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750 = The Feast of the Goat = |
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751 The Feast of the Goat ( Spanish : La fiesta del chivo , 2000 ) is a novel by the Peruvian Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Mario Vargas Llosa . The book is set in the Dominican Republic and portrays the assassination of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo , and its aftermath , from two distinct standpoints a gene... |
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752 The novel follows three interwoven storylines . The first concerns a woman , Urania Cabral , who is back in the Dominican Republic , after a long absence , to visit her ailing father ; she ends up recalling incidents from her youth and recounting a long @-@ held secret to her aunt and cousins . The second story li... |
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753 Readers are shown the regime 's downward spiral , Trujillo 's assassination , and its aftermath through the eyes of insiders , conspirators , and a middle @-@ aged woman looking back . The novel is therefore a kaleidoscopic portrait of dictatorial power , including its psychological effects , and its long @-@ term... |
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754 Vargas Llosa interlaces fictional elements and historical events : the book is not a documentary , and the Cabral family , for instance , is completely fictional . On the other hand , the characters of Trujillo and Trujillo 's assassins are drawn from the historical record ; Vargas Llosa weaves real historical inc... |
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755 The Feast of the Goat received largely positive reviews , with several reviewers commenting on the book 's depiction of the relationship between sexuality and power , and on the graphic descriptions of violent events . |
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756 A film version of the novel was released in 2005 , starring Isabella Rossellini , Paul Freeman , and Tomas Milian . Jorge Alí Triana and his daughter Veronica Triana wrote a theatrical adaptation in 2003 . |
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757 = = Background = = |
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758 The Feast of the Goat is only the second of Vargas Llosa 's novels to be set outside Peru ( the first being The War of the End of the World ) . It is also unusual because it is the first to have a female protagonist : as critic Lynn Walford writes of the leading character in The Feast of the Goat , and also Vargas... |
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759 The novel examines the dictatorial regime of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina in the Dominican Republic . Trujillo was , in historian Eric Roorda 's words , " a towering influence in Dominican and Caribbean history " who presided over " one of the most durable regimes of the twentieth century " during the thirty @-... |
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760 Trujillo was officially dictator only from 1930 to 1938 , and from 1942 to 1952 , but remained in effective power throughout the entire period . Though his regime was broadly nationalist , Daniel Chirot comments that he had " no particular ideology " and that his economic and social policies were basically progres... |
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761 The novel 's title is taken from the popular Dominican merengue Mataron al chivo ( " They Killed the Goat " ) , which refers to Trujillo 's assassination on May 30 , 1961 . Merengue is a style of music created by Ñico Lora in the 1920s and actively promoted by Trujillo himself ; it is now considered the country 's... |
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762 = = Plot summary = = |
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763 The novel 's narrative is divided into three distinct strands . One is centred on Urania Cabral , a fictional Dominican character ; another deals with the conspirators involved in Trujillo 's assassination ; and the third focuses on Trujillo himself . The novel alternates between these storylines , and also jumps ... |
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764 The Feast of the Goat begins with the return of Urania to her hometown of Santo Domingo , a city which had been renamed Ciudad Trujillo during Trujillo 's time in power . This storyline is largely introspective and deals with Urania 's memories and her inner turmoil over the events preceding her departure from the... |
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765 The second and third storylines are set in 1961 , in the weeks prior to and following Trujillo 's assassination on 30 May . Each assassin has his own background story , explaining his motivation for his involvement in the assassination plot . Each has been wronged by Trujillo and his regime , by torture and brutal... |
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766 The third storyline is concerned with the thoughts and motives of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina himself . The chapters concerning The Goat recall the major events of his time , including the slaughter of thousands of Dominican Haitians in 1937 . They also deal with the Dominican Republic 's tense international r... |
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767 In the novel 's final chapters , the three storylines intersect with increasing frequency . The tone of these chapters is especially dark as they deal primarily with the horrific torture and death of the assassins at the hands of the SIM , the failure of the coup , the rape of Urania , and the concessions made to ... |
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768 = = Characters = = |
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769 = = = Modern day = = = |
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770 Urania Cabral and her father Agustín Cabral appear in both the modern day and historical portions of the novel . In the year 1996 , Urania returns to the Dominican Republic for the first time since her departure at the age of 14 . She is a successful New York lawyer who has spent most of the past 35 years trying t... |
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771 = = = The Trujillo regime = = = |
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772 Rafael Trujillo , known also as The Goat , The Chief , and The Benefactor , is a fictionalized character based on the real dictator of the Dominican Republic from 1930 to 1961 and the official President of the Republic from 1930 to 1938 and 1943 to 1952 . In The Feast of the Goat , Vargas Llosa imagines the innerm... |
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773 Trujillo 's regime is supported by Johnny Abbes García , the head of the Military Intelligence Service ( SIM ) , a brutal man to whom many " disappearances , ... executions , ... sudden falls into disgrace " are attributed . Abbes and his intelligence officers are notorious for their cruelty , particularly their h... |
