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134th out of 186 books
—
57 voters
Genesis (Memory of Fire #1)
A unique and epic history, Eduardo Galeano's Memory of Fire trilogy is an outstanding Latin American eye view of the making of the New World. From its first English language publication in 1985 it has been recognized as a classic of political engagement, original research, and literary form.
Paperback, 336 pages
Published
June 17th 1998
by W.W. Norton & Company
(first published 1982)
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The Indians Say:
"The land has an owner? How's that? How is it to be sold? How is it to be bought? If it does not belong to us, well, what? We are of it. We are its children. So it is always, always. The land is alive. As it nurtures the worms, so it nurtures us. It has bones and blood. It has milk, and gives us suck. It has hair, grass, straw, trees. It knows how to give birth to potatoes. It brings to birth houses. It brings to birth people. It looks after us and we look after it. It drinks ch...more
"The land has an owner? How's that? How is it to be sold? How is it to be bought? If it does not belong to us, well, what? We are of it. We are its children. So it is always, always. The land is alive. As it nurtures the worms, so it nurtures us. It has bones and blood. It has milk, and gives us suck. It has hair, grass, straw, trees. It knows how to give birth to potatoes. It brings to birth houses. It brings to birth people. It looks after us and we look after it. It drinks ch...more
This is the first book of a trilogy that contains a palette of writings from several hundred sources woven together to form a tapestry of (mainly Latin) American history. This volume covers the first two centuries of the conquest as well as what little remains of pre-Columbian sources. Like any anthology, the hue and design of the tapestry come from the hand of the weaver. Galeano provides a plethora of evidence that terrorism lies at the heart of this history. The tale he reveals is a horror st...more
The first of the `Memory of Fire' trilogy, which taken together make up Galeano's modern history of Latin America - a mosaic of historical moments carefully put together, well researched and quite moving. About as good as history gets. Taken in its entirety the series is a never ending - mostly painful journey of Latin America's struggle to define its own future. The political critique is quite accurate and not overdone. Very painful stuff.
This first volume starts with native legends - fantasti...more
This first volume starts with native legends - fantasti...more
Amazing piece of work. The first of a trilogy, Genesis is an inventive narrative history of the Americas. Beginning with aboriginal myths & legends and working through European colonization until 1700, it covers every place from the frigid Alaskan coast to the southern tip of Argentina, with great emphasis on the Caribbean, Peru & Brazil. In short, powerful glimpses, Galeano brings the reader into the minds of the heroes, villains, conquerors, victims, and "average" people of the America...more
Four hundred forty-four (444) ratings, 48 reviews, GR average rating: 4.40. I was almost sure this is artificial. Maybe Eduardo Hughes Galeano has many friends, Latin American friends. How can a book possibly get an average rating of 4.40 from almost 450 readers? Could this not be the champion of all GR-rated books?
No. Memory of Fire is a trilogy. The second book, Memory of Fire: Faces and Masks is even more eye-popping: 274 ratings, 12 reviews, 4.51 GR average rating.
You might say nothing can g...more
No. Memory of Fire is a trilogy. The second book, Memory of Fire: Faces and Masks is even more eye-popping: 274 ratings, 12 reviews, 4.51 GR average rating.
You might say nothing can g...more
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I'm not sure what type of reader is ideal for this book. Following the fragmented narrative and leaps to different parts of Latin America seems to require a lot of familiarity with certain people and events. I found myself frequently stopping to do some research online. On the other hand, I can see this as a good thing about the book. It led me to discover a lot of fascinating characters in Latin American history. The book offered interesting little scenes and images, some more from local legend...more
"لست مؤرخاً، أنا كاتب يحب أن يساهم في إنقاذ الذاكرة المخطوفة لكل أمريكاوخصوصاً لأمريكا اللاتينية،الأرض المحتقرة والمحبوبة : أحب أن اتحدث معها ، أن اتقاسم أسرارها ، أن أسألها من أي صلصال شاق ولدت ومن أية (...)اغتصابات جاءت
-أنشودة كوزكو-
رغبت لامة
ان يكون لها شعر ذهبي
متألقاً كالشمس
قوياً كالحب
وناعماً كالضباب
يحله الفجر
لينسج ضفيرة
يعلم عليها
عقدة بعد عقدة
الأقمار التي تعبر
والأزهار التي تذبل"
-أنشودة كوزكو-
رغبت لامة
ان يكون لها شعر ذهبي
متألقاً كالشمس
قوياً كالحب
وناعماً كالضباب
يحله الفجر
لينسج ضفيرة
يعلم عليها
عقدة بعد عقدة
الأقمار التي تعبر
والأزهار التي تذبل"
Yes.
