El Sitio de los Sitios

by Juan Goytisolo

Imágenes de invierno de la ciudad sitiada: pegada a un murete, la frágil silueta de una mujer atraviesa de rodillas el campo de mira de los francotiradores. Visión diferida de una muerte por la aniquilación súbita del contemplador: su habitación ha sido alcanzada por un mortero. El comandante de la Fuerza Internacional de Interposición, prevenido, acude al lugar de los hechos para descubrir la desaparición del cadáver. Solo un cuadernillo de poemas y varios relatos hallados en una maleta pueden ponerle en buena pista. Pero su lectura le extravía en un jardín de textos que se bifurcan. Enigma doble: del cuerpo escamoteado y de los escritos anónimos y de autoría distinta. El espacio de la novela es el espacio de la duda: la ruptura efímera pero incesante del cerco de ocultaciones y mentiras de la historia oficial. Toda certeza desemboca al cabo en incertidumbre. Tal vez la diseminación de documentos apócrifos, glosas, informes, relatos, cartas, poemas, sea el único medio de las victimas de escapar a la trampa mortal ha la que la indiferencia internacional les condena. Es sitio de los sitios es así una metáfora de todos los asedios: partiendo de la realidad de unas situaciones y escenas de violencia y desolación obsesivas, conduce gradualmente al lector a través de unas historias que se tejen y se destejen a ese punto de verdad único de la más extrema y quintaesenciada ficción.

Genres: Spain, Fiction, Spanish Literature, Literature

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Desde la trilogía formada por Señas de identidad, Don Julián y Juan sin tierra, que le situó entre los mejores autores de la literatura española contemporánea, la obra narrativa de Juan Goytisolo (Barcelona, 1931) ha derivado en cada nueva singladura hacia territorios inexplorados que cuestionan siempre el género de la ficción. Esta voluntad de ir a contracorriente ha propiciado la gestación de textos tan singulares como Makbara (1980), Las virtudes del pájaro solitario (1988), La cuarentena (1991), La saga de los Marx (1993), El sitio de los sitios (1995), Las semanas del jardín (1997), Carajicomedia (2000), Telón de boca (2003) o El exiliado de aquí y allá (2008).

No obstante, Juan Goytisolo no destaca sólo como autor de ficción, sino que también cultiva con maestría el género del ensayo, con obras como Contra las sagradas formas (2007) o Genet en el Raval (2009). En 2014 se le ha otorgado el Premio Cervantes de las Letras.

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Juan Goytisolo Gay was born in Barcelona at 1931. A vocal opponent of Franco, he left Spain for France in 1956.

In Paris, he worked as a consultant for the publisher Gallimard while he was also working on his own oeuvre. There he met his future wife, Monique Langue, and Jean Genet, who influenced his vision of literature. While living in Paris, he started the most experimental side of his books. Mixing poetry with painting and fiction with non-fiction, he explored the possibilities of language, leaving behind the social commentary of his first novels. "Marks of Identity" was the start, but then he turned even more radical with "Count Julian" and "Juan the Landless", where he rejected definitely, because of a lack of identification, his Spanish identity in favor of adopting a "cervantina" nationality.

In the 1970s he visited Marrakech often. In 1981 he bought a house there. In 1996, after the death of his wife, he moved there and adopted Morocco as his main residence.

He is widely considered one of the most important Spanish authors of his time. His brothers, José Agustín Goytisolo and Luis Goytisolo, are also writers. In 2008 he won Spain's Premio Nacional de las Letras and in 2014 the Cervantes Prize.

See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Goy...

Reviews

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

The hotel in the mutilated by the war city…

The flickering light of the candles and the beams of the pocket flashlights brought to mind the roaming or wandering of souls in purgatory. Fireflies or will-o’-the-wisps? Nightmares or a Dantesque theatrical set? The darkness had flung itself with vulturelike avidity on the last redoubts of shadow. He went upstairs to the fifth floor, searched for his room number, practically feeling his way along, and entered the stygian shadow of his sepulcher.

