The Dream of the Celt

May 11, 2013 ايمان rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

السلتي..مناضل أم خائن

يقال العبرة بالنهايات,و نهاية حلم السلتي كانت المشنقة فهل يؤرخ لروجر كيسمنت في التاريخ على انه بطل قومي دفع حياته ثمنا لاستقلال بلاده أم يؤرخ لهذه الشخصية كخائن لبلاد أعطته الكثير الا حرية بلده الأصلي ايرلندا,هذا ما يحاول ماريو فرغاس يوسا أن يفصله في روايته الأخيرة "حلم السلتي" سيرة غير عادية لرجل استثنائي تثار حوله لحد الساعة الكثير من التساؤلات و الشكوك و همهمات الإعجاب المقيدة في زاوية "يومياته السود" التي مازال المحققون يحاولون اثبات مدى صحتها و صدقيتها,عمل فرغاس يوسا ع...more

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May 09, 2013 وضحى rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

الآن.. -وبعد التجربة الثانية!-تيقنت أن يوسا يكتب لي..! ومن الأقلام التي تُرضي ذاك التعطش القرائي/المعرفي لديّ والذي حالما يصل إلى حالة الارتواء، يعود ضارعاً إلى ما قبل الثمالة متوسلاً السُقْيا من جديد..
عليك عزيزي الشارع في قراءة هذه الرواية أن تعدّ نفسك قبل عينيك لتحمّل عبء ليالٍ مترعة بالألم، الوحشية،الظلم، الاستغلال والعبودية الفاقعة القسوة..
رواية "حلم السلتي" هي سيرة لروجر كيسمنت،الناشط الايرلندي الحالم في تحقيق العدالة الانسانية، والشاعر القوميّ الساعي إلى استقلال ايرلندا من الامبراطورية الب...more الآن.. -وبعد التجربة الثانية!-تيقنت أن يوسا يكتب لي..! ومن الأقلام التي تُرضي ذاك التعطش القرائي/المعرفي لديّ والذي حالما يصل إلى حالة الارتواء، يعود ضارعاً إلى ما قبل الثمالة متوسلاً السُقْيا من جديد..
عليك عزيزي الشارع في قراءة هذه الرواية أن تعدّ نفسك قبل عينيك لتحمّل عبء ليالٍ مترعة بالألم، الوحشية،الظلم، الاستغلال والعبودية الفاقعة القسوة..
رواية "حلم السلتي" هي سيرة لروجر كيسمنت،الناشط الايرلندي الحالم في تحقيق العدالة الانسانية، والشاعر القوميّ الساعي إلى استقلال ايرلندا من الامبراطورية البريطانية، والذي عاش في أواخر القرن التاسع عشر وامتد به العمر حتى اندلاع الحرب العالمية الأولى. بين جنبي هذا العمر/السيرة يروي لنا يوسا قصة حياة كيسمنت في صورة ناهدة المشاهد كما لو أنك تستطيع لمس ارتفاعات ونتوءات الأمكنة على اختلاف بيئاتها وظروفها..
تتلخص هذه السيرة في العمل الهائل-خطورةً و أهميةً على حد السواء- في تعرية العبودية المتخفية وراء غطاء: نشر التحضر المزعوم ووحشية الاستعمار الأوروبي ابتداءاً بكونغو إفريقيا.. وانتهاءًا ب (بيرو) الأمازون..!
يصور لنا يوسا-الاديب والصحفي البيرويّ-كيف تحول حلم هذا الشاب المرهف في نقل الحضارة الأوربية والتدين المسيحي إلى قلب الكونغو، إلى كابوس متمثل في الوجود الغربي الهجين بين التمدن السطحي والطمع الموغل في القسوة واللاإنسانية..
يروي رحلة روجر كيسمنت، كقنصل للتاج البريطاني، في أدغال الكونغو الخاضعة للاحتلال البلجيكيّ والهدية السخية لملك بلجيكا ليوبولد الثاني.. وعن فضاعة الاستغلال لسكانها الأصليين في جمع المطاط في صورة بشعة تختبئ وراء الحملات التبشيرية ورايات التقدم الزائفة
يكتب هذا البولندي تقاريره الكاشفة عن الاعتداءات السافرة على حقوق الانسان في الكونغو- والبيرو لاحقاً- لتجعل منه نجماً عالمياً مشهورا وناشطاً في هذا المجال( أي حقوق الإنسان). خلال السنوات الطويلة المخضبة بالمآسي والآلام في كلٍ من افريقيا والامازون، نهضت روح القومية العميقة في داخل كيسمنت ليبدأ مسيرة جديدة نحو التحرر الإيرلندي-موطنه- من نير الإستعمار البريطاني الموغل في القدم. يبدأ نشاطات سرية لخلق الروح الوطنية وتعزيز الثقافة الأيرلندية ولغتها الغيلية المندثرة تقريباً لإحياء أمة رضخت للعبودية أمداً طويلاً حان لها أن تنهض..! يلجأ في السرّ إلى ألمانيا-عدو بريطانيا في الحرب العالمية-في محاولة للحصول على دعمها للتمرد ضد الحكم البريطاني وتحقيق هذا الحلم بالاستقلال..

بطريقة يوسا اللذيذة في تداخل الحقب الزمانية، ينتقل بنا من مشهد زنزانة كيسمنت في سجن بنتونفيل، إلى مشاهد أخرى سابقة ومؤدية لهذه المرحلة الدافعة به إلى حبل المشنقة..
يكشف لنا يوسا التناقض البشع المتأصل في نفس المستعمِر تبعاً للمصلحة والمصلحة وحدها.. فهذي بريطانيا تستغل الفرصة التي أتاحها روجر كيسمنت وتقريره حول العبودية في الكونغو والبيرو، تزمجر مناهضة هذا العمل اللا إنساني! وتمنح كيسمنت لقب السير وأوسمة شرف عديدة..
وما إن تتحول تقارير روجر إلى مطالبة باستقلال ايرلندا الرابضة تحت نير استعمار بريطانيا حتى تكشر الاخيرة عن أنيابها وتسمه سوء العذاب.. تبدأ الحملات الإعلامية بعد اعتقاله إلى نشر صفحات من (ذا بلاك بوك) كتاب يوميات كيسمنت، مشيرة إلى شذوذ هذا الخائن لوطنه الإجباري- بريطانيا- واعتداءاته الجنسية على القُصّر..!

