The Dogs of Paradise

Brilliant, profound and startlingly comic, here is a transformation of the old stories about the discovery of the Americas by distinguished Argentinian author Abel Posse. Ranging from the decadent Spanish court to the shores of the Mediterranean to the tropical Earthly Paradise, the Admiral of the Ocean Sea triumphantly finds the New World. The medieval Spanish state and the New World in the early years of its discovery by Europeans are the backdrops for a revisionist historical farce that will be best appreciated by those already familiar with the personalities and events of the period. The disjointed narrative renders with Rabelaisian gusto (and, frequently, crudity) several settings: Aztec and Inca societies; the passionate, cruel court of Isabella and Ferdinand; the lonely wanderings of Christopher Columbus as he moves toward his fateful mission of finding Earthly Paradise. Posse, a former member of the Argentinian diplomatic corps whose previous novels have been published in Latin America, employs the fashionable technique of viewing history through a decidedly 20th-century lens (a character's body is described as "Picassoesque") to offer some provocative insights into these icons of Spanish history, but the overheated machismo permeating the novel may annoy some. Nevertheless, this is a worthwhile addition to the bookshelves of Latin American literature aficionados. Christopher Columbus is the central character in this provocative novel by Argentinian author Posse. He presents the epic voyage of 1492 as a danse macabre, a lethal meeting of cultures that results in torture and death for the natives of the New World. Ferdinand and Isabella give a Spanish preview of fascist dictatorship to come while the Spanish Inquisition sets a grisly new standard for religious intolerance. Posse offers American readers a fresh chance to sample the astonishing creativity of Latin American writers. He blends the humor of Woody Allen and the dark images of Ingmar Bergman into a haunting account of man's inhumanity to man in the 15th century.