At night a mortar shell hits the room and a guest is found dead… Then his corpse and his passport mysteriously disappear… But some manuscripts are left behind… Poetry… Dreams… Surreal musings… Discription of his arrival… Hallucinatory account of the besieged district of Paris…

…dozens of corpses were piled up on the Boulevard de Bonne Nouvelle; an entire family on Sentier had been wiped out by a mortar shell; snipers posted on the roof of the post office were methodically finishing off the wounded; the Red Cross ambulances couldn’t get past the front line; the official spokesmen minimized what was happening and reiterated the authorities’ determination to defend republican order.

State of Siege is a surrealistic canvas built on the narrative paradoxes… Plotwise it is a mystery…
Ominous visions… Apocalyptic prophesies… The novel is a warning…

Where to go if helicopters roar to the point of paroxysm inside your own head?; go down into the metro, infiltrate the entrails of the monster, lose yourselves in the twists and turns of its intestinal labyrinth! The jobless, the beggars, the sick, the junkies take to its stairs, invade its platforms, transfer points, corridors. All of them await your directions, the hoarse voice of the old prophets. A vision illuminates you, with the inspired concision of a line of verse.

Any moment reality may explode turning into a horrendous nightmare.

[Jonfaith · Rating 5 out of 5]

My wife bought me this. Someone could imagine this an act of sorts, considering the subject. My wife has an eye for literature, what works and what is simply fad. She finally read this when we were coming back from Morocco. The trip was inspired by Goytisolo himself, not that he suggested such. He was simply there, hence we went. I reread this on the short British Airways flight back to London. I was noshing sausages and drinking ale to make up for lost time. This is a mystic work, one which flips our understandings of Sarajevo, inserts and transpalnts the sufferings to our Western idleness and indifference. The narrative is rife with eschatology, it probes into the ancient wisdom of the souk and follows such into the toxic vapors of nationalism.

[Το Άθχημο γατί του θενιόρ Γκουαναμίρου · Rating 5 out of 5]

Το κυρίαρχο στοιχείο αυτού του έργου αποτελεί ο εγκιβωτισμός διαφόρων ιστοριών μέσα σε έναν κοινό αφηγηματικό πυρήνα. Το έχουν προσπαθήσει και άλλοι (συνήθως, πλην ελαχίστων εξαιρέσεων, με τεράστια αποτυχία) αλλά εδώ ο συγγραφέας καταφέρνει να παραδώσει ένα αριστούργημα. Η όλη υπόθεση μοιαζει με μυστικιστική εμπειρία. Καίτοι πολυπρόσωπο, ίσως επειδή οι ήρωες μοιάζουν να αναμειγνύονται μέσα σε ένα κοινό καλούπι, καταλήγει στο τέλος σε μια ενιαία φωνή που τους εμπεριέχει όλους.

Όπως αλλάζουν οι αφηγήσεις και τα κεντρικά πρόσωπα, έτσι μέσα από ανατροπές και αποκαλύψεις που έρχονται να δημιουργήσουν νέα ερωτηματικά και ακόμα μεγαλύτερα μυστήρια, η πλοκή της ιστορίας εξελίσσεται από αστυνομική ιστορία, σε κοινωνικό δράμα, από ιστορική διήγηση σε δυστοπική αλληγορία, από πεζό κείμενο σε ποίημα και όλα σφιχτοδεμένα και ολοζώντανα δίνουν έναν παλμό και μια ένταση που δεν παύει στιγμή, ως το γύρισμα της τελευταίας σελίδας. Πρόκειται για αίνιγμα του οποίου η αρχή είναι τόσο παλιά όσο κι αυτός κόσμος και του οποίου η απάντηση δεν είναι ποτέ μία. Και δεν είναι ποτέ αρκετή. Αυτό το βιβλίο θα μπορούσε να συνεχίζει να γράφεται αδιάκοπα μέσα στην αιωνιότητα. Δηλώνω γοητευμένη. Και με τα λόγια του ίδιου του συγγραφέα:

"Ζεις μέσα σε μια ανατολίτικη ιστορία: Μια έξοδος ανοιγμένη με χίλια βάσανα οδηγεί απλώς σε άλλη μια κλειστή πόρτα που κι αυτή σαν καταφέρεις να την ανοίξεις με πολύ κόπο, οδηγεί σε ακόμα μία που απαιτεί όλη σου τη δύναμη για να ανοίξει, κι αυτό συνεχίζεται εις τον αιώνα. Ακόμα και η σκέψη περί του πράγματος, σε αποθαρρύνει και σε εξαντλεί. Η όλη επιχείρηση είναι μια παγίδα: Αν δεχτείς την προσφορά του εκδότη τότε έχεις καταπιεί το δόλωμα, έχεις μπλεχτεί μέσα στα δίχτυα του! Σαν τον Σίσυφο θα σέρνεις τον βράχο σου στην ανηφόρα του βουνού για ολάκερη την αιωνιότητα!"

