The Vision of Elena Silves
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.75 (603 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0394584775 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 249 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-02-18 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
But the old men remember something else. They sit in the square every day under the hot sun, remembering the women they loved and the world when it was a better place. One day a woman hurries past their bench whom all have reason to remember - Elena Silves, the girl with eyes as blue as the sky who once saw a vision and has been incarcerated by the Church authorities in a convent high in the Andes ever since. They remember that Elena had been in love at the time with Gabriel, a student revolutionary who became the most wanted man in Belen.. In the city of Belen, in the heart of the Peruvian jungle, three old men sit
"Readable riffs via Greene & Garcia Marquez" according to John L Murphy. Shakespeare's dust jacket blurb mentions his stint pursuing guerrillas of the Shining Path in Peru as well as his (as of 1990) twenty-odd years spent in Latin America. Clearly, the influence of Graham Greene colors Shakespeare's characters such as the alcoholic priest, the effete bishop, the corrupted policeman, and the "palanca" prisoner. And, the example of Garcia Marquez' non-magical realism shows in the portrayals of
Instead, the two rush to a breathless climax--lovers united at last--but far removed from a history that the author is attracted to, it seems, only as exotic backdrop. From Publishers Weekly One might have thought that the tradition of a British observer romancing the jungles of South America ended with Graham Greene. Shakespeare, literary editor of London's Daily Telegraph , exploits these two simplistic poles of the South American character--fervent Catholicism and political revolution--so much so that the real fates of his characters (Elena spends 18 years in a convent; Gabriel, the same amount of time in prison and on the run) are virtually passed over. But no: the lure of the unwashed still pulls, and cocaine trafficking conveniently provides a