I fell in love with history the second I got out of high school and realized how much of history is a story of people struggling against oppression and injustice. Struggling for democracy and equality. Struggling to make a better world...those born oppressed and those born oppressor, together.
Colonialism is as much the story of those who fought back as the story of those who "won." America* is as much the story of its Indigenous nations as the story of its first undocumented** immigrants. As...more
I fell in love with history the second I got out of high school and realized how much of history is a story of people struggling against oppression and injustice. Struggling for democracy and equality. Struggling to make a better world...those born oppressed and those born oppressor, together.
Colonialism is as much the story of those who fought back as the story of those who "won." America* is as much the story of its Indigenous nations as the story of its first undocumented** immigrants. As...more
It was interesting. I read it for a Latin American studies class. Lots of little details of history, leaving the reader to visualize the big picture behind all those details (it makes me think of a huge tree with lots of leaves but you have no idea what the branching structure looks like unless you saw that tree in another season). I have enough framework of history to be able to place the pieces in the puzzle but a friend was totally frustrated by the book and the process (she enjoyed the book...more
This is on my "for school" shelf, but really, we only had to read the first 65 pages for school. I continued because it is such a fabulous book, and I don't regret it, even if it did take me all semester. It was well worth the time it took to get through it, and I enjoyed every minute of it.
It reads almost like a book of poems, or at least that's how I read it. It's like a mosaic of small snapshots that, put together, tell a horror story. It's like reading a scrapbook through pictures. It's abso...more
It reads almost like a book of poems, or at least that's how I read it. It's like a mosaic of small snapshots that, put together, tell a horror story. It's like reading a scrapbook through pictures. It's abso...more
I don’t know to what literary form this voice of voices belongs. Memory of Fire is not an anthology, clearly not; but I don’t know if it is a novel or essay or epic poem or testament or chronicle or . . . Deciding robs me of no sleep. I do not believe in the frontiers that, according to literature’s customs officers, separate the forms.
I did not want to write an objective work—neither wanted to nor could. There is nothing neutral about this historical narration. Unable to distance myself, I take...more
I did not want to write an objective work—neither wanted to nor could. There is nothing neutral about this historical narration. Unable to distance myself, I take...more
هل أنا من سلالة الهنود الحمر؟ بدات اعتقد ذلك،هذا الهوس بثقافتهم و بالمحو العنيف للتاريخ للروح للحضارة الذي لم يبق لنا الا القليل من نفحاتها
لماذا أحلم بكابوس مريع كلما قرأت عن إبادتهم؟
أو ربما يجب أن يكون السؤال على الشكل التالي لماذا لا أحلم بالكابوس ؟
هنا في هذا الكتاب الخارج عن قانون الأجناس لأدبية ( ليسا تاريخا،أو مجموعة قصص ،ليس شعرا ..و إن كان يدمج كل هذه الأجناس ليعيد كتابة تاريخ هنود أمريكا اللاتينية منذ كولمبوس و تلك السنة المشؤومة 1492 و حتى نهاية القرن السابع عشر ليتابع المسيرة في الجزئي...more
لماذا أحلم بكابوس مريع كلما قرأت عن إبادتهم؟
أو ربما يجب أن يكون السؤال على الشكل التالي لماذا لا أحلم بالكابوس ؟
هنا في هذا الكتاب الخارج عن قانون الأجناس لأدبية ( ليسا تاريخا،أو مجموعة قصص ،ليس شعرا ..و إن كان يدمج كل هذه الأجناس ليعيد كتابة تاريخ هنود أمريكا اللاتينية منذ كولمبوس و تلك السنة المشؤومة 1492 و حتى نهاية القرن السابع عشر ليتابع المسيرة في الجزئي...more
5 likes · like · see review
Genesis is the first in a trilogy about Latin American history. This first book begins with creation stories and goes through to 1700AD. It was chronicled in short chapters, more like passages. I didn't read this seriously or research points of interest. I read a little every night before going to sleep. The details didn't stick with me, but I did learn a few things.