هذه ملحمة إنسانية أبدع هذا الكاتب الشامخ في تخليدها وتخليد سيرة روجر كيسمنت المتفردة..!
فعلاً تستحق القراءة .. خصوصاً للقراء طويلي النفس ومحبي التاريخ..
أعجبتني جداً..(less)

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Aug 18, 2012 Jeremy Allan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: modern-fiction

I had about a 500-word review of this novel written when my computer decided to restart of its own volition. Ugh. So let me recap what I was going to say, in brief.

Things with any version of "Celt" in the title are usually campy garbage: this is not. Historical fiction is usually just studied nostalgia: this is not. This is a vibrant, sensitive, nuanced portrait of an intriguing figure, Sir Roger Casement, offering a fair account of his life, relatively free of worship while still paying homage...more

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May 13, 2013 Hani Awadhi rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: روايات, سير-شخصية, تاريخ

سلط يوسا الضوء على شخصية انسانية ، و مناضل و ثوري ايرلندي كان يعمل في الأدغال الأفريقية و الأمازونية تحت مظلة السلطة البريطانية ، و لم يلبث أن نما بداخله الشعور القومي الأيرلندي و الانحياز إلى جانب المضطهدين ليعود من رحلته التي كانت إلى أمريكا الجنوبية ليناضل لحرية ايرلندا .
اسلوب الرواية كان واقعياً ، و أزعم أن الكاتب كان حيادياً و بعيداً عن تصوير كيسمنت بمثالية ، و رافق كيسمنت في رحلاته و محاور رواياته المكانية الثلاث ، و كانت الرواية محشوة بالوقائع السياسية و الأمكنة و أسماء الشخصيات التاريخية...more

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Jan 22, 2012 Capitu rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, portuguese

I am ready to bestow on Mario Vargas Llosa the title of “most disappointing author” I ever read. Maybe my mistake was to start reading him with The War of the End of the World, because none of his books that I read since have been able to match that first experience.

“The Dream of the Celt” was certainly well researched, but maybe this is where the problem with this book lies. The story follows Roger Casement, the humanist and Irish loyalist who was sentenced to be hanged by the British governmen...more I am ready to bestow on Mario Vargas Llosa the title of “most disappointing author” I ever read. Maybe my mistake was to start reading him with The War of the End of the World, because none of his books that I read since have been able to match that first experience.

“The Dream of the Celt” was certainly well researched, but maybe this is where the problem with this book lies. The story follows Roger Casement, the humanist and Irish loyalist who was sentenced to be hanged by the British government in 1916. We get lost on the information of dates and which ship the Casement rode, and who he met where, but we never get to “feel” what he felt or dream what he dreamed. It is too bad, because Casement – who I confess I knew nothing about – deserved better than that.

Casement, as a British diplomat, was significant in unveiling to the world the atrocities committed against the natives of the Belgium Congo and later at the rubber plantations of Peru. He was knighted by the British government for these efforts. Later, however, his Irish nationalism and idealism led him to approach the German government to help with the Irish uprising of 1916. This was certainly a controversial historical move during World War I, which muddied his image not only among the British, but also with the Irish people.

Roger Casement was also a homosexual, and the discovery of his diaries and publication of passages from it in the British media did not help the efforts by his friends and lawyers to commute his death sentence.

Now, tell me if this is not great material to write an historical book! Vargas Llosa however failed in bringing this controversial man to life, portraying him instead as one-dimensional character, lacking depth and humanity. Maybe the third-person narrator is the problem, where we are told, and not shown the character’s true feelings and experiences.

In the case of Casement’s sexual experiences, Vargas Llosa comes across as a prude. His own belief is that most of the crude descriptions of Casement’s sexual encounters are fabrications of the British government, or simply Casement’s fictional creations to deal with the frustrations of unrealized sexual fantasies. I don’t deny the possibility of the British government “re-writing” Casement’s diaries, but Vargas Llosa did miss a great opportunity to explore the sexual awakening of someone born in Victorian England immersed in a much more sensual Africa and South America. The few attempts the author makes are awkward and constrained.

Ditto on Casement’s conversion to Catholicism, which must had been a profound spiritual awakening – fuelled by political perceptions of the cultural closeness of Ireland and the Catholic religion - but that Vargas Llosa paint in strokes that are careless.

I think, Mario Vargas Llosa, that I have finally gave up on you! I will remain a fan of “The War of the End of the World” but I gave you 4 shots now, and three were misses. I just have too many other authors to read.

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Mar 11, 2012 Blanca rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, lan-sp, historical-fiction, biography

As a novelization of something that actually happened it's damn good. It's also very informative if (like me) you are not aware of the specifics of the abuses to the natives that went on in Africa and South America just to get rubber.

Still, it did not manage to get me invested in the main character which is a bit of a must when the story is a biography. Part of it has to do with knowing where the character ends up during... 70% of the book; during the other 30%, for me Roger Casement was just t...more

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Sep 03, 2012 Philip added it · review of another edition

An incredible book about Roger Casement, a visionary who did more than anyone else to alleviate the sorrows and horrors of labor in the Amazon and in the Congo. Yet, he later became an Irish nationalist and actually joined Germany in opposing Britain in World War I for which he was hung. And his gay lifestyle was a negative sensation at the time. So any book on this has a hard time in surmounting this history, It is so easy to blame the author for the faults of Roger. Yet, Llosa, in his magical...more

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May 08, 2013 HalaH Amin rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

عن روجر كيسمنت تتحدث هذه الرواية
عن الكونغو والأمازون وأفريقيا وأمريكا الجنوبية
عن إيرالندا والإستقلال
عن إنجلترا وألمانيا وبلجيكيا
عن العبودية عن حلم الإستقلال عن القسوة عن الوحشية
عن الخيانة عن الصدمة عن السجن وعن الإعدام
وعن الجحيـــم بكل مافيه
...

رواية تاريخية بامتياز, تتحدث عن دور الإستعمار الذي هو بعيد كل البعد عما تحمله كلمة الإستعمار من معنى لتتحدث عن الدور التدميري والتعذيبي والعبودية التي قام بها هذا الإحتلال ضد سكان الكونغو والأماوزن
...