Η υπόθεση ξεκινάει με έναν 60χρονο άνδρα, ισπανικής καταγωγής, που καταφθάνει σε ένα από τα μισοκατεστραμμένα ξενοδοχεία της πόλης S (εννοεί το Σαράγεβο) η οποία τελεί υπό πολιορκία (τα γεγονότα αφορούν στον πόλεμο του 1992 - 1995). Είναι κουρασμένος και η ζοφερή ατμόσφαιρα δεν τον βοηθάει ιδιαίτερα. Πέφτει να κοιμηθεί και την επόμενη ημέρα καταλήγει νεκρός μέσα στο μικρό του δωμάτιο, από θραύσμα οβίδας.

Και η ιστορία θα τελείωνε εκεί αν ο ταγματάρχης της ειρηνευτικής δύναμης που σπεύδει στο ξενοδοχείο για να παραλάβει τη σωρό του συμπατριώτη του, δεν ανακάλυπτε, προς μεγάλη του έκπληξη, πως το πτώμα έχει εξαφανιστεί. Βρίσκει ωστόσο μέσα στις αποσκευές του ένα σημειωματάριο. Και ξεκινάει να διαβάζει τις αλλόκοτες ιστορίες που περιέχει. Ποίηματα που υμνούν το ομοφυλοφιλικό έρωτα, αναμνήσεις από μια άλλη πολιορκία που δεν μπορεί παρά να συνέβη σε έναν παράλληλο κόσμο, έξω από αυτόν εδώ, και ανάμεσα στις αναγνώσεις παρεμβάλλονται οι καταγραφές του ίδιου του ταγματάρχη που καταλήγει να ανακαλύψει μέσα στα κείμενα... τον ίδιο του τον εαυτό!

Κι εκεί που ο συγγραφέας μοιάζει να έχει τελειώσει με αυτήν υπόθεση και καταλήγει να προσφέρει στα μισά του έργου όλες τις λογικές εξηγήσεις που λύνουν φαινομενικά το μυστήριο... τα κεντρικά πρόσωπα αλλάζουν, οι ισορροπίες ανατρέπονται εκ νέου και μπαίνουμε ξανά σε έναν νέο κύκλο από ερωτηματικά και απορίες, σε νέα αξεδιάλυτα μυστήρια!

Μέσα σε 144 σελίδες ο Juan Goytisolo κατάφερε να συμπυκνώσει τις ιστορίες και τον πολιτισμό πολλών και διαφορετικών λαών. Χωρίς να ηθικολογεί μπόρεσε να σταθεί απέναντι στην κτηνωδία του πολέμου, να αγκαλιάσει όλα τα όμορφα πράγματα που μπορεί να γεννήσει ο ανθρώπινος νους και η καρδιά, να φτιάξει μια άρτια ιστορία που μπορεί να χωρέσει τον κόσμο με τη σκοτεινή αλλά και τη φωτεινή του πλευρά.

