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A review by eddie
The Dream of the Celt by Mario Vargas Llosa
4.0
This is the first book by Vargas Llosa I have read and I did enjoy it - enough to explore his other work. At first I was surprised at the lack of literary pretension (or stylistic ambition) in this Nobel laureate's novel: his prose is almost journalistic in feel. However, it's very readable and the pages fly by quickly. I do have sympathy with criticisms that there is too much repetition but for me this was outweighed by the inherent interest of the story, as Llosa explores the journey of Roger Casement from Imperialist idealist to human rights activist to Irish Nationalist radical and ultimate martyr for the cause. His gay side is not massively foregrounded - Llosa clearly is focussing on issues of colonial exploitation - and he does not clearly indicate if Casement's 'Black Diaries' were British fabrications or authentic, or if they recalled real incidents or fantasy. It is clear from the record the British authorities used the diaries to besmirch Casement's name, and Llosa seems to suggest the diaries are genuine but a mixture of fantasy and reality. He cleverly keeps his central character in prison and incommunicado throughout (the story unfolds as a series of flashbacks) so although he knows the diaries have been revealed and are having a public effect the details are hidden from him (and by extension the reader).
Part of the pleasure of this book for me was that it joins a list of remarkable works dealing with the Belgian near-genocidal exploitation of the Congo in the 19th century: first and foremost Conrad's masterpiece "Heart of Darkness" (both novel and author feature in Llosa's book as Conrad was a friend of and co-activist with Casement, as well as having personal experience in the Congo), Adam Hochschild's extraordinary and chilling history "King Leopold's Ghost", and Barbara Kingsolver's poetic and visionary "The Poisonwood Bible". For me Llosa's novel is less literary than them all (even the history) but as a genuinely felt examination of Casement's humanitarian work (epic and heroic in scale by any standard) he does manage to rescue him somewhat from the still fraught political considerations of UK politics and history.
Part of the pleasure of this book for me was that it joins a list of remarkable works dealing with the Belgian near-genocidal exploitation of the Congo in the 19th century: first and foremost Conrad's masterpiece "Heart of Darkness" (both novel and author feature in Llosa's book as Conrad was a friend of and co-activist with Casement, as well as having personal experience in the Congo), Adam Hochschild's extraordinary and chilling history "King Leopold's Ghost", and Barbara Kingsolver's poetic and visionary "The Poisonwood Bible". For me Llosa's novel is less literary than them all (even the history) but as a genuinely felt examination of Casement's humanitarian work (epic and heroic in scale by any standard) he does manage to rescue him somewhat from the still fraught political considerations of UK politics and history.