كما هو حال الإستعمار / الإحتلال في أي بلد يدخله
تكون ال...more

عن روجر كيسمنت تتحدث هذه الرواية
عن الكونغو والأمازون وأفريقيا وأمريكا الجنوبية
عن إيرالندا والإستقلال
عن إنجلترا وألمانيا وبلجيكيا
عن العبودية عن حلم الإستقلال عن القسوة عن الوحشية
عن الخيانة عن الصدمة عن السجن وعن الإعدام
وعن الجحيـــم بكل مافيه
...

رواية تاريخية بامتياز, تتحدث عن دور الإستعمار الذي هو بعيد كل البعد عما تحمله كلمة الإستعمار من معنى لتتحدث عن الدور التدميري والتعذيبي والعبودية التي قام بها هذا الإحتلال ضد سكان الكونغو والأماوزن
...

كما هو حال الإستعمار / الإحتلال في أي بلد يدخله
تكون البداية رغبة تامة في التعمير ونشر الحضارة والتبشير
فتنقلب الآية لتصبح الغاية بسط للنفوذ وعرض للعضلات وممارسة السيادة والسادية والوحشية ضد الضعيف الفقير معدم الحيلة
...

روجر كيسمنت الإنجليزي/ الإيرلندي الذي كان قنصلا لإنجلترا وسفيرا لها في عدة دول أفريقية , ناضل وغامر وجاهد في سبيل إيصال صوت تلك الشعوب الملكومة لرفع الظلم والعدوان الذي يمارس ضدها..
ثم ناضل وحارب وجاهد من أجل إستقلالية إيرلندا الذي اعتقد -من وجهة نظري- أن رؤيته لإغتصاب حقوق المواطنين الأفريقين وسلب ممتلكاتهم وأراضيهم وزوجاتهم اثار في داخله الحمية من اجل بلده إيرلندا التي دخلت ضمن المملكة البريطانية
فتعاون مع العدو الذي اعتبره صديقا فيصنف من ضمن الخونة ويحاكم على اساس هذه الإتهام ضده
...

نقطة الضعف أنها تاريخية جدا, مع قليل من الأدب فيها
مليئة بتفاصيل سياسية دولية تاريخية
هي طبعا عمل عظيم لما احتوت عليه من معلومات غزيرة عن تلك الحقبة من الزمن
فهي لا تتحدث عن الكونغو فقط أو الأمازون
بل عن عدة دول وعدة أحداث وعدد من القضايا بالإضافة إلى سيرة ذاتية عن المناضل روجر كيسمنت.
فلكم أن تتخيلوا الوقت الذي قضاه يوسا ليلم هذا الإلمام ثم يضفي على هذا كله حسه الأدبي في التسلسل الروائي
...

مليئة بالعنف وصور التعذيب الفظيعة
فيها جزء من حكايا روجر الشخصية الشاذة -.-
مملة لكثرة التفاصيل والتقارير حيث تشعر معها بضياع الحس الأدبي
...

نجمتان لأنها تعني
It was Ok
=)

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Nov 09, 2012 Tony rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: latin-american

Roger Casement was an Irishman who famously revealed the atrocities in the rubber industries in, first, the Congo and, then, the Amazon in the early 1900s. He saw a similarity in the mistreatment of the natives in Africa and South America to the British suffocation of Ireland and made the latter his final cause. Unwisely, he courted Germany during the First World War, hoping to link with England's enemy in what he thought a common cause. He was deemed to be a traitor; arrested, convicted and the...more Roger Casement was an Irishman who famously revealed the atrocities in the rubber industries in, first, the Congo and, then, the Amazon in the early 1900s. He saw a similarity in the mistreatment of the natives in Africa and South America to the British suffocation of Ireland and made the latter his final cause. Unwisely, he courted Germany during the First World War, hoping to link with England's enemy in what he thought a common cause. He was deemed to be a traitor; arrested, convicted and then hung. His reputation was further sullied by his diaries which graphically detail his homosexual and pedophillic desires. (There is some thought his diaries were a frame job by his prosecutors).

What a marvelous novel this story would make: greed, idealism, patriotism, existential angst, severed hands, poisoned darts, malaria, the highest levels of governments and the darkest corners of foreign bath houses. And in the hands of a Nobel Laureate author, no less.

Yet, The Dream of the Celt was horrible.

To explain why, I need to compare this book to Vargas Llosa's The Feast of the Goat, which used rotating points of view to show the black heart of Trujillo. That same style would have worked here; you could see how it could have been done and which separate characters could have given voice to the complex story of Roger Casement. But no. Here, Vargas Llosa tells, he does not show. He did his research and then told the story. As if he was an editor at Wikipedia. Here's an example of the beginning sentences of consecutive paragraphs for a few pages:

Roger left four days later....

For the five days of the voyage to Manaus, he barely left his cabin....

In Manaus, where he arrived in the middle of December, he felt better....

For the week he stayed in Manaus, Roger led a spartan life....

On December 17 he set sail for Para....

On Christmas Eve, he left for Barbados....

On December 31 he left on the S.S. Terrence for New York....

The whole book is like that: He...he...he...he...he.

It's a great story of a great time and, in the hands of an author I'm fond of, I was very much looking forward to this.

But there's no art here. That's the problem. It's a recounting. But no art.

