The Dream of the Celt
Encyclopedia
The Dream of the Celt
(Spanish: El sueño del celta) is a novel written by Hispano
-Peruvian writer and 2010 Nobel laureate in literature
Mario Vargas Llosa
.
The novel was presented to the public November 3, 2010 during a special ceremony held in the Casa de América museum and cultural center in Madrid
, that same day it appeared in bookstores. It has been a bestseller in Spain and was the most popular title at the XXIV Feria Internacional del Libro de Guadalajara. It is scheduled to appear in English in 2012.
The book is a novelization of the life of Anglo-Irish
diplomat-turned-Irish nationalist
Sir Roger Casement
(1864-1916). The title is itself the title of a poem written by the subject. The Nobel Prize committee in announcing Vargas Llosa's selection in the following fashion: "[it is] for his cartography
of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt, and defeat," seemed to simultaneously anticipate and chart the author's course in his latest work, while clearly referencing some of his most acclaimed earlier novels.
with those of the journalistic chronicle
; the main human and historical themes explored are those relating to the colonial
subjugation and enslavement (via a process of systematic terror and torture) of the native inhabitants of the Congo Basin
and the Peruvian Amazon during the latter part of the 19th and early part of the 20th century. The novel naturally and purposefully invites comparison with Joseph Conrad's
Heart of Darkness
(the direct appearance of Conrad in the novel leaves little doubt in this regard).
It is within this larger context that the complex and ultimately tragic story of British consul
Roger Casement unfolds. The most notable events of this vita being his exposure to and his first-hand accounts of the systematic tortures inflicted on the native inhabitants of the Congo
and Peru by European commercial concerns; his attainment of a British knighthood for these same humanitarian endeavors; his subsequent transformation into a radical fighter for Irish independence
, collaboration with the German military, and participation in the Easter Rising
; his arrest, prosecution, and conviction for treason by the British; the late revelations of a submerged history of pederastic
activities as per his own secret diaries; his execution by hanging.
The story is told in alternating chapters, with the odd chapters detailing the last three months of Casement's life (in 1916), and the even chapters encompassing the protagonist's experiences up to that time; the latter are themselves divided into three parts, each one named after a specific colonial geography and reality to which Casement was exposed: "Congo," "Amazonia," "Ireland." Ultimately, odd and even chapters converge on a final structural and dramatic point, which is also the final point (and, in a sense, purpose) of Casement's life.
Celt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....
(Spanish: El sueño del celta) is a novel written by Hispano
Hispano
Hispano may relate to:* Hispano, , the Spanish word for the inhabitants of Pre-Roman and Roman Hispania , ....
-Peruvian writer and 2010 Nobel laureate in literature
Nobel Prize in Literature
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
Mario Vargas Llosa
Mario Vargas Llosa
Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquis of Vargas Llosa is a Peruvian-Spanish writer, politician, journalist, essayist, and Nobel Prize laureate. Vargas Llosa is one of Latin America's most significant novelists and essayists, and one of the leading authors of his generation...
.
The novel was presented to the public November 3, 2010 during a special ceremony held in the Casa de América museum and cultural center in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, that same day it appeared in bookstores. It has been a bestseller in Spain and was the most popular title at the XXIV Feria Internacional del Libro de Guadalajara. It is scheduled to appear in English in 2012.
The book is a novelization of the life of Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish was a term used primarily in the 19th and early 20th centuries to identify a privileged social class in Ireland, whose members were the descendants and successors of the Protestant Ascendancy, mostly belonging to the Church of Ireland, which was the established church of Ireland until...
diplomat-turned-Irish nationalist
Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...
Sir Roger Casement
Roger Casement
Roger David Casement —Sir Roger Casement CMG between 1911 and shortly before his execution for treason, when he was stripped of his British honours—was an Irish patriot, poet, revolutionary, and nationalist....
