, also known as Juan Urpín. This is a real-life conquistador who was born in 1593 in Piera and died on July 1, 1645, in Barcelona, Venezuela.
The book has three sections, Book I is the history of Orpí's infancy and childhood. Book II starts with his travels in the Iberian peninsula until his first voyage to the new world. Book III tells us about Orpí's rise from a low ranking soldier to lieutenant-general of the province of New Andalusia - to a royal representative in the city of Caracas - to the founder of New Catalonia until his death.
Narrated from a universal point of view, the book is weird. It has elements of magical realism such as sea monster creatures, apparitions of the Virgin of Monserrat (The Black Virgin), to battles in which arrows kill the people who shoot them.
The writer keeps talking to you, has footnotes that explain historical references - for instance when the prose says that Orpí talked to Sir Francis Drake, the footnote explains that this would have been impossible since Drake was dead by the time of their encounter. It has multiple orgies and sexual acts that are X-rated, and in my opinion, a distraction. Other than our hero, the characters have little development and you don't identify with them. Some keep coming back, especially Triboulet Duergan the Distasteful - a dwarf with more faces and circumstances than any other character. He meets Miguel de Cervantes - author of Don Quixote - has a nemesis in captain Domingo Vázquez de Soja. He earns followers like Martulina the Divina - an amazonian warrior - and Estebanico the Blackamoor - a slave liberated by Orpí, Araypuro his Indian translator, Father Claver, his faithful dog Friston, and his loyal horse, Acephalus.
In spite of this, it was an easy read - I finished it in two days, but I hated the phonetic language used. It was too bad the author did not stick to plain English, instead, you have a mix and match of English, Spanish, Catalan, French, German, and indigenous phrases. It certainly slowed me down and I hated the prose.
I have mixed emotions as to whether to recommend the book.
June 6, 2024
Whew, is that title a mouthful, or what?
This book was a mixed bag for me. The blurb on the back of the book says, "If Cervantes and the Monty Python guys were shoved into the Large Hadron Collider . . . we might get something like Joan Orpi. That (and the design on the spine that included the entire title) is what attracted me to the book, inspiring me to check it out from the library.
I am slightly disappointed, but not totally so. It's just not as good as I wanted it to be. If it had ended with Book I (there are three "books" in the book), it might have gotten a better star rating. I enjoyed Book I immensely more than the other two, which simply began to get tedious.
There are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments within, though, and even more that are, perhaps, giggling and chuckling moments. What we have is a "history" of Joan Orpi, who may have actually been a real, historical person? Apparently, he really did found New Barcelona in 1638. Interesting.
Anyway, as this tale progresses, there is much wackiness. And, as it is presented as being a historical account, a number of anachronisms occur. At first, these are funny, and almost cute. For example, on page 66, one of the characters exclaims, "Heavens to murgatroyd," a phrase that was not invented until 1961 in a "Snagglepuss" cartoon. A few pages later, someone says "Zoinks," a word that was introduced by one Shaggy Rogers in the Scooby Doo cartoon series.
The one that lost me, though, was when, on page 232, Orpi, himself, utters the words, "whatchoo talkin' bout, Willis?" Sigh. I think, at least for me, that was one anachronism too far.
Some of the best bits, though, were an account of a "jailbreak," in which our hero and a couple of companions escape a prison cell using a map that had been drawn on one of the prisoners' skin. The map was a bit of a prank, though, as it led them out of the prison, into the woods, and then right back into the prison. Apparently, they were so intent on following the map, and not being observant to their surroundings, that they didn't notice that they were going right back where they came from.
Another bit that was funny was how a person of small stature (think Tyrion, from Game of Thrones) kept reappearing throughout the tale, many times as a sort of "Deux Ex Machina."
I was mildly annoyed at the editors to discover that footnote #20, on page 56, was missing. Oh. Right. Yes, there are footnotes throughout, as there are words that are not translated to English all through the tale.
It's a fun read, for the most part, but only enough for three stars. Definitely not a candidate for a re-read, but people who enjoy historical parodies might really like this.
This book was a mixed bag for me. The blurb on the back of the book says, "If Cervantes and the Monty Python guys were shoved into the Large Hadron Collider . . . we might get something like Joan Orpi. That (and the design on the spine that included the entire title) is what attracted me to the book, inspiring me to check it out from the library.
I am slightly disappointed, but not totally so. It's just not as good as I wanted it to be. If it had ended with Book I (there are three "books" in the book), it might have gotten a better star rating. I enjoyed Book I immensely more than the other two, which simply began to get tedious.
