About book The Book Of Chameleons (O Vendedor De Passados) (2007)
Despite or maybe because of the poorly translated title, The Book of Chameleons took me by surprise in the absolute best of ways. Entitled O Vendedor de Passados in Portuguese, a more accurate translation might be something like "Merchant of the Past." In fact there are no literal chameleons in the book, although there are some characters whose identities shift and mutate. That includes the narrator who is a gecko except for when appearing from time to time as a man in the simultaneous dreams he has with his friend, the albino vendor of the original work's title. The other major characters include a pair of photographers, one who captures war and the other who captures light. These characters come together in ways unexpected, even unto themselves.The edition I read contains an interview with the author that I read after finishing the story. I find it very revealing:First, when asked about what influenced Agualusa as he wrote this book, he replies that "The book is a tribute to Borges. It's a game that I hope Borges would have appreciated. At the same time, it's also a settling up of accounts. I love Borges as a writer, but think that as a man there was always something about him that was closed and obtuse, reactionary even, and he not infrequently expressed opinions that were misogynistic or racist. His relations with women were very complicated; it is believed that he died a virgin. Now in my book Borges is reincarnated in Luanda [Angola] in the body of a gecko. The gecko's memories correspond to fragments of Borges's real life story. Somehow I wanted to give Borges a second chance; in my book he makes the most of his opportunities."I have not been successful in reading Borges, although I'm willing to give him a try again one day. I don't believe that my failure to know much about Borges hindered my experience of the book, but I think fans of Borges will probably find it does enhance their enjoyment.Agualusa is also asked the setting of the tale. He explains: "The action takes place at a particularly interesting moment in Angola's history. The country is at peace, at the end of 25 years of civil war, and breathing relatively freely, though it's still too early to talk about democracy; the last elections were held in 1992. In spite of corruption, nepotism, and poor management, the generosity of the soil means the economy is growing. Every other month they announce the discovery of new oil reserves. Before long Angola will overtake Nigeria as the main supplier of black gold south of the Sahara. The same people who built up the Marxist system following independence are now with great enthusiasm defending the market economy. Huge fortunes are quickly made. It is possible to become rich honestly, too. Angolans originally from rural areas - politicians and military men, people with new money - are fighting to be accepted by the arrogant, Portuguese-speaking urban aristocracy. They often have real need of a new past as they seek their place in the future, and in the context of Angola there are plenty of people who can pay - and are prepared to pay - to get one."That accounting validates the feeling I had as I read that this is a decidedly African work. I made the mistake of initially trying to describe the book to a friend as "magic realism" but that was before I had begun to really grasp what I was reading and that, in fact, it transcends several genres. The Book of Chameleons has lots to say about the nature of memory and identity, and Agualusa's writing is light, effortless, and dreamy. It's ethereal and philosophical, and I loved it. I've never read anything quite like it. The only thing that comes to mind, and I'm not even sure why because it is such a different work is Rikki Durcornet's Entering Fire, which I read a long, long time ago, but I seem to recall it left me with similar feeling that I had entered literary waters that I had never before swum. I am quite impressed.
Esta novela, relativamente breve, es la tercera que leo del angoleño Agualusa y, hasta ahora, la que más me ha gustado. Quizás en 2010, cuando leí las dos anteriores, todavía no tenía suficiente cultura lusófona como para sacarles toda su miga. Estação das Chuvas, basada en la agitada historia reciente de Angola, no me dijo nada. Tal vez me faltaran referentes locales. Y Nação Crioula me gustó un poco más, pero también me faltaban referentes como la figura del escritor Eça de Queirós, a quien Agualusa incluyó entre los protagonistas y autor que empecé a leer un año después.O Vendedor de Passados, que tiene traducción española, trata sobre un original genealogista “a la africana”. En un país con una historia traumática y lleno de nuevos ricos, lo que el protagonista ofrece es inventar pasados interesantes para trepadores que necesitan rodearse de abolengo. Ese es su negocio, que acomete con rigor, creando pruebas y pistas desde la nada. En ese sentido, me ha recordado lejanamente al 1984 de George Orwell, novela en que un régimen totalitario reinventa la historia constantemente para tener engañado al pueblo. No obstante, se trata de dos obras muy diferentes. La obra de Orwell es una terrorífica distopía, mientras que la de Agualusa parece recaer en la onda del realismo mágico africano. El narrador, por ejemplo, es una salamanquesa que vive en casa del protagonista.De lectura amena, no me parece que sea necesario tener un gran conocimiento de la historia de Angola para apreciar este libro; si acaso, tener la noción de que el país se desangró en una guerra civil entre 1975 y 1990. El ambiente descrito es casi onírico (de hecho, a cada pocas breves secciones de trama siguen, intercaladas, las descripciones de sueños de la salamanquesa). Y abundan observaciones del autor que me han parecido deliciosas. Aquí van unas pocas:(lo que le dice una… ¿prostituta? al narrador, que tal vez recuerde una vida anterior antes de reencarnarse en salamanquesa): “La castidade es una agonía inútil, muchacho; yo la corrijo con placer.”(lo que aconsejó la madre a Eulálio, mucho antes de que se reencarnara): “Entre la vida y los libros, hijo mío, escoge los libros.”(una acertada observación): “Nuestra memoria se alimenta, en gran medida, de aquello que los otros recuerdan de nosotros. Tendemos a recordar como nuestros los recuerdos ajenos, incluso los fictícios.”