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774 Joaquín Balaguer , Trujillo 's puppet president is also a supporter , and initially his seemingly innocuous character holds no real power . Following Trujillo 's death , the calm and serenity of Balaguer bring about real change in his character , and General Román comments that " this insignificant man whom everyo... |
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775 = = = Conspirators = = = |
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776 The storyline concerning the assassination primarily follows the four conspirators who directly participate in Trujillo 's death . Antonio Imbert Barrera is one of the few conspirators who survives the violent reprisals that follow Trujillo 's assassination . Imbert is a politician who becomes disillusioned with t... |
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777 = = Major themes = = |
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778 The Feast of the Goat 's major themes include political corruption , machismo , memory , and writing and power . Olga Lorenzo , reviewer for The Melbourne Age , suggests that overall Vargas Llosa 's aim is to reveal the irrational forces of Latin tradition that give rise to despotism . |
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779 = = = Political corruption = = = |
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780 The structure of Dominican society was hierarchical , with strongly gendered roles . Rafael Trujillo , the ruler , was a cruel dictator who haunts the people of Santo Domingo even 35 years after his death . He is a true caudillo , ruling with brutality and corruption . He creates a personality cult in his capitali... |
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781 Many of the assassins had belonged to the Trujillo regime or had at one point been its staunch supporters , only to find their support for him eroded by the state 's crimes against its people . Imbert , one of the assassins , sums up this realization in a comment prompted by the murder of the Mirabal sisters : " T... |
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782 = = = Machismo = = = |
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783 According to literary scholar Peter Anthony Niessa , the two important components of machismo are aggressive behaviour and hyper @-@ sexuality . Aggressive behaviour is exhibited by displays of power and strength , while hyper @-@ sexuality is revealed through sexual activity with as many partners as possible . Th... |
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784 In a display of both aspects of machismo , Trujillo demanded of his aides and cabinet that they provide him with sexual access to their wives and daughters . Mario Vargas Llosa wrote of Trujillo 's machismo and treatment of women , " [ h ] e went to bed with his ministers ' wives , not only because he liked these ... |
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785 Trujillo 's attempted sexual conquest of Urania is an example of both political manipulation of Agustín Cabral and sexual power over young women . However , as Trujillo 's penis remains flaccid throughout the encounter and he is humiliated in front of the young girl , the encounter fails to satisfy his requirement... |
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786 = = = Memory = = = |
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787 All of the novel 's storylines concern memory in some sense or another . The most apparent confrontation of memory is on the part of Urania Cabral , who has returned to the Dominican Republic for the first time in 30 years , and is forced to confront her father and the traumas that led her to leave the country at ... |
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788 Memory is also important in the sections of the novel that deal with the assassins . Each recalls the events that led him to take part in the assassination of Trujillo . These incidents included the 1956 Galindez kidnapping and murder , the 1960 murder of the Mirabal sisters , and the 1961 split with the Catholic ... |
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789 But above all Mario Vargas Llosa uses the fictional Urania to facilitate the novel 's attempt at remembering the regime . The novel opens and closes with Urania 's story , effectively framing the narrative in the terms of remembering the past and understanding its legacy in the present . In addition , because of h... |
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790 = = = Writing and power = = = |
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791 In her treatment of the novel , María Regina Ruiz claims that power gives its wielder the ability to make prohibitions ; prohibitions that are reflected in history , the study of which reveals what is and what is not told . The government 's actions in The Feast of the Goat demonstrate the discourse of prohibition... |
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792 Ruiz notes that writing also has the power to transform reality . It brings the reader back to the past , allowing the reader to comprehend myths or distorted stories told by historians . Ruiz contends that knowing the past is crucial to one 's understanding of the present that takes us to postmodernism , and argu... |
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793 The construction of fictions surrounding the events of Trujillo 's regime allow a degree of freedom from the horrors that took places . Author Julia Alvarez contends that these events can " only finally be understood by fiction , only finally be redeemed by the imagination " , while Richard Patterson claims that V... |
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794 = = Fact and fiction = = |
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795 The novel is a combination of fact and fiction . Blending together these two elements is important in any historical novel , but especially in The Feast of the Goat because Vargas Llosa chose to narrate an actual event through the minds of both real and fictional characters . Some characters are fictional , and th... |
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796 Those within the regime are also a mix of fictional characters and real people . President Balaguer is real , but the entire Cabral family is completely fictional . According to Wolff , Vargas Llosa " uses history as a starting point in constructing a fictionalized account of Trujillo 's " spiritual colonization "... |
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797 Vargas Llosa also built an image of the regime with the troubled historical events . With regard to the historical accuracy of the book , Vargas Llosa has said " It 's a novel , not a history book , so I took many , many liberties . The only limitation I imposed on myself was that I was not going to invent anythin... |
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798 = = Critical reception = = |
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799 The realist style of The Feast of the Goat is recognized by some reviewers as being a break from a more allegorical approach to the dictator novel . The novel received largely positive reviews , most of which were willing to accept sacrifices of historical accuracy in favour of good storytelling . |
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