In stories told by the first voices, I read about the origin of love ... learned from monkeys in the Amazonian jungle. Monkeys! No...more
In stories told by the first voices, I read about the origin of love ... learned from monkeys in the Amazonian jungle. Monkeys! No...more
Eduardo Galeano's first book of the memorable Memory of Fire Trilogy brings mythology and history together to give a compelling and altogether magnificent and heart-wrenching account of the pre-colonial and early colonial era in Latin America. Drawing from 227 sources, Galeano weaves together a blend of stuccato passages about particular events that signified what he felt were the most salient moments of Latin American history. With all the colour and life of a photography book, the cutting anal...more
I'm not going to use the word 'boring' because my father says that 'boring' or 'boredom' is a word that intellectually lazy people use, that in fact you're not actually bored, but just not properly describing your state of mind/opinion, and that you should probably just go outside and play or turn down the thermostat in your room because, apparently, cold temperatures 'build character'. Or something like that. I will say that this book didn't hold my attention, for the following reasons: basical...more
1 like · like · see review
With the skills of a historian, journalist and poet, Eduardo Galeano kicks of his masterful "Memory of Fire" trilogy with "Genesis."
Others have compared this series to John Dos Passos' "newsreels," and it's a valid reference; but I prefer to approach this as a collection of prose poems. Each volume of "Memory of Fire" is made up of hundreds of datelined vignettes that rarely exceed a page. Meticulously researched, they offer a beautiful, rich account of the Americas from prehistory through the 1...more
Others have compared this series to John Dos Passos' "newsreels," and it's a valid reference; but I prefer to approach this as a collection of prose poems. Each volume of "Memory of Fire" is made up of hundreds of datelined vignettes that rarely exceed a page. Meticulously researched, they offer a beautiful, rich account of the Americas from prehistory through the 1...more
Really wasn't sure I would like this book when I read the description. I wasn't sure I was up for a three volume history of the Americas in the guise of literature. But I ended up enjoying it and really looking forward to the next 2 volumes of the series (which I won't get to right away, since they make good Uruguay entries in Worldwide reading challenges and am saving for that purpose). The book is made up of small vignettes in chronological order based on records of tribal life/myth and then o...more
First, I am white and second, the history I know about Latin America Is depressing in what we did to the natives. I am sorry for this. Reading this book, told in small segments or stories reinforced what the Europeans did to the Americans, was just painful. I started in earnst but after awhile it was shelved for anything happier. It took me about four months to read and was glad to finish it. One of those books that I am glad its out there but the guilt for being white is too painful.
"However there were also missionaries who were concerned about the fate of the Indians like Bartolome de las Casas", I´ve been thought at my lecture History of Modern Times at University roughly 15 years ago. What the professor did not mention was that the same Bartolome de las Casas promoted the import of black slaves from Africa to indeed make the burden of the Indians easier....
Was the professor unaware of this not so minor detail or did this minor detail not fit in the doctrine of a Catholic...more
Was the professor unaware of this not so minor detail or did this minor detail not fit in the doctrine of a Catholic...more
Jul 11, 2009
Jason Williams
is currently reading it
I've read my share of Latin American history, with a bit of literature on top. This book just doesn't do it for me. I really really respect what Galeano was trying to do, but it doesn't work. Despite what his complaints about historical writing, I don't think he really changed anything. Memory of Fire just seems like a combination of bad history and literature because he tried to make the former into the latter.
No me entiendes mal . . . respeto mucho la ambigüedad moral que a Galeano intenta com...more
No me entiendes mal . . . respeto mucho la ambigüedad moral que a Galeano intenta com...more
The first of the Memory of Fire Trilogy - a history of the Americas done in fiction and non-fiction, myth and quotations and excerpts. An amazing tour de force, always fascinating and surprising and in its own strange way gives a much more accurate historical picture of the Americas than you can get anywhere else.
