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The Kingdom of This World: A Novel
by Carpentier, Alejo
- Used
- Good
- Paperback
- Condition
- Good
- ISBN 10
- 0374521972
- ISBN 13
- 9780374521974
- Seller
-
Olympia, Washington, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1989-09-01. Paperback. Good. Light to moderate shelf wear to covers. Binding square and tight. No loose pages or creasing to spine. No highlighting, notation, or remainder marks. Thank you for supporting Last Word Books and independent bookstores.
Reviews
On Nov 3 2010, JolietM said:
Written by the Cuban Alejo Carpentier (1904-1980), this novel’s literary genre is that one of “the marvelous real” –often mixed up with the magical realism (made famous by Horacio Quiroga in the first place and achieving its greatest fame with Gabriel García Márquez), even though the differences are remarkable–, which was created by Carpentier himself. In the prologue the author gives a passionate explanation of his view of the genre –text on which the definition we nowadays have is based– ending it with a question in which he confesses to the reader what he thinks is the projection of the genre in the material. The aforementioned question if the following: “What, after all, is the history of the Americas but a chronicle of the marvelous real?” America’s history if then, to Carpentier, the clearest expression of the genre, as the natural finds itself interlaced with the supernatural.The novel tells about the Haitian revolution from a closer view concentrated on the life of the black slaves and their repeated misfortunes when falling time and again in the hands of dictators. The tale is faithful to the historical facts but, which is precisely what gets it to be marvelous real, mixes up inherently with the blacks’ believes and superstitions, making something wonderful out of reality. The story mentions characters such as Henri Christophe, Paulina Bonaparte and General LeClerc, whose existence have being confirmed. Yet there are those who play important parts whose existence are though doubted such as, for instance, Mackandal; a controversial character who’s inseparably accompanied of the rumours created by the people, believers in his supernaturality and, of course, convinced of his existence.Widely accepted by the critics, this work is one of the most important ones in the Spanish-American literature and of compulsory reading for the student of its history.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Last Word Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- SKU9141463
- Title
- The Kingdom of This World: A Novel
- Author
- Carpentier, Alejo
- Format/Binding
- Paperback
- Book Condition
- Used - Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- ISBN 10
- 0374521972
- ISBN 13
- 9780374521974
- Publisher
- Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1989-09-01
- X weight
- 9 oz
Terms of Sale
Last Word Books
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About the Seller
Last Word Books
Biblio member since 2010
Olympia, Washington
About Last Word Books
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Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Shelf Wear
- Shelf wear (shelfwear) describes damage caused over time to a book by placing and removing a book from a shelf. This damage is...
- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.
- Remainder
- Book(s) which are sold at a very deep discount to alleviate publisher overstock. Often, though not always, they have a remainder...