Filed under: I The Supreme | Tags: augusto roa bastos, dictator, I The Supreme, span312
Well folks here we go, blog entry numero uno:
“It is a paradox that every dictator has climbed to power on the ladder of free speech. Immediately on attaining power each dictator has suppressed all free speech except his own.”
Herbert Hoover
This book is by far my favorite of the semester so far. I think it carries the writing/power/language/dictator themes much better than either Facundo or The President. First off, the style more compelling, more captivating, more skillfully ascribed than the previous reads. Maybe it’s because the book fits the contemporary (of my “era”?) narrative styles that I enjoy in other mediums–especially film: reading this book feels like I’m in a dictator version of Amorres Perros or Reservoir Dogs. The jarring effect of jumping (non-linear) narratives in those films somehow corresponds with the sense of displacement Bastos provokes with visually non-distinguishable voices in the main text, with other outside voices complicating things further. Bastos’ writing, his metaphors specifically, croon with a smoothness that Asturias was always reaching for.
Reading the blogs so far, I really sense the varying tastes of the folks in the class. I understand how for some people this book might seem like a non-starter, that it seems to be just a conversation between some people way back in the day, that you can’t even figure out who the heck is talking…But for me, that’s part of the fun with I THE SUPREME–that it is written in a very unorthodox way. The unique style isn’t just some technical gimmick; rather, we are presented with a slick, slick book that draws one deep into the thoughts the Supreme.