Do You like book The Book Of Chameleons (O Vendedor De Passados) (2007)?
Yes, it really is narrated by a gecko, and a gecko who is a reincarnation of Jorge Luis Borges at that. A gecko that laughs. And dreams.Maria Helena, my Brazilian friend who recommended it to me, informs me that a gecko in Portuguese is osga. Which makes me think of a drum-playing, glass-shattering inmate of a mental hospital. "Sorry to ask - but could you tell me your name?""I have no name," I replied quite frankly. "I am the gecko.""That's silly. No one is a gecko!""You're right. No one's a gecko. And you - are you really called Félix Ventura?"Names. Félix Ventura: happy venture. Félix can dream meeting the gecko. (Or is it the gecko who dreams meeting Félix?) He has to find him a name: Eulálio, because he is so well-spoken.This is stylish, and witty, and beguiling. A dream-like examination of identity and memory and literature. But ignore the blurb that calls it 'as brisk as a thriller', for that it is not. There is a murder, but it takes a small while to get there. Der Weg ist das Ziel.
—·Karen·
Angola poscolonial. Félix Ventura é un albino intelectual que se gaña a vida inventando pasados e linaxes a medida. O seu lema: "Assegure aos seus filhos um passado melhor". A el acude un estranxeiro descoñecido que se transformará en José Buschmann. Todo isto contado por unha osga (=gecko). É un dos libros máis divertidos que lin ultimamente, con momentos realmente hilarantes. O argumento pode parecer disparatado, pero sérvelle ao autor por un lado para falar de cousas tan trascendentais como a memoria e a desmemoria, as contas pendentes co pasado ou a idea de "verdade"; e por outra banda válelle para darlle unhas cantas labazadas á situación política do seu país e criticar a maneira en que o poder sacrifica a verdade en nome da vanalidade e a gloria.Para contalo, Agualusa recorre ás elipses e os saltos desconcertantes entre un capítulo e outro, á mestura de soños e realidade, a introdución de lendas, personaxes reais, referencias históricas e escenarios diversos en tres continentes, aínda que o narrador nunca saia da casa.É o segundo libro que leo de Agualusa, e gustoume moito máis que o anterior (aínda que máis recente), "Milagrário pessoal". Vistos en conxunto, "Milagrário pessoal" parece escrito co mesmo estilo pero con menor acerto. O que creo que é o punto feble de "O vendedor de passados" si se atopa en ambas obras: a necesidade do autor de aclarar todos os fíos soltos, para o que acaba incluíndo un capítulo que o explica todo, o que fai que ese todo resulte algo absurdo: moito mellor fora que nos deixara coa incerteza.
—Moisés
Very strange novella, and I don't know why it won the awards and plaudits that it did. Am I the boy declaring the emperor has no clothes, or have I missed the point? Either way, I wouldn't recommend spending your own money on it. This should probably be either 1* or 4*, but as I don't know which, I'm compromising on 2*.THEMESIt is about truth and lies, dreams and reality, memory, predestination, fitting in, and the difference between having a dream and making one, but it's more superficial than that makes it sound.PLOTIt's set in Angola (though there's little sense of Africa in it), and is about, Felix, an albino bibliophile with mild OCD whose business is to "Guarantee your children a better past... I invent dreams for people, I am not a forger." Some chapters (they are typically only a page or two) tell of José Buchmann acquiring a new past, and others are "dreams". Felix says his job is "an advanced kind of literature... I create plots, I invent characters, but rather than keeping them trapped in a book I give them life, launching them into reality".Felix isn't the only one changing the past and creating new futures: his teacher was "moved by the helplessness of certain words. He saw them as down on their luck, abandoned in some desolate place in the language, and he sought to recover them", while his client, Buchmann, comes to believe in his new past more than Felix thought possible and is told, "You invented him... and now he's begun to invent himself".IMAGERYThere are some nice images ("It was as though it were raining night... as though falling from the sky were the thick fragments of that sleepy black ocean through which the stars navigate their course."), and quirky ideas (a castle which had crenelations added to make it look authentic and soon the locals swore it had always had them. "If it were authentic, no one would believe in it."), but the plot meanders until suddenly, the penultimate chapter ties up everything in a mad rush. Very unsatisfying.GECKO or CHAMELEON?For no very obvious reason, much of this story is told by a gecko, rather than an eponymous chameleon. Granted, there are parallels with people living chameleon-like lives, but if that's the point, why not have a chameleon narrator (maybe it's because "Geckos are unique among lizards in their vocalizations", according to Wikipedia?)? More likely, it's a translation problem, albeit a rather prominent one: original Portuguese title is "O Vendedor de Passados", which means something like "Seller of the Past". Lies are OK because they are common in nature, "What is camouflage, for instance, but a lie?" (Back to chameleons, rather than geckos.)CONCLUSIONI think it's somewhat pretentious (lacking the profundity it seems to crave), the pacing is annoyingly inconsistent (slow and apparently aimless most of the time, until a frantic end), and I never understood the point of the gecko.
—Cecily
