MLR,

91.3, 1996

771

and self-sacrifice for the sake of peace. Thompson also appraises the mechanisms of
theatricality at work in the play by analysing characterization, symbolism, dialogue,
and plot structure.
The translation is accurate in the main, reads well, and has largely succeeded in
preserving the flavour of the original text. There are, however, a few instances of
perhaps excessive imaginative originality on the part of the translator, resulting in
awkward translation; such is the translation ofthe decima on page 44 (I am unable to
transcribe the poem here, for lack of space). The work is almost free of misprints but
there is something missing in 'He prided himself upon his ability to see through the
falseness of others, yet he has not perceived the true character of Campos or the
threat people of Madrid' (p. 24). My only significant reservation about the book has
to do with the poor quality of the print, which is very small, hazy-looking and
sometimes faded, thus making the reading experience less enjoyable. Notwithstanding these criticisms, Thompson's translation is basically sound and a useful piece
suitable for both the classroom and the library.
JOHN CARROLL UNIVERSITY

F . KOMLA AGGOR

Poesiay antipoesia. By NICANOR PARRA. Ed. by HUGO MONTES. {Clasicos Castalia,

204) Madrid: Castalia. 1994. xxiii-h 82 pp. 600 ptas.
In his clearly and solidly constructed introductory pages to this short anthology of
Parra's poems, Hugo Montes is sometimes uneasy with his radically plural,
experimental, uproariously modern, and self-fragmenting subject. For his target
audience (students needing facts) he dutifully (and usefully) catalogues some ofthe
techniques and outrages of some forty years of poetic practice that wilfully both
exceeds and fails the expectations of a vanguardismo that it plunders, alters, banalizes,
exalts, and anachronistically extends. 'No faltan las groserias ni los extranjerismos'
(p. 16); 'El autor crea basicamente desde dos situaciones, a saber, la ironia y el
absurdo' (p. 20); the poet works 'dentro de sus esquemas transgresores' (p. 20) and
sceptical, parodic antipoesia is safely given some origins (Huidobro, and interestingly,
Dario (pp. 21-22)) and a firm grounding in Chilean avant-garde writings
(pp. 14-15). In a detailed exploration oi desacralizacion in poems ofthe 1960s Montes
speaks of'lo que se ha Uamado desmitificacion' (p. 18), a tantalizing reference to a
whole new critical vocabulary appropriately applied to Parra by other critics
(Federico Schopff, Ivan Carrasco, Maria Nieves Alonso, Cilberto Trivifios, William
Rowe) but kept at a distance here with the same caution as is used with Parra
himself.
There is a seven-page 'Evocacion biografica' (a common-sense challenge to the
included poem 'Frases' which states that 'Los poetas no tienen biografia').
Annoyingly, this evocation manages to mention Pablo Neruda when only twenty
words in, threatening to cast a spurious shadow over Parra not for the first time
in Chilean literary history; it also implies (taking at face value an autobiographical
remark of Parra's reported at second hand (p. 9)) that Parra's career as a
professional physicist was a kind of obstacle to the poetry, perhaps here missing the
chance to offer a handhold on the abrupt and slippery surface of those poems which
amalgamate high, radical abstraction, intense concentration on observable facts
and behaviours, and extreme scepticism (for example, 'Los vicios del mundo
moderno'). But it is otherwise engagingly alive to the complexity and liveliness of
Parra as a person and, like the rest ofthe introduction, alert to Chilean specificity.
In Europe, this new anthology is in competition with the selections byJose Miguel
Ibanez Langlois for Seix Barral {Antipoemas: Antologia ig44-ig6g) (currendy out of

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Reviews

print), with its sharp and much more comprehensive introduction, and that by
Alonso and Trivifios for Visor (1989), Chistespara desorientar a la poesia, which takes its
name from the 1982 collection. Both these anthologies, in their layout and indices,
give a much clearer idea than Montes's of the chronology and development of the
poetry. Montes, of course, goes beyond 1969 and he makes space for more ofthe
experimental fragments, Artefactos (igy^), than Alonso and Trivinos but lets in fewer
ofthe Ghistes, missing out one ofthe better ones: 'Poesia poesia | como si en Chile no
ocurriera nada.' Wry, and grimly comical, it is good to have more Parra on our
shelves and to think again whether his middle-period (anti-)poetry is really just a
starting-point for 'poetas mayores el Neruda de Estravagario por ejemplo y
muchos poetas nuevos' (p. 23) or something quite different.
UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE

CHRIS PERRIAM

A Marxist Reading of Fuentes, Vargas Llosa and Puig. By VICTOR MANUEL DURAN.
Lanham, MD, New York, and London: University Press of America. 1994.
xiv-l-118 pp.
Considering the bibliography that already exists on Vargas Llosa, Fuentes, and
Puig, writing on their works and finding a new slant that allows the critic room to
see things in a new light is a difficult task indeed. This, however, is the task that
Victor Manuel Duran has undertaken with this book. Despite the title, however, the
study deals with three specific novels: La casa verde, La muerte de Artemio Cruz, and
Boquitas pintadas. It contains four chapters: the first is a sort of overview of Marxist
literary theory, the second is entitled 'A Marxist Reading of Vargas Llosa's La casa
verde', and the third and the fourth are Marxist readings of Z^ muerte de Artemio Cruz
and Boquitas pintadas, respectively.
The Marxist elements that emerge from the chapter on Marxist literary theory
are selective and fail to give the reader a complete overview of this particular literary
approach and its main objectives. For example, no mention is made of the link
between Marxist criticism and ideology, and the relationship that Marxist criticism
shares with the sociological approach to literature is not explored. Also, a brief
account of how this approach has evolved since its inception would have been
useful. In addition, the author should have taken more care to consult the original
works where available, instead of quoting them through secondary sources.
On various occasions, Duran states that the novels in question are not Marxist
novels and that he is simply offering a Marxist reading of them. However, by
applying only selective aspects of Marxist theory, he ends up not giving a Marxist
reading at all. The impression is given that for him any setting, character, or
historical event that can be traced back to reality is Marxist. Moreover, there are
other, rather fundamental, problems with this book. For example. Chapter 2 deals
with La casa verde, but Duran seems content to limit himself to endorsing existing
criticism on this novel. Long, frequent quotations from other works on the novel
and continuous references to other criticism undermine the very purpose of this
study.
Similarly, the chapters on La muerte de Artemio Cruz and Boquitas pintadas do not
give the reader a reasoned analysis of these novels based on Marxist principles.
Some readers may find that what is said about these novels is quite ordinary and
routine, and that it does not add very much to the existing knowledge on the works.
The reader may also wonder why forty pages are dedicated to Boquitas pintadas as
opposed to twenty-five each to the other two novels. I would also question the
author's choice ofthe brief but not very representative bibliography on these novels.