So read the Wikipedia version. Or better yet, read Adam Rothschild's King Leopold's Ghost, which will sear your soul.(less)

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May 08, 2013 الحنينْ rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

لولا الملل الذي شعرت به في بعض المقاطع من الرواية لما ترددت باعطائها الخمس نجوم
هي عن روجر كيسمنت فتى تأثر بقصص ابيه وتمنى لو يذهب الى القارة السوداء ليساهم بحضارة الاهل الاصليين وتنصيرهم، الى ان تفاجئ بما تفعله شركات المطاط بهم
ثم ذهب بعد حوالي اثنين وعشرين سنة الى الامازون وشاهد الاهل الاصليين وفي اجسامهم اثار سياط، فتحرى وعلم انهم يعملون لصالح شركة مطاط التي تفعل بهم مثل ماكان يفعل بالافارقة
حياته كانت دفاعًا عن هؤلاء المظلومين
وفي النهاية اراد لدولته ايرلندا ان تستقل عن بريطانيا وكان يتبنى فكرة...more

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May 10, 2013 Mohammad Abu Shaban added it · review of another edition

* متى يحق للإنسان أن يطلب الحرية؟ ومن هو الإنسان الذي يحق له أن يطلب الحرية؟ وما هو تعريف الإنسان أصلا؟

** هذه التساؤلات تتردد بين دفتي الرواية من خلال قصة روجر كيسمنت الذي تنقل خلال أحداثها بين ثلاث قارات: اثنتين في العالم القديم وواحدة في العالم الجديد وهو يكتسب في كل رحلة معرفة جديدة جعلت منه في النهاية إنسانا مختلفا.

*** الفظاعات التي تعرض لها "المتوحشون" على يد "المتحضرين" غيرت شخصية روجر وجعلته يعيد النظر في الكثير من أفكاره ومعتقداته، وفي المقابل كان يتساءل - ويتساءل القارئ معه - ما الذي ي...more * متى يحق للإنسان أن يطلب الحرية؟ ومن هو الإنسان الذي يحق له أن يطلب الحرية؟ وما هو تعريف الإنسان أصلا؟

** هذه التساؤلات تتردد بين دفتي الرواية من خلال قصة روجر كيسمنت الذي تنقل خلال أحداثها بين ثلاث قارات: اثنتين في العالم القديم وواحدة في العالم الجديد وهو يكتسب في كل رحلة معرفة جديدة جعلت منه في النهاية إنسانا مختلفا.

*** الفظاعات التي تعرض لها "المتوحشون" على يد "المتحضرين" غيرت شخصية روجر وجعلته يعيد النظر في الكثير من أفكاره ومعتقداته، وفي المقابل كان يتساءل - ويتساءل القارئ معه - ما الذي يجعل أفراد القبائل يرضون بالذل والهوان على أرضهم التي ورثوها عن أجدادهم وأصبحوا فيها عبيدا بعد أن كانوا أسيادها؟ الخلاصة أن النفس البشرية أكثر تعقيدا من أي شيء آخر!

**** الفجوة الكبرى في الرواية - برأيي - هي في إسقاط كيسمنت لما شاهده من فظاعات في الكونغو والبيرو على أحوال أهله الايرلنديين. أعتقد أن يوسا كان بوسعه أن يركز بصورة أكبر على هذه النقطة المحورية في الرواية بأسرها لأنني وجدت الانعطافة الهائلة التي قام بها كيسمنت (من الولاء لبريطانيا إلى معاداتها) غير مقنعة. أعتقد أن شيئا ما قد حدث لروجر كيسمنت - الحقيقي على الأقل - جعله ينتقل من أقصى اليمين إلى أقصى اليسار، وهذا النوع من التحولات لا يمكن أن يطرأ فجأة على شخصية مثل شخصية كيسمنت كما صورتها الرواية.

***** الجزء الأول من الرواية "الكونغو" رأيت فيه الوجه الآخر لرواية "أشياء تتداعى" التي تروي القصة نفسها من وجهة نظر السكان المحليين، بينما يروي يوسا الحكاية من وجهة نظر الرجل الأبيض.
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May 13, 2013 Juan Manuel Charry Urueña rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: main

Cumpliendo el encargo de Roger Casament a Edmund D. Morel (pág. 434). Me recuerda La Vorágine de José Eustasio Rivera. Somos países que nos miramos el ombligo con espejo europeo mientras que en la periferia se masacran indios y campesinos Algunas de las cosas que dice el libro: Hasta entonces creía que el colonialismo se justificaba con ellas: cristianismo, civilización y comercio. En febrero de 1885, en la Conferencia de Berlín ... dieron graciosamente a Leopoldo II -a cuyo lado estuvo en todo...more Cumpliendo el encargo de Roger Casament a Edmund D. Morel (pág. 434). Me recuerda La Vorágine de José Eustasio Rivera. Somos países que nos miramos el ombligo con espejo europeo mientras que en la periferia se masacran indios y campesinos Algunas de las cosas que dice el libro: Hasta entonces creía que el colonialismo se justificaba con ellas: cristianismo, civilización y comercio. En febrero de 1885, en la Conferencia de Berlín ... dieron graciosamente a Leopoldo II -a cuyo lado estuvo en todo momento Henry Morton Stanley- los dos millones y medio de kilometros cuadrados del Congo y sus veinte millones de habitantes. No era ateo, ni agnóstico, sino algo más incierto. Esa novela (El corazón de las tinieblas) es una parábola según la cual Africa vuelve bárbaros a los civilizados europeos que van allá. Roger se excusó de asistir a la ceremonia de investidura alegando que una afección a la rodilla le impediría arrodillarse ante el rey. Así descubrí que un ser humano no puede vivir sin creer. Es un especialista en atrocidades. Una tierra que despierta codicias. Los mismos horrores, el mismo desprecio por la verdad. El patriotismo es el último refugio de los canallas. Hay un solo camino: dejar de razonar y acudir a la religión: eso es el pecado original. Pero aquí no había negros. Cuando el sistema de explotación era tan extremo, destruía los espíritus antes todavía que los cuerpos. El apetito de truculencia tan extendido en estas tierras cálidas. El terror multiplicaba sus fuerzas. Aunque sólo por un brevísimo paréntesis de siete dias, el "sueño del celta" se hizo realidad: Irlanda, emancipada del ocupante británico. Un hombre debe vivir mientras sienta que la vida vale la pena. Si no, no. La civilización ... los había entristecido y apagado. La maldad la llevamos dentro ... en los países europeos y en el mío está más disimulada ... en la Amazonía, en cambio, puede mostrarse a cara descubierta y perpetrar las peores monstruosidades sin las justificaciones del patriotismo o la religión. Roger Casament es el irlandés más universal que he conocido. Un verdadero ciudadano del mundo. En política los sentimientos no importaban, sólo los intereses y conveniencias. Personas así, aunque sean ellas las que hacen la historia, a mí me dan más miedo que admiración.(less)

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May 12, 2013 John rated it 2 of 5 stars

