Language Notes
Text: Spanish
Lituma en los Andes (Death in the Andes) ANNOTATION
Premio Planeta de Novela 1993.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
The novel tells the story of army corporal Lituma and his deputy Tomas, who have been assigned to treacherous guard duty in an isolated, run-down mining community in the mountains of Peru. The men are homesick and far from enthusiastic about serving as foot soldiers in the Peruvian Army's ongoing war against the Shining Path guerrillas. So, to pass the time, Tomas tells the story of his great love, Mercedes, a troublemaking prostitute who leads him on a precarious, cross-country adventure. But life in the Andes soon turns eventful, too. Lituma and Tomas find themselves caught up in a series of mysterious disappearances involving the Shining Path and, soon enough, a local couple performing cannibalistic sacrifices with a strange similarity to the Dionysian rituals of ancient Greece. Part detective novel and part political allegory, Death in the Andes offers a panoramic view of Peru today - not only of the current political violence and social upheaval but also of the country's roots in Indian culture and pre-Hispanic mysticism.
SPANISH LANGUAGE COMMENTARY
En un campamento minero de las montañas del Perú, el cabo Lituma y su adjunto Tomás viven en un ambiente bárbaro y hostil, bajo la constante amenaza de los guerrilleros maoístas de Sendero Luminoso, y debatiéndose con misterios sin aclarar que los obsesionan, como ciertas desapariciones inexplicables; está también la historia íntima de estos personajes, sobre todo la de un antiguo amor de Tomás, que se va contando en forma de episodios intercalados como un contrapunto de recuerdos al drama colectivo. El aliento mítico de la narración, en la que se entrevén otras muchas siluetas enérgicamente trazadas, infunde una extraordinaria vida a realidades que se observan de un modo implacable y minucioso.
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