(1864-1916). The title is itself the title of a poem written by the subject. The Nobel Prize committee in announcing Vargas Llosa's selection in the following fashion: "[it is] for his cartography
Cartography
Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.The fundamental problems of traditional cartography are to:*Set the map's...
of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt, and defeat," seemed to simultaneously anticipate and chart the author's course in his latest work, while clearly referencing some of his most acclaimed earlier novels.
Theme and structure
The Dream of the Celt combines elements of the historical novelHistorical novel
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, a historical novel is-Development:An early example of historical prose fiction is Luó Guànzhōng's 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which covers one of the most important periods of Chinese history and left a lasting impact on Chinese culture.The...
with those of the journalistic chronicle
Chronicle
Generally a chronicle is a historical account of facts and events ranged in chronological order, as in a time line. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events, the purpose being the recording of events that occurred, seen from the perspective of the...
; the main human and historical themes explored are those relating to the colonial
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
subjugation and enslavement (via a process of systematic terror and torture) of the native inhabitants of the Congo Basin
Congo Basin
The Congo Basin is the sedimentary basin that is the drainage of the Congo River of west equatorial Africa. The basin begins in the highlands of the East African Rift system with input from the Chambeshi River, the Uele and Ubangi Rivers in the upper reaches and the Lualaba River draining wetlands...
and the Peruvian Amazon during the latter part of the 19th and early part of the 20th century. The novel naturally and purposefully invites comparison with Joseph Conrad's
Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad was a Polish-born English novelist.Conrad is regarded as one of the great novelists in English, although he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties...
Heart of Darkness
Heart of Darkness
Heart of Darkness is a novella written by Joseph Conrad. Before its 1903 publication, it appeared as a three-part series in Blackwood's Magazine. It was classified by the Modern Library website editors as one of the "100 best novels" and part of the Western canon.The story centres on Charles...
(the direct appearance of Conrad in the novel leaves little doubt in this regard).
It is within this larger context that the complex and ultimately tragic story of British consul
British Consul
British Consul may refer to:-*The Consul who represents Great Britain in various foreign countries, a tanker sunk during the Second World War...
Roger Casement unfolds. The most notable events of this vita being his exposure to and his first-hand accounts of the systematic tortures inflicted on the native inhabitants of the Congo
Congo Free State
The Congo Free State was a large area in Central Africa which was privately controlled by Leopold II, King of the Belgians. Its origins lay in Leopold's attracting scientific, and humanitarian backing for a non-governmental organization, the Association internationale africaine...
and Peru by European commercial concerns; his attainment of a British knighthood for these same humanitarian endeavors; his subsequent transformation into a radical fighter for Irish independence
Irish independence
Irish independence may refer to:* Irish War of Independence – a guerrilla war fought between the Irish Republican Army, under the Irish Republic, and the United Kingdom* Anglo-Irish Treaty – the treaty that brought the Irish War of Independence to a close...
, collaboration with the German military, and participation in the Easter Rising
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...
; his arrest, prosecution, and conviction for treason by the British; the late revelations of a submerged history of pederastic
Pederasty
Pederasty or paederasty is an intimate relationship between an adult and an adolescent boy outside his immediate family. The word pederasty derives from Greek "love of boys", a compound derived from "child, boy" and "lover".Historically, pederasty has existed as a variety of customs and...
activities as per his own secret diaries; his execution by hanging.
The story is told in alternating chapters, with the odd chapters detailing the last three months of Casement's life (in 1916), and the even chapters encompassing the protagonist's experiences up to that time; the latter are themselves divided into three parts, each one named after a specific colonial geography and reality to which Casement was exposed: "Congo," "Amazonia," "Ireland." Ultimately, odd and even chapters converge on a final structural and dramatic point, which is also the final point (and, in a sense, purpose) of Casement's life.
Locations
Some of the locations referred to in the book. Organised, for each list, by approximate order of mention:- Ireland: Lawson Terrace, Sandy Cove (location), Dublin; BallycastleBallycastle, County AntrimBallycastle is a small town in County Antrim in Northern Ireland. Its population was 5,089 people in the 2001 Census. It is the seat and main settlement of Moyle District Council....