After reading Conrad's Heart of Darkness, I wanted to read more about the history of the Congo and had difficulty deciding between Rothschilde's King Leopold's Ghost, Tim Butcher's Blood River and Packenham's Scramble for Africa. Then I heard about this book and it seemed to be the one for me. However, I cannot say that I really enjoyed it. Some sections (Congo and Ireland) I found very interesting. Other parts were a bit of a slog. From my knowledge of Irish history Mr. Llosa has conducted his...more

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May 11, 2013 Louisa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography, history

El sueño del celta (Dream of the Celt) is the story of Roger Casement who exposed the atrocities committed by King Leopold II in Congo and by Julio Arana's rubber company in the Peruvian Amazon, and was executed for treason in 1916 after his involvement with the Irish independence movement.
Vargas Llosa chose to tell this story in the format of a historical novel. At the opening of the novel, we find Casement in his prison cell, longing for a bath and musing over the events of his life. What fol...more

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Mar 24, 2013 Simon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: lgbt

3.75 stars ... This novel is the story of Roger Casement, a diplomat in the service of Great Britain in the early 20th century who became notable for his activism against human rights abuses in Africa and South America. Casement was celebrated at home for his accounting of how the race for untapped natural resources led to the gross abuse of indigenous people, but later in his life he turned to a radical Irish nationalism (in the years of World War I) that led to him being branded a traitor. Var...more

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Mar 17, 2013 Hamza rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

