Finished May 1
Malvinas Requiem by Rodolfo Fogwill, translated by Nick Caistor and Amanda Hopkinson
This book originally came out 25 years ago, and had a huge impact in Argentina, contributing to the defeat of the military junta. Malvinas, aka the Falkland Islands is the setting for the book.
In this novel, in the final days of the war, in June 1982, 24 young Argentinian soldiers banded together and hid underground in the mountains. At night, they venture out and trade for the necessities with both the British and the Argentines. Underground, they stockpile supplies, share stories, and worry about the future. They come from all over Argentina, and none of them wanted to be in the war.
The novel speaks to the futility of war, particularly this one. There is dark humour, pragmatism, and a unique viewpoint by the dillos, as they call themselves.
Finally translated into English, this is a book that lets us see the reality of the Argentinian soldiers lives and how they were treated.
I first heard of this book on the blog Three Percent. Here is a link to the obituary of Fogwill and a review of the book there. http://www.rochester.edu/College/translation/threepercent/?s=tag&t=malvinas-requiem
ReplyDeleteAlso this book counts toward my Global Reading Challenge for South America.