There are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments within, though, and even more that are, perhaps, giggling and chuckling moments. What we have is a "history" of Joan Orpi, who may have actually been a real, historical person? Apparently, he really did found New Barcelona in 1638. Interesting.
Anyway, as this tale progresses, there is much wackiness. And, as it is presented as being a historical account, a number of anachronisms occur. At first, these are funny, and almost cute. For example, on page 66, one of the characters exclaims, "Heavens to murgatroyd," a phrase that was not invented until 1961 in a "Snagglepuss" cartoon. A few pages later, someone says "Zoinks," a word that was introduced by one Shaggy Rogers in the Scooby Doo cartoon series.
The one that lost me, though, was when, on page 232, Orpi, himself, utters the words, "whatchoo talkin' bout, Willis?" Sigh. I think, at least for me, that was one anachronism too far.
Some of the best bits, though, were an account of a "jailbreak," in which our hero and a couple of companions escape a prison cell using a map that had been drawn on one of the prisoners' skin. The map was a bit of a prank, though, as it led them out of the prison, into the woods, and then right back into the prison. Apparently, they were so intent on following the map, and not being observant to their surroundings, that they didn't notice that they were going right back where they came from.
Another bit that was funny was how a person of small stature (think Tyrion, from Game of Thrones) kept reappearing throughout the tale, many times as a sort of "Deux Ex Machina."
I was mildly annoyed at the editors to discover that footnote #20, on page 56, was missing. Oh. Right. Yes, there are footnotes throughout, as there are words that are not translated to English all through the tale.
It's a fun read, for the most part, but only enough for three stars. Definitely not a candidate for a re-read, but people who enjoy historical parodies might really like this.
September 4, 2021
Written in the manner of a chivalry novel and inspired in Cervantes Don Quixote, this is a funny and entertaining story of a Catalan who travels to the New World in search of fortune. I read it in Catalan, so I do not know about the English translation, I hope it is as good as the original.
The language in the novel is a real potpourri of languages, spiced up with neologisms, archaisms, and plenty of invented words. There are words in many languages, from Latin to Spanglish with many popular expressions in several romance languages.
I found the mixing of Spanish and Catalan to be particularly funny, as I belong to a generation that could not learn Catalan at school so when we wrote in Catalan, we made similar mistakes.
I have to admit that the anarchic use of language in the novel often challenged my innate linguistic perfectionism, but Max Besora passed the test with flying colours. He made me reflect seriously about the nature of language and how speakers will always manage to communicate, more or less successfully, with or without grammar rules, what they wish to say.
I also liked that chapters are short, and that they start with a long heading where the reader is told what will happen in the chapter; I found this to be a good incentive to continue reading.
As a conclusion, I will say that this book is an adventure novel and a satire of colonial Spain, with lots of magical elements (like a brief appearance of Miguel de Cervantes, as a character, who has an interesting chat with Joan Orpí about books. I loved that!).
If there is a moral to the story it would be that life was very tough in those days, but people were tougher; Joan Orpí is a good role model for the often demanding and overcritical citizens of the XXI century. Enjoyable reading.
The language in the novel is a real potpourri of languages, spiced up with neologisms, archaisms, and plenty of invented words. There are words in many languages, from Latin to Spanglish with many popular expressions in several romance languages.
I found the mixing of Spanish and Catalan to be particularly funny, as I belong to a generation that could not learn Catalan at school so when we wrote in Catalan, we made similar mistakes.
I have to admit that the anarchic use of language in the novel often challenged my innate linguistic perfectionism, but Max Besora passed the test with flying colours. He made me reflect seriously about the nature of language and how speakers will always manage to communicate, more or less successfully, with or without grammar rules, what they wish to say.
I also liked that chapters are short, and that they start with a long heading where the reader is told what will happen in the chapter; I found this to be a good incentive to continue reading.
As a conclusion, I will say that this book is an adventure novel and a satire of colonial Spain, with lots of magical elements (like a brief appearance of Miguel de Cervantes, as a character, who has an interesting chat with Joan Orpí about books. I loved that!).
If there is a moral to the story it would be that life was very tough in those days, but people were tougher; Joan Orpí is a good role model for the often demanding and overcritical citizens of the XXI century. Enjoyable reading.