أن تعود إلى الأرض التي وهبتك الحياة معتذرا ، عما كنت لا تعرفه عنها ، من عمق المأساة تولد الاهتمامات الجادة ،حلم السلتي هو حلم الكاتب البوريفي ماريو برغاش يوسا ،مجسدا إياه في بطل معارض للمملكة البريطانية ،حيث تبدأ أحداث الرواية وهو يقتاد الى زنزاناته الانفرادية في انتظار أن يحكم بالإعدام عليه ، لتكون فرصة انتظار أن ينفد الحكم لاسترجاع كل ما مرت به حياته من نكبات وأحيانا من أفراح .
تذكر أن والده الذي تخل عنهم من يوم فقدوا أمهم من اجل أن يعتزل العالم في صومعة الصوفيين ، أكانت ستتغير حياته لو كانت أم...more أن تعود إلى الأرض التي وهبتك الحياة معتذرا ، عما كنت لا تعرفه عنها ، من عمق المأساة تولد الاهتمامات الجادة ،حلم السلتي هو حلم الكاتب البوريفي ماريو برغاش يوسا ،مجسدا إياه في بطل معارض للمملكة البريطانية ،حيث تبدأ أحداث الرواية وهو يقتاد الى زنزاناته الانفرادية في انتظار أن يحكم بالإعدام عليه ، لتكون فرصة انتظار أن ينفد الحكم لاسترجاع كل ما مرت به حياته من نكبات وأحيانا من أفراح .
تذكر أن والده الذي تخل عنهم من يوم فقدوا أمهم من اجل أن يعتزل العالم في صومعة الصوفيين ، أكانت ستتغير حياته لو كانت أمه حية ؟ يبقى السؤال يحيره وهو المولود في احد قرى دبلن في ايرلندا التي كانت في ذلك الوقت تابعة للمملكة البريطانية ،حيث كانت ديانتهم المسيحية على المذهب الكاثوليكي ، لم تكن ميولاته كبيرة للدين بل كانت مولاته إلى كل ما يرمز إليه الوطن ايرلندا .
السلتي وهو اللقب الذي أطلق عليه كاسم سري له أيام النشطات من اجل ايرلندا مستقلة ،لكن هذه الأحلام لم تكن تراوده مند الصغر حيث عمل كقنصل بريطاني في دولة الكونغو . تلك البلاد الإفريقية التي وزعت في مؤتمر أرويي على مملكة بلجيكا التي كانت متحالفة مع المملكة البريطانية ،أين ذهب السلتي إلى الأدغال الإفريقية من اجل كتابة تقرير حول الأوضاع الإنسانية هناك ليكون الجزء الأول من رواية حلم السلتي معنون بعنوان الكونغو وثلاث نقاط لتدل على أن الماسي ضد الإنسانية تتكرر بنفس اللغة لكن بتسميات مختلفة فقط .
في الكونغو شهد على جرائم كثيرة من بتر أعضاء الأفارقة الجنسية كي لا يهربوا من خدمة جمع مادة المطاط ، شهد على قسوة الإنسان الأوربي من اجل إرضاء جوع اقتصادي كبير هنالك بدا يدرك أن ما يقال في اروبا هو للاستهلاك الجماهيري ، أصبح يهان الإنسان باسمها في أدغال إفريقيا .
تكثر الانتقادات الموجهة للمملكة البلجيكية من الصحف البريطانية حول الجرائم الكثيرة التي ترتكب في دولة الكونغو حيث يصبح تقرير السلتي منعطف مهم للعلاقات بين مملكة بريطانيا وبلجيكا أين يوجه انتقادات لاذعة خاصة في تعلق منه بجانب العلاقات الإنسانية ،فيرفض السلتي تكريمه من قبل الملك لان بدا وعيه يتبلور حول وطنه الذي درس في المناهج البريطانية انه لم يكن يوجد من قبل بلد اسمه ايرلندا .
بعد العودة من الكونغو يتوجه السلتي إلى البرازيل وفي غابات الأمازون حيث استحدثت مدن صناعية كبرى من اجل استهلاك اكبر قدر من المواد الخام المتوفرة هناك ،فتتكرر مشاهد إهانة الإنسان كما في الكونغو وفي البرازيل ،الاولى كانت من قبل دولة والتانية من شركات متعددة الجنسيات .
تتواصل الأحداث في وتيرة سريعة بين ذكريات رحلاته الكثيرة وما بين موقفه المتحالف من المانيا من اجل تحرير ايرلندا من المملكة البرطانية اين اعتبر هذا الامر خيانة عظمى ...لكن هي خيانة في برطانيا وبطولة في عرف ايرلندا حاليا. .
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Mar 07, 2013 Marc Faoite rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When I was growing up in Ireland Roger Casement’s name was just another in the long list in the school history books of “those who died for Ireland in 1916.” I didn’t know that his remains were buried in Glasnevin cemetery, just across the road from the pool where I took my weekly swimming lessons. I didn’t know that he had also been an enthusiastic swimmer in his youth. In fact I knew almost nothing of the man whose life was truly novelesque in texture and in span and has been so carefully and...more When I was growing up in Ireland Roger Casement’s name was just another in the long list in the school history books of “those who died for Ireland in 1916.” I didn’t know that his remains were buried in Glasnevin cemetery, just across the road from the pool where I took my weekly swimming lessons. I didn’t know that he had also been an enthusiastic swimmer in his youth. In fact I knew almost nothing of the man whose life was truly novelesque in texture and in span and has been so carefully and imaginatively captured by the pen and the mind of Mario Vargas Llosa in The Dream of the Celt.
That the Peruvian novelist was presented with the Nobel Prize for Literature just one month before the publication of this book gives an idea of the stature and calibre of the author. The reader looking for fine writing will not be disappointed. This novel originally appeared in Spanish in 2010 and was published in English earlier this year. Translator Edith Grossman has done a wonderful job and the book reads as if it had been originally written in English.
Now in his late seventies Llosa, who once ran for the presidency of his native Peru, is regarded as something of a national hero and is still active on the side-lines of his country’s politics. Those who are familiar with Llosa’s work will know that throughout his oeuvre, which spans five decades and dozens of books, he uses literature as an instrument to raise political awareness and social conscience. He is never one to shy away from tackling big issues and themes and The Dream of the Celt is no exception.
Technically an historical novel, it reads more like a highly detailed biography of Roger Casement and seems to contain more fact than fiction. By following Casement through his trials and tribulations over three continents the reader gets a real insight into the beginnings of what we now call globalisation and the momentous economic and political upheavals of the last decades of the 19th and the first decades of the 20th centuries.
With a background of the rubber trade, the tropical settings, the themes of colonization and patriotism, indentured labour, sodomy allegations and the plight of the original indigenous inhabitants of the rainforests, there are more than a few commonalities with Malaysia’s own history.
Casement was a romantic idealist, orphaned at the age of twelve, inspired by his memories of his father’s stories of his adventures in India and Afghanistan, to travel and discover exotic lands. He spent twenty years in Africa, initially working with Stanley, of ‘Dr Livingstone I presume’ fame, exploring the remote reaches of the Congo River. Their task was essentially to trail-blaze for the colonists who soon follow them and who would bleed both Africa and its inhabitants for its resources and their labour.
At first the naive young Casement laboured under the delusion of the civilizing aspect of colonization, in the belief that it would help uplift the local population economically and spiritually, weaning them away from their ‘barbaric’ practices and showing them a more enlightened European way of living.
What Casement discovered was in fact almost the exact opposite. The unspeakable atrocities he witnessed not only made him question the merits of colonization, but transformed his very vision of humanity - perhaps the main theme of this book.
Later he was appointed British Consul and compiled the damning Congo Report. This led to the Congo being wrested from the control of the unsavoury King Leopold of Belgium who ruled the colony as his own personal fiefdom. Even though he never once set foot in the Congo, exploiting its people and resources had made the king fantastically wealthy.
While in Africa Casement met a young Joseph Conrad, who was strongly affected by Casement’s revelations of the human rights abuses endemic in the colony and Llosa maintains that Conrad’s book ‘The Heart of Darkness’ was largely inspired by his initial contact with Casement and the Congo.
Just as in Louis-Ferdinand Céline’s ‘Journey to the End of the Night’ the Congo is described by both Casement and Conrad as a dark chasm of human existence. Almost all forms of social and moral control were absent, leaving men free rein to indulge their cruellest and most debased urges and play out their vilest passions and vices. Witnessing terrible atrocities on an almost daily basis transformed Casement and along with his battle with malaria Africa profoundly affected both his physical and mental health.
The second part of the book deals with Casement’s journey through Peru. On the strength of the Congo Report he was asked to investigate alleged abuses of the indigenous people in the remote Putumayo region. There he found that things were even worse than in the Congo and Llosa’s descriptions of the inhumanity and atrocities that the native Indians endured are not for the faint hearted. As a result of his investigation Casement became even further disillusioned with colonialism. Ironically he was knighted for his efforts in Peru at a time when he had already diverted his thoughts and energy towards freeing his native Ireland of the yoke of foreign rule – a cause that he embraced with the characteristic enthusiasm and naive idealism that would lead to his demise.
The Dream of the Celt explores the darkest depths of the human condition, while the romantic Casement is a symbol of the noble heights to which humankind can aspire, if perhaps not quite attain. Casement was a true human right’s activist long before the term was even conceived and makes an unlikely, and even controversial, but ultimately deserving hero. It is impossible not to be moved, and at times deeply repulsed, by this impressive book.
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Feb 01, 2013 Manish rated it 1 of 5 stars

Roger Casement was an Irish separatist who in his initial avatar as a British Consul was one of the first to travel and document the excesses of the imperialists in the Leopold's Congo and Peru. His reports were the earliest to disprove the civilizing mandate of the West in the Dark Continent and were also instrumental in throwing light on the brutalities of the Peruvian Amazon Company.

On his return to England, his gaze shifted to the injustices of the British government towards Ireland. His con...more

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Jan 11, 2013 David Ebsworth rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was really looking forward to this, having waited a long time for the English translation ("The Dream of the Celt"), which is now available - though I'm not sure why GR can't display the English version cover! Roger Casement's life is a fascinating one and I had hoped that Mario Vargas Llosa would use his considerable literary skills to help me get inside the character's head. Born in 1864, Casement was at various times a British Consul, an active campaigner against human rights abuses and sla...more

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Jan 01, 2013 Ron rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography, cultural-anthropology, fiction, history, poitical-thought, non-fiction

This is my first Llosa book. What a dense collection of words and ideas, stories and examinations of a life. The protagonist is a real figure from history:Roger Casement. He was a British diplomat of Irish extraction who exposed the horrendous exploitation and abuse of indigenous people in both the Congo and Amazonian Peru as Europe and the United states developed an insatiable desire fir rubber. These experiences led Casement to become and Irish Nationalist committed to the independence of Ire...more

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Dec 02, 2012 Suneetha rated it 5 of 5 stars

Reading about Roger Casement in Mario Vargas Llosa’s latest novel, The Dream of the Celt, brings to mind Robert Browning’s poem The Patriot. “It was roses, roses, all the way” when Roger Casement, the late Irish revolutionary, poet and human rights activist, then a British diplomat, tabled the famed Casement Report documenting human rights abuses in the Congo Free State in 1904.