; Magherintemple House (location); Ballymena High SchoolBallymena AcademyBallymena Academy is a mixed grammar school located in the market town of Ballymena in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It was founded in the early nineteenth century as a small provincial school for children in the town and surrounding agricultural hinterland.-Admissions:The school currently has...
; Galgorm Castle (location); CushendallCushendallCushendall and formerly known as Newtown Glens is a village and townland in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.It is on the A2 coast road between Glenariff and Cushendun, in the Antrim Coast and Glens Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
; CushendunCushendunCushendun is a small coastal village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It sits off the A2 coast road between Cushendall and Ballycastle. It has a sheltered harbour and lies at the mouth of the River Dun and Glendun, one of the nine Glens of Antrim. The Mull of Kintyre in Scotland is only about...
; Banna Strand (location), Tralee - England: LiverpoolLiverpoolLiverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
; Pent Farm (location), Hythe, KentHythe, KentHythe , is a small coastal market town on the edge of Romney Marsh, in the District of Shepway on the south coast of Kent. The word Hythe or Hithe is an Old English word meaning Haven or Landing Place....
; Philbeach Gardens, Kensington (location); Pentonville Prison - Africa:
- Foreign Office service: Old Calabar; Lourenço MarquesMaputoMaputo, also known as Lourenço Marques, is the capital and largest city of Mozambique. It is known as the City of Acacias in reference to acacia trees commonly found along its avenues and the Pearl of the Indian Ocean. It was famous for the inscription "This is Portugal" on the walkway of its...
; São Paulo de Luanda - River Congo: BananaBanana, Democratic Republic of the CongoBanana is a small seaport in Bas-Congo province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the Atlantic coast. The port is situated in Banana Creek, an inlet about 1 km wide on the north bank of the Congo River's mouth, separated from the ocean by a spit of land 3 km long and 100 to 400 m...
; Boma; ViviVivi, Democratic Republic of the CongoVivi is a town in the Bas-Congo province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is located on the Congo River, near the provincial capital of Matadi. In the 19th century, it served as the first capital of the Congo Free State from July, 1885 to May 1, 1886, when the capital was relocated to...
; MatadiMatadiMatadi is the chief sea port of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the capital of the Bas-Congo province. It has a population of 245,862 . Matadi is situated on the left bank of the Congo River from the mouth and below the last navigable point before rapids make the river impassable for a...
; River MpozoM'pozo RiverThe M'pozo is a river in the province of Bas-Congo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its source is located in Angola. The river ends on the left bank of the Congo River, a few kilometres upstream of Matadi....
; Mbanza-NgunguMbanza-NgunguMbanza-Ngungu, formerly known as Thysville or Thysstad, named after Albert Thys, is a city in Bas-Congo Province in the western part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, lying on a short branch off the Matadi-Kinshasa Railway...
; LeopoldvilleKinshasaKinshasa is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The city is located on the Congo River....
; BrazzavilleBrazzaville-Transport:The city is home to Maya-Maya Airport and a railway station on the Congo-Ocean Railway. It is also an important river port, with ferries sailing to Kinshasa and to Bangui via Impfondo...
; Stanley Pool; BoloboBoloboBolobo is a town on the Congo River in Kwango District of Bandundu Province in the western part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ....
; LukolelaLukolelaLukolela is a town in Équateur District in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the Congo River bank. It is opposite the Republic of Congo town of Loukolela. The Lukolela Swamp Rat is named after the town....
; Lake TumbaLake TumbaLake Tumba is a shallow lake in northwestern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is located at around and has an area of 500.00 km² and is from 2 to 6 m deep. It is the part of the Congo River basin. Lake Tumba hosts 114 species of fish...
; CoquillehatvilleMbandakaMbandaka, formerly known as Coquilhatville or Coquilhatstad , is a city on the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo, lying near the confluence of the Congo and Ruki Rivers. The capital of the Equateur District, it is home to an airport and is linked by ferry to Kinshasa and Boende...
