Gabo Y Fidel : El Paisaje De Una Amistad

by Ángel Esteban, Stéphanie Panichelli, Stephanie Panichelli

Examines the friendship between the Nobel prize-winning Colombian author, who had always rejected offers to take part in the government of his native country but has demonstrated strong interest in political power, and the Cuban leader.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics

341 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Ángel Esteban nace en Zaragoza en 1963. Doctor en Literatura Hispanoamericana y Profesor Titular en la Universidad de Granada. Ha publicado más de treinta libros, entre los que destacan Donde no habita el olvido (1994), José Martí: el alma alerta (1995), Miguel d'Ors y los bachilleres del siglo XXI (1995), 40 años del boom latinoamericano (1996), Introducción a la literatura hispanoamericana (1997), Cuando llegan las musas (2002), Bécquer en Martí y en otros poetas hispanoamericanos finiseculares (2003) y Gabo y Fidel: el paisaje de una amistad (2004). Algunas de sus obras se han traducido al inglés, francés, polaco y turco. Ha impartido clases y ha dado conferencias en más de cuarenta universidades de todo el mundo, entre las que cabe destacar Princeton, La Sorbona, Londres Metropolitan, Nueva York City, Columbia, UCLA, Illinois, La Habana, Santo Domingo, San Marcos de Lima, Piura, Nueva Delhi, Bonn, Brown, Trinity College de Dublin, Puerto Rico, Caracas, Nápoles, Siena, Delaware y Filadelfia. Ha publicado dos libros de poemas y actualmente prepara su primera novela, La estirpe de Babel.

Reviews

[Özlem Güzelharcan]

İsmi, konusu, kapağı çok şey vadeden bu kitabı tam 2.5 ay çantamda taşıdım ama nafile. Kitap gitmiyor, ilerlemiyor. O kadar düzensiz ve karmaşık bir anlatım ki, konuya yazık edilmiş.

[Nathan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Uh. I was excited by this book initially, hoping to get a little insight into the lives of these two men. However, the entire book is completely worthless. It's far too easy to see the disdain the authors have for Fidel, not to mention the same sentiment they seem to share in regards to Gabo. Sure, it's their book, and they're entitled to an opinion of sorts, but it reads merely as propaganda, whilst condemning Gabriel for his propaganda. It's poorly organized, and the quotes seem to be manipulated far too openly for the authors. I give it a one because it shared some names I wasn't familiar with, otherwise I probably would have tossed a zero at it.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sort of disappointing. Full of fascinating information, but disjointed, chatty, even gossipy, with too much of Esteban's own unenlightening maunderings gumming up the story's flow. A very interesting basic tale of the friendship between two great but flawed men, but with too many unessential narrative bells and whistles. Can't recommend it, at least for readers interested in just the facts of the relationship.

[sunrise, sunset · Rating 4 out of 5]

GGM'e olan hislerinizi, bakışınızı iyi veya kötü yönde etkileyecek bir kitap. Özellikle de bir yazarın kişiliği ile yazarlığının eserlerini ayıramayan okurlardansanız.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book, and much better than the GR reviewers have suggested. I'm not convinced this last dude actually read it.

[Sean Kottke · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a lot I didn't know about Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and somewhat less about Fidel Castro, as revealed in this book. Not a lot of that new knowledge was welcome, and while I'd like to separate the man from his creations, this book does a convincing job of showing how Gabo's affinity for certain kinds of authoritarian leaders works its way into his novels. I ultimately liked the book because it challenged my thinking and feeling about Gabo and Cuba, which for me makes some of the book's faults forgivable. The authors may seem biased, but their bias is against authoritarianism, whether from the right or the left, and both Castrists and anti-Castrists get balanced portraits. The authors foreground their research methods in places, which isn't a terrible thing to do in and of itself; however, it occasionally reveals deficiencies in their research approach. For example, to be shocked that Gabo gave an interview to Playboy is a bit surprising, and to go on at length about the difficulties of obtaining a copy a bit silly.

[Ronni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprising!

[Owain · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got this book because at first glance it seemed highly interesting. The premise of the book is an interesting one to me about one of my favourite writers and one of my favourite revolutionary figures. However, what the authors have done here is effectively a hatchet job one would expect to find in the bourgeois press. Accusations fly left, right and centre which are tenuously referenced, or sometimes completely unreferenced in attempts to try to discredit the Cuban revolution via 'exposés' of two of its most famous participants. Some stuff they have is just down-right wrong, like stating that Fidel Castro was from a poor working-class background, when Wikipedia and all the books I've read about Castro say that he was the son of a wealthy plantation owner.

I notice that the authors are literature professors. Seemingly they are too unimaginative to write serious fiction so they have decided to place their stories into a so-called work of non-fiction.

I may keep the book a while for reference until I find a better one to use.

[Lucía SRamírez · Rating 1 out of 5]

Al principio pensé que iba estar interesante, por la manera en la que está narrado, pero no me ha gustado, después se vuelve un poco tediosa, hasta el momento un libro que sea biografía de un personaje solo sobre Hitler me ha gustado, una estrella por que ni me ha gustado ni lo he terminado, tenía buenas expectativas y quería terminarlo pero para que me engañó a mí misma, no lo haré!

[Marce Matamoros · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting recount of the strong friendship between 2 of the most important figures that Latin America has brought to the world, writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and cuban leader Fidel Castro, from its origins until 2004. It includes lots of interviews, news clips and other historic documents that lead the reader through the intrincate yet genuine friendship these 2 characters shared.

[Carol Gaston · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disjointed and therefore rather annoying. But learned quite a bit about these fascinating men of our time.