Mr Vargas Llosa, in his first novel after the Nobel win, has chosen to narrate Casement’s life with all its layers and...more

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Nov 25, 2012 Orsodimondo rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

UN UOMO È MOLTI UOMINI
L'uomo Roger Casement, il celta del sogno e protagonista di questo romanzo, ha in sé molti uomini, personalità molteplici e diverse?

Irlandese, vissuto dal 1864 al 1916, contrariamente alla maggior parte dei suoi connazionali, non cresce cattolico, ma lo diventa solo in tarda età.

A vent’anni, appena possibile, parte per l’Africa convinto che l’Occidente avrebbe aperto agli africani la strada verso la modernità per mezzo della colonizzazione – ben presto diventa testimone e p...more

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Sep 25, 2012 Favio Guerra rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Mi primera novela de Vargas Llosa, realmente la empecé a leer porque se acababa de ganar el Nobel y siempre me había caído mal porque me parece un fascista moderado que es el peor de los tipos de fascista que existen.
A pesar de mis reservas, la novela me mantuvo atrapado, la historia de Roger Casement y sus denuncias me parecen admirables y dignas de aprovecharse dada la coyuntura histórica del autor, lo bueno de ganarse un nobel me imagino que es la entrada de la obra del autor a muchos más idi...more

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Aug 12, 2012 Barbara Matros rated it 3 of 5 stars

Mario Vargas Llosa has the greatest range of theme, characterization, setting and tone of any living novelist I know. That is certainly why he received the Nobel Prize last year. I have laughed, been moved or been inspired by all of his novels. The Dream of the Celt attracted me, not only because it was his latest work, but also because it (once again) seemed like nothing he had done before. it was mildly disappointing because it turned out to be a novelized biography of a real man, not a true i...more

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Jul 24, 2012 Monica rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a curiously dispassionate account of a passionate man. Roger Casement was an Anglo Irish civil servant who spent most of his adult life as a British consul investigating atrocities against the native populations in the Belgian Congo and Amazonia. He was knighted for his work for human rights.

But at the same time that he was being a loyal servant of the Crown, he was becoming radicalized, identifying more and more strongly with the oppressed native populations, seeing a parallel between...more This is a curiously dispassionate account of a passionate man. Roger Casement was an Anglo Irish civil servant who spent most of his adult life as a British consul investigating atrocities against the native populations in the Belgian Congo and Amazonia. He was knighted for his work for human rights.

But at the same time that he was being a loyal servant of the Crown, he was becoming radicalized, identifying more and more strongly with the oppressed native populations, seeing a parallel between colonialists' exploitation in Congo and Peru and the Irish situation. He began to see Germany as a possible - and essential - ally in an Irish struggle for freedom. He persuaded the Germans to separate the Irish prisoners of war from their English fellows, and recruited a small force of those Irishmen to the Republican cause. He was sure that any armed uprising that did not include Germans supporting troops as well as German arms was doomed to fail and was on his way to try to convince the leaders of the uprising of that fact when he was captured.

The story moves between his time in prison awaiting execution and his time in Congo, Peru, Ireland, Germany and the US. Only in the last third of the book do we get any idea of the diaries that the British used to destroy his reputation and any hope of commutation of his sentence - chronicles of homosexual encounters with young men over many years. How much of them is true and how much is fantasy is still debated.

His naivete was in some respects surprising. He seemed to have no idea that the Germans might be using the Irish for their own ends rather than supporting them ideologically, or that the handsome young blond Viking that appeared at his side in the US might be a British agent. There is a disconnect between the loyal and peace loving British civil servant and the militant supporter of armed revolution that the book does not quite address. The distinction between the Home Rule supporters and the Republicans is clear, and based on the content of the book, one might expect that Casement would have chosen the Home rule side.(less)

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Jul 17, 2012 David rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a very powerful book and the subject, Roger Casement, is someone I had never heard of before, but then, so have others according to a recent New York Times Book Review by Liesl Schillinger (June 24, 2012).

Casement, an Irishman working as a consul for Britain, spent 20 years in the Congo and reported widespread human rights abuses. He was awarded a knighthood for his report. Then he was sent to investigate abuses by rubber companies in the Amazon river basin (hence the Peruvian connectio...more This is a very powerful book and the subject, Roger Casement, is someone I had never heard of before, but then, so have others according to a recent New York Times Book Review by Liesl Schillinger (June 24, 2012).

Casement, an Irishman working as a consul for Britain, spent 20 years in the Congo and reported widespread human rights abuses. He was awarded a knighthood for his report. Then he was sent to investigate abuses by rubber companies in the Amazon river basin (hence the Peruvian connection for Vargas Llosa) and his report helped to collapse a large British-owned rubber company. Yet through it all, Casement felt that his home land of Ireland was also being exploited by Britain. When he retired from consular service, he began to work for the Irish nationalists. Misguided he asked for military help from the Germans during the First World War and it resulted in his arrest for treason.

This is quite the fodder for Vargas Llosa who weaves us through the story via Casement's reflections while in prison. When I began reading the book, I was uncomfortable with the subject - who on earth would ask the German Kaiser for help during a World War? Yet as the story unfolds I see Vargas Llosa's point that all people subjected to colonization and abusive power want change. Take a look in the Arab world for this current view. Yet this part of history, and of the Irish desire for independence, was something I knew nothing about and it was bravely told in this book. I am still not sure about Casement but as the Epilogue states, he is becoming a minor hero in Irish history despite his folly.

I agree with Schillinger that the Irish component seemed rather strained unlike the stories of Africa and Amazonia which Vargas Llosa is more comfortable with - but it is an amazing tale of courage when Casement confronted widespread abuse. He really did heroic deeds through the challenge of greed and abuse. It made you belief in some acts can change the world, even for a brief time.