; River LoporiLopori RiverThe Lopori river is a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Lopori, and the Maringa River to the south, join near Basankusu to form the Lulonga River, a tributary of the Congo River....
; BongandangaBongandangaBongandanga is a small town in Mongala District in the northwestern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As of 2009 it had an estimated population of 4625.It is the administrative center of the Bongandanga Sector....
; KisanganiKisanganiKisangani is the capital of Orientale Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the 3rd largest urbanized city in the country and the largest of the cities that lie in the tropical woodlands of the Congo....
- Foreign Office service: Old Calabar; Lourenço Marques
- South America:
- Brazil: Santos, ParáBelémBelém is a Brazilian city, the capital and largest city of state of Pará, in the country's north region. It is the entrance gate to the Amazon with a busy port, airport and bus/coach station...
, Rio de JaneiroRio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, PetropolisPetrópolisPetrópolis , also known as The Imperial City of Brazil, is a town in the state of Rio de Janeiro, about 65 km from the city of Rio de Janeiro.... - Putumayo (in PeruPutumayo DistrictPutumayo District is one of thirteen districts of the Maynas Province in Peru.-References:...
, in ColombiaPutumayo DepartmentPutumayo is a department of Colombia. It is in the south-west of the country, bordering Ecuador and Peru. Its capital is Mocoa.The word putumayo comes from the Quechua language. The verb putuy means "to spring forth" or "to burst out", and mayo is a variant of mayu, meaning river...
): LoretoLoreto RegionLoreto is Peru's northernmost region. Covering almost one-third of Peru's territory, Loreto is by far the nation's largest region and also one of the most sparsely populated ones, due to its remote location in the Amazon Rainforest...
; IquitosIquitosIquitos is the largest city in the Peruvian rainforest, with a population of 370,962. It is the capital of Loreto Region and Maynas Province.Located on the Amazon River, it is only above sea level, although it is more than from the mouth of the Amazon at Belém on the Atlantic Ocean...
; TabatingaTabatingaTabatinga is a municipality in the Três Fronteiras area of Northwestern Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian state of Amazonas. Its population was 45,293...
; River NapoNapo RiverThe Napo is a tributary to the Amazon River that rises in Ecuador on the flanks of the volcanoes of Antisana, Sincholagua and Cotopaxi.The total length of 1075 km. Catchment area of 100,518 square kilometers...
(mouth); River CaquetáJapurá RiverThe Japurá River or Caquetá River is a river about long rising as the Caquetá River in the Andes in the Southwest of Colombia. It flows southeast into Brazil, where it is called the Japurá. The Japurá enters the Amazon River through a network of channels...
(becomes River Japurá); River Javari (mouth); River Igara ParanáIgara Paraná RiverIgara Paraná River is a river of Colombia. It is part of the Amazon River basin and is a tributary of the Putumayo River....
(mouth); La Chorrera (location); Ocidente (location)
- Brazil: Santos, Pará
- Germany: LimburgLimburg an der LahnLimburg an der Lahn is the district seat of Limburg-Weilburg in Hesse, Germany.-Location:Limburg lies in western Hesse between the Taunus and the Westerwald on the river Lahn....
; WilhelmshavenWilhelmshavenWilhelmshaven is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea.-History:...
; HeligolandHeligolandHeligoland is a small German archipelago in the North Sea.Formerly Danish and British possessions, the islands are located in the Heligoland Bight in the south-eastern corner of the North Sea...
; ZossenZossenZossen is a German town in the district of Teltow-Fläming in Brandenburg, south of Berlin, and next to the B96 highway. Zossen consists of several smaller municipalities, which were grouped together in 2003 to form the city.-Geography:... - Norway: ChristianiaOsloOslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
External links
- Times Literary Supplement review http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article7170097.ece
- The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
article 1 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/oct/18/mario-vargas-llosa-roger-casement - The Guardian article 2 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/oct/18/new-mario-vargas-llosa-novel
- Alfaguara, Spanish publisher http://www.alfaguara.com/es/libro/el-sueno-del-celta/