Alejo Carpentier (1904–1980)
Author of The Kingdom of This World
About the Author
Alejo Carpentier was director of Cuba's National Press, which published many millions of volumes in an ambitious program, and for some years was Cuba's ambassador to France. A composer and musicologist, he consciously applied the principles of musical composition in much of his work. Imprisoned for show more political activity in 1928, he escaped with the aid of Robert Desnos, a French surrealist poet, to Paris, where he joined the literary circle of surrealists Louis Aragon, Tristan Tzara, and Paul Eluard. According to Carpentier surrealism influenced his style and helped him to see "aspects of American life he had not previously seen, in their telluric, epic, and poetic contexts." Carpentier articulated a theory of marvelous reality, "lo real maravilloso," with an almost surrealistic sense of the relationship among unrelated, or antithetical, elements, often from distinct ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The Lost Steps (1953) takes the form of a diary of a Cuban musician and intellectual who seeks escape from civilization during his trip to a remote Amazon village in search of native musical instruments. The short stories "The Road to Santiago," "Journey to the Seed," and "Similar to Night," present time as subjective rather than historical, and capable of remarkable personal variations. In his novel The Pursuit, printed in The War of Time (1958), whose title is an allusion to a line from Lope de Vega defining a man as "a soldier in the war of time, presents time similarly. "The Kingdom of This World (1949) deals with the period of Henri Christophe and the slave revolts in Haiti. Its circular structure presents the inevitable recurrence of tyranny and the need for eternal struggle against it. Reasons of State (1976), is another notable addition to the gallery of Latin American fictional portraits of dictators. It uses Carpentier's love for baroque style and parody to raise complex questions about the nature of revolution. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Works by Alejo Carpentier
Obras completas. Vol. 2. El reino de este mundo. Los pasos perdidos (Spanish Edition) (2000) 24 copies
La aprendiz de bruja ; Concierto barroco ; El arpa y la sombra (Obras completas de Alejo Carpentier) (Spanish Edition) (1983) 6 copies
Cartas a toutouche.correspondencia de alejo carpentier a su madre lina valmont,paris,1928-1937. (2010) 6 copies
Obras completas de Alejo Carpentier. 8 : Crónicas ; 1, Arte, literatura y política (1998) 2 copies
Villa Lobos 2 copies
Alejo Carpentier Ensayos 2 copies
Cronicas caribeñas 1 copy
Narrativa completa. Tomo III 1 copy
Muzyka na Kubie 1 copy
Wojna czasu 1 copy
O REINO DÊSTE MUNDO 1 copy
El reino de este mundo 1 copy
לטובת המדינה 1 copy
El adjetivo y sus arrugas 1 copy
3 Relatos 1 copy
Libro del recuerdo 1 copy
Imparatia lumii acesteia 1 copy
Finale auf Kuba 1 copy
Histoires de lune 1 copy
La Danse sacrale de Alejo Carpentier,René L.-F. Durand (Traduction) ( 4 novembre 1980 ) (1705) 1 copy
Crónicas. Tomos I y II 1 copy
Associated Works
The Oxford Book of Caribbean Short Stories: Reissue (Oxford Books of Prose) (1999) — Contributor — 93 copies
Introducción a la literatura hispanoamericana : de la conquista al siglo XX (1997) — Contributor — 20 copies
Maestros de la literatura universal. Tomo II: Latinoamérica — Contributor — 3 copies
Cuentos fantásticos y de ciencia ficción en América Latina — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Carpentier, Alejo
- Legal name
- Carpentier y Valmont, Alejo
- Birthdate
- 1904-12-26
- Date of death
- 1980-04-24
- Burial location
- Colon Cemetery, Havana, Cuba
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- Cuba
- Birthplace
- Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland
- Place of death
- Paris, France
- Places of residence
- Havana, Cuba
Caracas, Venezuela - Education
- University of Havana
- Occupations
- journalist
novelist
musicologist
essayist - Awards and honors
- Premio Miguel de Cervantes (1977)
Prix mondial Cino Del Duca (1975)
Members
Reviews
As revolution sweeps back and forth across the Atlantic at the conclusion of the 18th century, two Cuban cousins witness a world trembling between rebirth and regression.
Sofia is the most perfect literary protagonist I can remember reading this semester. I suppose you could make a case for Victor or Esteban dominating the narrative, but Sofia is clearly the narrative's center: she is the one who develops a firm and unyielding moral code, and it is only through her that Esteban recovers from his post-Victor cynicism. Even aside from its artistic ambition, Explosion in a Cathedral is stuffed with technical achievements, ranging from how the three narratives (Carlos, Sofia, Esteban) envelope one another to the single point where the narrative jumps from Sofia to Esteban. In the leap, the narrative elides a pivotal event so effortlessly that the reader only realizes the omission alongside Esteban a hundred pages later.… (more)
Sofia is the most perfect literary protagonist I can remember reading this semester. I suppose you could make a case for Victor or Esteban dominating the narrative, but Sofia is clearly the narrative's center: she is the one who develops a firm and unyielding moral code, and it is only through her that Esteban recovers from his post-Victor cynicism. Even aside from its artistic ambition, Explosion in a Cathedral is stuffed with technical achievements, ranging from how the three narratives (Carlos, Sofia, Esteban) envelope one another to the single point where the narrative jumps from Sofia to Esteban. In the leap, the narrative elides a pivotal event so effortlessly that the reader only realizes the omission alongside Esteban a hundred pages later.… (more)
A pesar de que Carpentier es siempre Carpentier, bastante recargado para mi gusto personal, ésta es, de sus obras, la que más me gustó, por la época que abarca, por las diferentes culturas que se van cruzando, por su inmersión en el mundo del arte, por las continuas alusiones a personajes reconocibles (y queribles en gran parte de los casos). Es casi un tratado de historia política y cultural hecho novela.
Lists
My TBR (2)
music to my eyes (2)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 116
- Also by
- 17
- Members
- 5,239
- Popularity
- #4,758
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 109
- ISBNs
- 466
- Languages
- 18
- Favorited
- 14
Con este libro creo haberme reconciliado con la narrativa. Desde que he empezado a leer todos los libros pendientes de mi biblioteca, donde la mayoría son de narrativa, tenía la asignatura pendiente de poder comprender qué es la narrativa para mí. Por supuesto que he disfrutado de las lecturas anteriores, pero Alejo Carpentier, con su prosa plagada de detalles, metáforas y magia, es la única que me ha conquistado durante 500 páginas. No me pasaba esto desde que leí Solenoide de Cărtărescu. Tampoco quiero llenar de elogios el libro, pero me ha parecido sublime la construcción del relato y el falso engaño del protagonismo. Constantemente se nos presenta en la novela multitud de personajes que pueden llegar a tener cierta relevancia en lo textual, pero siempre se vuelve al leitmotiv de la historia: Esteban. La labor de documentación histórica que hay detrás también es notable –de hecho es la más interesante, pues se convierte en ficción histórica. Es ahora cuando cojo ilusión de nuevo de que en mis manos caiga algún libro más de narrativa. Además, es gracioso haberlo leído esta edición de Clásicos de El País, ya que las erratas y errores que uno encuentra son adorables. Estas fuerzas renovadas me plantean tantas preguntas sobre la escritura. ¿Quizá lea el libro de Irene Vallejo? Me veo capaz de todo ahora.… (more)