June 28, 2025
As I pondered the task of writing yet another review, several thoughts found their way into my increasingly calcified brain. First, audience. That part was simple as, near as I can tell, I have few to none. Second, the place of this work of fiction in the immense scope of the already existing written word. Given my paltry sampling of this almost endless scope of words, I did not feel qualified to assess its place. Thirdly, the prospective utility of adding to the mountain of useless verbiage I have already spewed forth on the largely unsuspecting public. Easy call here. No evidence of utility. This issue borders the larger issue of stewardship of the written word. Does the world need yet more words scattered about clogging the streets of reason? Should I not simply pen a simple "yes" or "no" to an existing review. The resulting savings in words and reading time could be critical to the mental well-being of future generations. On a more selfish tack, forgoing a written review also spares me the work of having additional thoughts. As I get older I find a notable paucity of thought. And, of greater concern, the thoughts I do patch together are typically (and yet thankfully) soon forgotten.
Oh yes, the book. Okay and mildly entertaining but became redundant and aimless after a hundred pages or so. Should have said that at the beginning, right?
Oh yes, the book. Okay and mildly entertaining but became redundant and aimless after a hundred pages or so. Should have said that at the beginning, right?
October 1, 2025
“How dare ye…!” exclaims the captain, wiping dust from his dress coat from a recent bomb, launched by the Borbonic army, that collapsed part of the theater’s ceiling. “Very welle, perchance I plagiarized Rabelais. Soe what? In this bastard genre that is the romanzo, invention (utopia) is merely possible based on the memory (the story) of a ‘could be’ since we haven’t access to the historical figure, as there be no-one who can confirm the truth of what happened. Eversuch, the very idea of originality is absurd. Ergo authorship is banal and any statement of authenticity or originality is spurious. And shud some other author, some other day, plagiarise us, it shall mean we’ve done our job well.”
July 28, 2018
Irreverent, exuberant, a voltes il·lustrada, a voltes algo ingènua, aquesta novel·la ens mostra la vida d'un personatge (per a mi) desconegut.
Satiritza l'estil de novel·les d'aventures clàssiques, on el protagonista es veu involucrat en mil i una històries (estrafolàries) amb mil i un personatges (estrafolaris) que van apareixent de forma recurrent. Aquestes històries dins la història són un pel irregulars i és el que, en la meva opinió, llastra lleugerament la qualitat global.
En general és una novel·la original, que toca bastants pals i que val la pena llegir (7,5/10)
Satiritza l'estil de novel·les d'aventures clàssiques, on el protagonista es veu involucrat en mil i una històries (estrafolàries) amb mil i un personatges (estrafolaris) que van apareixent de forma recurrent. Aquestes històries dins la història són un pel irregulars i és el que, en la meva opinió, llastra lleugerament la qualitat global.
En general és una novel·la original, que toca bastants pals i que val la pena llegir (7,5/10)
February 21, 2021
A swift-moving pastoral farce Candide... A conquistador tale with a laugh track... A wacky mishmash of highbrow literary references and poop jokes... All in a 21st century translation so of the moment that it's destined to become a weird temporal relic in its own right, if it's allowed to survive its moment. It will require a greater champion than I to keep it from being lost in the shuffle, but it does deserve one.
March 26, 2021
I enjoyed this and was frustrated by it in turns and I don't think I can adequately explain why. I loved a lot of the sentences, the over-longs lists of inanities, the mostly useless footnotes, how author/translator used vernacular to separate Catalan from Spanish, and how modern slang slipped in. But it also took me a week to read and sometimes seemed like work to get back into. I dunno.
June 28, 2021
A hilarious adventure story in the vain of Don Quixote who makes an appearance as does Cervantes himself. The scion to a Catalan family can do no right. He becomes a lawyer, a soldier, a conquistador, the founder of New Catalonia in the New World. Witty. Mocking. Laugh out loud funny with critiques of critical theory, signifier and signified. Highly enjoyable
February 20, 2022
I really enjoyed this book by Max Besora. It is creative, imaginative, and entertaining. It brings to mind Monty Python skits, The Kids in the Hall, and Chaucer...just to start. The translator did a brilliant job of infusing the story with witticisms, puns, and even contemporary American slang. I read this slowly in order to enjoy it all--well done!!!
May 1, 2022
I really enjoyed this book by Max Besora. It is creative, imaginative, and entertaining. It brings to mind Monty Python skits, The Kids in the Hall, and Chaucer...just to start. The translator did a brilliant job of infusing the story with witticisms, puns, and even contemporary American slang. I read this slowly in order to enjoy it all--well done!!!
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