A very good but challenging read, but worth it.(less)

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Jul 03, 2012 Cary Barney rated it 3 of 5 stars

I just finished reading this in the original Spanish, which was actually a bit strange seeing as it deals with an Irishman. I've heard that the English translation is excellent. I knew nothing about Roger Casement going in, and I found the first three quarters of the book fascinating and exciting. The detailed account of Casement's struggle to expose the exploitation of natives in the Congo and the Amazon by rubber barons is Vargas Llosa in his best historical mode, maybe not up to the level of...more I just finished reading this in the original Spanish, which was actually a bit strange seeing as it deals with an Irishman. I've heard that the English translation is excellent. I knew nothing about Roger Casement going in, and I found the first three quarters of the book fascinating and exciting. The detailed account of Casement's struggle to expose the exploitation of natives in the Congo and the Amazon by rubber barons is Vargas Llosa in his best historical mode, maybe not up to the level of "The War at the End of the World", but what is? Interspersed with these chapters are flash-forwards to Casement waiting in prison to be executed for treason, and some of the encounters here are a bit hokey, particularly his relationships with his jailer and his priest. This raises warning signs for where the book, and Casement, are heading.

The final section, centered on Casement's Irish nationalism and treasonous liaison with Germany during World War One, can't help but be a letdown. For one thing, the history of the Easter Rebellion has been recounted so many times now that Vargas Llosa can't really bring much new to it. The deeper problem, though, is Casement's life. It's hard to retain admiration for the man once he ceases to be a citizen of the world and becomes a blinkered fanatic. Vargas Llosa tries to find some continuity between the two identities, but it doesn't convince. There's simply no comparison between the treatment of indigenous African and Amazon tribes and the Irish situation, hard as Vargas Llosa and his protagonist try to draw one. The other characters' criticisms of Casement are spot on. It's hard to be moved, too, by Casement's fervent return to the Catholic fold.

Vargas Llosa, despite his efforts, doesn't manage to get very far beneath the skin of his protagonist. Casement remains something of a cipher, and Vargas Llosa's attempts to decode him don't really wash. This is particularly true of Vargas Llosa's reading of the infamous "Black Diaries"; he seems sheepish about his hero's homosexuality and constructs a convoluted theory by which some of the episodes Casement wrote about were real and others simply fantasies. This smacks of prudishness on the author's part, and much of the gay sex in the book is almost laughably tasteful in its depiction.

In the end, this novel is a mixed bag. At its best, it offers more of what Vargas Llosa excels at: intricate, absorbing, fully imagined depictions of complex historical events and processes. But like its protagonist, in tandem with him, really, "The Dream of the Celt" goes off the rails.(less)

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Jun 20, 2012 Tempo de Ler rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

{Blog} http://tempodler.blogspot.pt/2012/06/...

Como livro educacional e esclarecedor de factos históricos, O Sonho do Celta é excelente. Llosa relata com detalhe as atrocidades horripilantes cometidas tanto em África (Congo) como na Amazónia (Putumayo) exibindo-nos como o interesse e a ganância pelo dinheiro suplantam os direitos humanos. Estas descrições, precisas e interessantes, são completamente isentas de fastio, impedindo que o livro se torne aborrecido. Este facto, aliado à excelente escr...more

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Apr 30, 2012 brian rated it 4 of 5 stars

mario vargas llosa is born in peru in 1936.
his father reveals he's cheating on his mother with a german woman.
mario has two younger half-german half-brothers: enrique & ernesto.

at 19 mario marries julia urquidi, his mother's uncle's sister-in-law. she is 30.
he publishes some short stories.
he receives a scholarship to university in madrid.

mario and julia move to paris.
mario and julia divorce.
a year later mario marries his first cousin, patricia.
they have three children.

mario writes...more

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Sep 23, 2011 Victor Eustáquio rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Genial pela reconstituição histórica; porém, com sérios erros de percepção epistemológica que resultam no pecado da colonização da própria narrativa.

Mario Vargas Llosa: um escritor mercenário e imbecil?

«Si hay un escritor mercenario de causas políticas, ese es Vargas Llosa, pero, aunque respecto al análisis político y económico es un imbécil». Apanhei a frase num curioso fórum de discussão, com uma esmagadora participação de latino-americanos, a propósito da atribuição do Nobel da Literatura ao...more Genial pela reconstituição histórica; porém, com sérios erros de percepção epistemológica que resultam no pecado da colonização da própria narrativa.

Mario Vargas Llosa: um escritor mercenário e imbecil?

«Si hay un escritor mercenario de causas políticas, ese es Vargas Llosa, pero, aunque respecto al análisis político y económico es un imbécil». Apanhei a frase num curioso fórum de discussão, com uma esmagadora participação de latino-americanos, a propósito da atribuição do Nobel da Literatura ao popular autor peruano. Neste mesmo fórum, há quem mesmo que afirme que «Vargas Llosa sí se acomodó a los grupos de poder político y económicos. De hecho, el premio (o Nobel) es más geopolítico que otra cosa».

Em suma, a tendência dominante que passa por este fórum pode ser traduzida por um outro comentário que nele encontrei: «Vargas Llosa & asociados representan al golpismo y son correa de transmisión del neofascismo. Ubicar a estos personajes en la “derecha” del arco político sería cumplido ideológico. No es grave que haya oposición y escritores de derecha. Lo grave es que la abyección sea plataforma de sus princípios.»

Para quem leu algumas das obras mais recentes como «A Festa do Chibo» e, inevitavelmente, «O Sonho do Celta», apenas para citar duas, estava em crer que seria evidente o posicionamento político de Vargas Llosa e o sentido da sua militância a favor de determinadas causas de ordem política, os quais, aliás, julgava eu, haviam recolhido um consenso favorável sobretudo em sociedades que experienciaram a pressão colonial.

Contudo, perante estas vozes dissonantes, questiono-me: terei lido bem? Terei conseguido perceber o significado e o alcance ideológico de Vargas Llosa? É que, independentemente da representatividade das opiniões acima citadas, começo a ficar com a impressão de que há, com efeito, sinais de inquietação junto de alguns sectores da opinião pública latino-americana quanto a Vargas Llosa.(less)

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