The Lightning of August explained

The Lightning of August
Author:Jorge Ibargüengoitia
Title Orig:Spanish; Castilian: Los relámpagos de agosto
Translator:Irene del Corral
Country:Mexico
Language:Spanish
Genre:Political satire
Publisher:Casa de las Américas (original)
Pub Date:1964
English Pub Date:1986
Oclc:341335
Congress:PQ7298.19.B3

Spanish; Castilian: Los relámpagos de agosto (officially translated as The Lightning of August)[1] was the first novel written by Mexican author Jorge Ibargüengoitia.

Published for the first time in 1964, the text parodies the memories written by veterans of the 1910 Mexican Revolution and the armed revolts that continued to destabilize the country for the next two decades. Since many of those veterans had joined the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) - a political organization that had ruled Mexico by rigging elections and engaging in massive corruption and cronyism for most of the 20th century[2] - the topic was still considered off-limits by the governing regime (and the literary critics that sympathized with it) at the time of its publication.[3]

Critically, the novel went on to receive the 1964 Casa de las Américas annual prize.[4] It has also been distributed among Mexican public schools through the National Reading Program[5] and it was selected by the Guadalajara International Book Fair to celebrate the 2010 World Book Day.[6]

Plot

Fictional Army General José Guadalupe "Lupe" Arroyo, a veteran of the 1910 Mexican Revolution, attempts to dispel all sorts of "defamatory claims" made by his political rivals and tries to explain the plainly incompetent political and military strategies devised by him and his associates.

Style

In the novel, Ibargüengoitia caricaturizes the solemn language and rhetoric frequently found in some autobiographical memoirs of the period.[7] Except in a few instances where the passage at hand is not controversial, most characters, cities, and even states are entirely fictional, as the author tried to avert a direct confrontation with members of the ruling party.[8]

Publication

According to the author, he finished writing the novel in 1963 - some twenty years before his untimely death in a plane accident. The first edition consisted of 10,000 copies printed in May 1964 by Casa de las Américas in Havana, Cuba, celebrating its winning entry for best novel in its annual prize.[9] In Mexico, it was first available until May 1965 through Joaquín Mortiz; a publishing house acquired by Grupo Planeta in 1983.[10] Most covers used by Planeta through both its Joaquín Mortiz and Booket imprints include a painting by his widow, British-born artist Joy Laville.[11]

As for its English edition, Ibargüengoitia negotiated a translation with Dr. Jack Robert in 1970 but, according to Víctor Díaz Arciniega, it was never completed. In 1986, Irene del Corral became the first official translator and her version was published by Bard/Avon Books (New York) under the title The Lightning of August. The same translation was adapted to British English and published in the United Kingdom by Chatto & Windus (1986).[12]

In total, the novel has been translated into seven languages.[13]

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Dorfman. Ariel. The clowns come to the Revolution. 25 July 2013. New York Times. 23 February 1986. Ariel Dorfman.
  2. Book: Barrington, Lowell. Comparative Politics: Structures and Choices. 2012. Cengage Learning. Stamford, CT, United States . 9781111341930 . 79–80 . 2nd . 25 July 2013.
  3. Book: Villoro, Juan. Juan Villoro. El atentado y Los relámpagos de agosto: edición crítica. 2002. CRLA. XXIII - XXXVIII. http://www.mshs.univ-poitiers.fr/crla/contenidos/Archivos/ArchiVol53.html. Villoro. Juan. Díaz Arciniega. Víctor. 29 July 2013. Spanish. El diablo en el espejo. The Devil in The Miror. El atentado and The Lightning of August: Critical Edition.
  4. Book: Langford, Walter M.. The Mexican Novel Comes of Age. 1971. University of Notre Dame Press. Notre Dame, Indiana, USA. 9780268004507. 190–192. registration. Los relámpagos de agosto..
  5. News: Títulos seleccionados para el acervo del Programa Nacional Salas de Lectura 2012. 26 July 2013. Conaculta. Spanish. 2012.
  6. News: Conmemorarán el Día Mundial del Libro con obra de Ibargüengoitia. World Book Day to be commemorated with Ibargüengoitia's work. 25 July 2013. La Jornada. 20 March 2010. Notimex. Spanish.
  7. Book: Sheridan, Guillermo. Guillermo Sheridan

    . La historia como farsa en Jorge Ibargüengoitia. History as a farce in Jorge Ibargüengoitia. Romanica Gandensia. 19 November 1994. 27. La memoria histórica en las letras hispánicas contemporáneas: Simposio internacional, Amberes 18-19 de noviembre de 1994. 254–259. 25 July 2013. Guillermo Sheridan. María Eugenia. Ocampo y Vilas. Spanish. 0080-3855. 9782600046299.

  8. Book: Lange, Charlotte. Modos de parodia. https://books.google.com/books?id=RrfV4rrhG7kC&q=%22Los%20rel%C3%A1mpagos%20de%20agosto%22%20nombres%20ficticios&pg=PA141. 2008. 4. Los relámpagos de agosto: cuestionamiento de la mexicanidad. 22. Hispanic Studies: Culture and Ideas. 141 - 179. 25 July 2013. Modes of Parody. 4. The Lightning of August: Questioning Mexicanity. Peter Lang. 978-3-03911-554-9. Spanish.
  9. Book: Díaz Archiniega, Víctor. El atentado y Los relámpagos de agosto: edición crítica. El atentado and The Lightning of August: Critical Edition. 2002. CRLA. XLVII. http://www.mshs.univ-poitiers.fr/crla/contenidos/Archivos/ArchiVol53.html. Villoro. Juan. Díaz Arciniega. Víctor. 29 July 2013. Spanish. Nota filológica preliminar. Preliminary Philological Note.
  10. Anderson. Danny J.. Creating Cultural Prestige: Editorial Joaquín Mortiz. Latin American Research Review. 1996. 31. 2. 3 - 42. 10.1017/S0023879100017933 . 29 July 2013.
  11. News: Núñez Jaime. Víctor. Jorge Ibargüengoitia, el humor en serio. Jorge Ibargüengoitia: Humor, Seriously. 25 July 2013. El País. 9 January 2013. Spanish. Ibargüengoitia fue esposo de la pintora inglesa Joy Laville, que le ilustraba las portadas de sus libros, y juntos se fueron a vivir a París a finales de la década de los setenta del siglo pasado..
  12. Book: Smith, Verity. Encyclopedia of Latin American Literature. 24 March 2017. 1997. Routledge. London, U.K.. 978-1-135-31425-5. 804.
  13. Book: Ibargüengoitia, Jorge. Jorge Ibargüengoitia. En primera persona: Cronología ilustrada de Jorge Ibargüengoitia. Muñoz Alarcón. Horacio. Mesa directiva de la Cámara de Diputados. April 2013. Spanish. El atentado me dejó dos beneficios: me cerró las puertas del teatro y me abrió las de la novela. Al documentarme para escribir esta obra encontré un material que me hizo concebir la idea de escribir una novela sobre la última parte de la revolución mexicana basándome en una forma que fue común en esa época en México: las memorias de general revolucionario. (Muchos generales, al envejecer, escribían sus memorias para demostrar que ellos eran los únicos que habían tenido razón.) Esta novela, Los relámpagos de agosto, fue escrita en 1963, ganó el premio de novela Casa de las Américas en 1964, fue editada en México en 1965, ha sido traducida a siete idiomas y en la actualidad, diecisiete años después, se vende más que nunca..

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