The Feast of the Goat

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L'écrivain n'a donc pas mis en place une île fictive, peuplée de personnages métaphoriques. Il a reconstitué, avec une crédibilité saisissante, l'atmosphère pourrie de cette époque en appelant les gens par leurs noms, quel que soit leur rôle dans l'Histoire. Et aussi, brassant le réel et l'imaginaire, en introduisant des personnages inventés" - Raphaëlle Rérolle, Le Monde This ugly, mesmerising, masterly novel is as steeped in facts as Macbeth was in blood. Nothing could be further from the popular idea of the South American novel, and nothing could be a more remarkable demonstration of its strengths, obsessions and direction. (...) It is a splendid novel, imbued with a passionately driving commitment." - Philip Hensher, The Spectator Chirot, Daniel (1996), Modern Tyrants: The Power and Prevalence of Evil in Our Age, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-02777-3 . A fierce, edgy and enthralling book ... Mr. Vargas Llosa has pushed the boundaries of the traditional historical novel, and in doing so has written a book of harrowing power and lasting resonance."-- The New York Times

We see the life of this man who loved his country and was politically brilliant, hard-working and fastidious. He was also a brutal and sadistic man. He sent his cronies on overseas missions so he could visit their wives who could dare not refuse his attentions. Trujillo was charismatic with a piercing gaze and high-pitched voice --- does that remind us of another brutal dictator in Europe?

Tropes present in the book:

The book brings readers to the precipice of terror and lets us look into the abyss of cruelty as it poses and answers the question: Why do people not oppose dictators?...He has by his body of work already secured a place as one of the monumental writers of our time.” — The Boston Globe Some is set in the present, to show presumably how little has changed and how people remember the past (Urania finds quite some Trujillo-nostalgia and whitewashing lingering even more than thirty years later). But above all, Mario Vargas Llosa uses the fictional Urania to facilitate the novel's attempt at remembering the regime. The novel opens and closes with Urania's story, effectively framing the narrative in the terms of remembering the past and understanding its legacy in the present. [34] In addition, because of her academic study of the history of the Trujillo regime, Urania is also confronting the memory of the regime for the country as a whole. [35] This is in keeping with one purpose of the book, which is to ensure that the atrocities of the dictatorship and the dangers of absolute power will be remembered by a new generation. [36] Writing and power [ edit ] T)he book is no hysterically correct political polemic. (...) Because of the temporal and narrative shifts, you might worry that the novel is a bit overly complicated. It's not that way at all, because Vargas Llosa (...) is a master of the intricate and complex relation of the far past to the near past and immediate present." - Alan Cheuse, San Francisco Chronicle The book is set in the Dominican Republic and portrays the assassination of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo, and its aftermath, from two distinct standpoints a generation apart: during and immediately after the assassination itself, in May 1961; and thirty-five years later, in 1996.

Vargas Llosa can and does revel in outrage: the Trujillo (and the post-Trujillo regime) committed any number of heinous acts and Vargas Llosa describes many of these. Egopolis: Starting with the fact that the capital was renamed Ciudad Trujillo, not to mentions the hundreds of streets and places named by his family. An English-language film adaptation of the novel was made in 2005, directed by Luis Llosa, Mario Vargas Llosa's cousin. It stars Isabella Rossellini as Urania Cabral, Paul Freeman as her father Agustin, Stephanie Leonidas as Uranita and Tomas Milian as Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. It was filmed in both the Dominican Republic and in Spain. [53] Reviewing the film for the trade paper Variety, critic Jonathan Holland called it "less a feast than a somewhat rushed, but thoroughly enjoyable, three-course meal", commenting that the main difference from the source novel was the sacrifice of psychological nuance. [54] It's Personal: Most of the conspirators used to be fervent followers of Trujillo until he did something that affected them personally.The Feast of the Goat is a 2005 Dominican-Spanish-British drama film directed by Luis Llosa and starring Tomas Milian, Isabella Rossellini, Paul Freeman, Juan Diego Botto and Stephanie Leonidas. It is based on Mario Vargas Llosa's 2000 novel of the same name. [1] [2] Cast [ edit ] Lively, fast (if occasionally confusedly) paced, horrific, with some striking scenes, The Feast of the Goat is a good if not entirely satisfying read. The complex orbital structure, the relentless savagery, the psychotic grotesquerie -- The Feast of the Goat is as dark and complicated as a Jacobean revenge tragedy; but it is also rich and humane." - Jonathan Heawood, The Observer This is an impressively crafted novel, teeming with characters and Vargas Llosa's trademark style, but the switches between present and past, sometimes in alternate sentences, can be confusing. The scenes of degradation have a voyeuristic appeal. (...) Even if this is not a great novel, Vargas Llosa is still a great storyteller." - Sebastian Shakespeare, New Statesman Bathe Her and Bring Her to Me: Trujillo has women and girls brought to him. He also sleeps with the wives and daughters of his collaborators as a show of power and to humilliate them.

Trujillo's attempted sexual conquest of Urania is an example of both political manipulation of Agustín Cabral and sexual power over young women. However, as Trujillo's penis remains flaccid throughout the encounter and he is humiliated in front of the young girl, the encounter fails to satisfy his requirements for machismo. [30] Memory [ edit ] A second focusses on the conspirators who plan and then carry out the murder of the despot, focussing on the actual assassination, and then the consequences of it.Trujillo was officially dictator only from 1930 to 1938, and from 1942 to 1952, but remained in effective power throughout the entire period. Though his regime was broadly nationalist, Daniel Chirot comments that he had "no particular ideology" and his economic and social policies were basically progressive. [6] Sleazy Politician: Most of Trujillo's followers, exemplified mostly by Balaguer and Henry Chirinos.