Excellent - essentially a reduction of thousands of myths, oral and written histories, and news reports about the Americas - this book traces the development of North and South America from the foundation of the world through the seventeenth century. The following two volumes will take us up right up into the 80's, the dreadful period of military rule, civilian massacre, the complicity of the United States in the murder of tens of thousands - hundreds of thousands? - of dissidents like the write...more
An unbelievable feat of history writing, this book begins with short tellings of Indigenous american stories and then slaps you into the invasion by Europeans. Hostory of North and South America is told in paragraph-sized tales from 1492 until 1980 or so.
This is poetic history, not everything is accurate but it captures the spirit of Natives and their cosmology in beautiful and dense short stories.
The extraordinary first volume of a great and ambitious project, a kind of historical fiction that resists categorization. In a voice stirring in its originality, Eduardo Galeano re-creates the turbulent saga of the conquest of the Americas, and above all Latin America.
A llama wished
to have golden hair,
brilliant as the sun,
strong as love
and soft as the mist
that the dawn dissolves,
to weave a braid
on which to mark,
knot by knot,
the moons that pass,
the flowers that die.
- Ballad of Cuzco
to have golden hair,
brilliant as the sun,
strong as love
and soft as the mist
that the dawn dissolves,
to weave a braid
on which to mark,
knot by knot,
the moons that pass,
the flowers that die.
- Ballad of Cuzco
Great history written in a really interesting and different way. Beautiful and painful stories.
Fascinating waving of tales of past and present Cenrtal American history.
No me gustó tanto como "Las venas abiertas de AMérica Latina", pero es una obra muy bien hecha. Es difícil narrar la historia de la América Latina...tantos hechos, tantas cosas. Galeano lo hace de una manera diferente; como un diario, lleno de los acontecimientos que camibaron la historia.
Muchos de los acontecimientos, aunque importantes, núnca aparecen en los libros de las historias contadas....
Yo he dicho antes...si uno quiere conocer la verdadera historia de este continente maravilloso, debe...more
Muchos de los acontecimientos, aunque importantes, núnca aparecen en los libros de las historias contadas....
Yo he dicho antes...si uno quiere conocer la verdadera historia de este continente maravilloso, debe...more
Essential history of the Americas
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Eduardo Hughes Galeano is a Uruguayan journalist, writer and novelist. His best known works are Memoria del fuego (Memory of Fire Trilogy, 1986) and Las venas abiertas de América Latina (Open Veins of Latin America, 1971) which have been translated into twenty languages and transcend orthodox genres: combining fiction, journalism, political analysis, and history.
The author himself has proclaimed...more
More about Eduardo Hughes Galeano...
The author himself has proclaimed...more
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“El sacrilegio (1946)
Bartolomé Colón, hermano y lugarteniente de Cristóbal, asiste al incendio de carne humana.
Seis hombres estrenan el quemadero de Haití. EL humo hace toser. Los seis están ardiendo por castigo y escarmiento: han hundido bajo tierra las imágenes de Cristo y la Virgen que fray Ramón Panè les había dejado para su protección y consuelo. Fray Ramón les había enseñado a orar de rodillas, a decir Avemaría y Paternóster y a invocar el nombre de Jesús ante la tentación, la lastimadura y la muerte.
Nadie les ha preguntado por qué enterraron las imágenes. Ellos esperaban que los nuevos dioses fecundaran las siembras de maíz, yuca, boniatos y fríjoles.
El fuego agrega calor al calor húmedo, pegajoso, anunciador de lluvia fuerte.”
—
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Bartolomé Colón, hermano y lugarteniente de Cristóbal, asiste al incendio de carne humana.
Seis hombres estrenan el quemadero de Haití. EL humo hace toser. Los seis están ardiendo por castigo y escarmiento: han hundido bajo tierra las imágenes de Cristo y la Virgen que fray Ramón Panè les había dejado para su protección y consuelo. Fray Ramón les había enseñado a orar de rodillas, a decir Avemaría y Paternóster y a invocar el nombre de Jesús ante la tentación, la lastimadura y la muerte.
Nadie les ha preguntado por qué enterraron las imágenes. Ellos esperaban que los nuevos dioses fecundaran las siembras de maíz, yuca, boniatos y fríjoles.
El fuego agrega calor al calor húmedo, pegajoso, anunciador de lluvia fuerte.”