[Argos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kuşatma Hali, Avrupa’nın göbeğinde işlenen insanlık suçunun, Bosna savaşının anlatıldığı bir roman. Bosna’da yaşanan vahşete karşı sesini çıkaran bir avuç Avrupalı aydından biri olan Juan Goytisolo tarihi gerçeklerle kurguyu iç içe geçirmiş. Bunu romanın sonunda yazdığı açıklamada belirttiği üzere, iki kez gittiği Saraybosna’da gördüklerinden dolayı zihnine yerleşen görüntülerden kaçabilmek ve iyileşebilmek için yapmış yazar.
Saraybosna’da yaşananlardan yola çıkarak kendi kafasında kuşatılmış bir kent çizmiş. İlginç bir kurgusu var kitabın, bilmece çözer gibi ilerliyor. Biraz polisiye havası da var. Yazarın daha önce okuduğum iki kitabında yaşadığım duyguyu bırada da yaşadım. Ara ara kopuşlar oluyor. Bu da yoruyor insanı. Yazarın postmodern tarzda yazması ve bildiği çok şeyi olabildiğince aktarma gayreti bu durumu yaratıyor. Örneğin çok ilgi duyduğu doğu kültürü ve tassavuf bilgisinin yanı sıra psikoloji ve edebiyat bilgisini de aktarmak çabasına giriyor.
Biraz Cortazar’ın “Seksek”ine biraz Eco’nun ortaçağ konulu romanlarına öykünmüş gibi geldi bana. Gaytisolo’nun ağzı, Bukowski ya da Can Yücel’i aratmayacak kadar bozuk. Bu romanında insani yıkım kadar “kültürel soykırıma” da (urbicide) dikkat çekiyor yazar. Kısa olmasına rağmen yukarıda belirttiğim nedenlerden dolayı yorucu bir okumaydı.

[فهد الفهد · Rating 4 out of 5]

حصار الحصارات

أول قراءة لخوان جويتسولو، رواية كمتاهة حقيقية، حيث يتوه القارئ وهو يحاول اكتشاف الحقيقة والوهم في الرواية، فكل فصل ينقض الفصل الذي يليه، تقترب الرواية من مدينة محاصرة، ورجل يقتل حال نزوله في أحد فنادقها، المدينة هي استنساخ أدبي لحصار سراييفو، أما الرجل فذو هوية مترددة، ما بين ثوري أسباني وصوفي مغربي، مزيج مدهش من الوحشية والصوفية.

[Rocío Bernabéu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maravilloso. Goytisolo va tejiendo un asedio como venganza para el lector. Traslada los episodios de los que es testigo en Sarajevo a Francia mediante la ficcionalización de los hechos. Se independiza como autor del mensaje literario mismo y concibe la obra como un medio de curación ante una sociedad racista y bélica. Una obra de arte de la literatura.

[Leonard Klossner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another metanarrative following 11 years after Quarantine, this time centered on the Siege of Sarajevo arising during the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia. The narrator of the book's first part, a mysterious J.G. who may or not himself be fictional, dies in an artillery strike on his hotel. The body and his passport both disappear. All that remains behind as a record of his existence is a manuscript which may or not have been doctored; a manuscript of apocryphal writings predicting events that occur during the siege after the alleged and perhaps non-existent author's death, verses celebrating sodomy and defecation, as well as a number of poems whose authorship is similarly doubtful. At no point do we arrive nearer toward any resolution as to the author's identity; each time something edging toward an explanation occurs, some further meddling is discovered, casting the whole affair into increasing degrees of complexity.

The novel doubles as a sort of attack on the West's indifference. The actual blockade lasted roughly four years, and characters in the text often wonder why they have yet to receive the slightest assistance from anyone anywhere. It also muses on the normalcy of tragedy; of the normalization of living as though one were constantly in a sniper's sights (many often were) or would find themselves in the blast radius of an artillery strike; of the awful but simple fact that 'tragedies that go on for too long are boring.' (After all, aren't tragedies, at least while they're shiny and new, a perverse form of entertainment? [Goytisolo I'm sure might have had a few words similar to Baudrillard's regarding the Gulf War]).

I cannot help but think that the explosion of the bomb that took his mother's life in his native Spain has echoed throughout every work across every year until the end of his life. Familiar to Goytisolo's readers are gruesome images of bodies bloodied, bullet-ridden, and blown apart....

I've noticed when victims of the violence are given singular mention (and are not swept over in descriptions of corpses amassed atop countless others), they are often women; perhaps literary projections of the recurrently murdered mother. The last lines of the novel before the appendix of poems describes a woman dead from a bullet in the neck; the novel's final image of the recurrently murdered mother.

[Kenneth Chanko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goytisolo's post-modern siege-of-Sarajevo fable -- or is it really set in that Bosnian city...? -- is rife with Borgesian conundrums, making it something other than a light read, even considering its under-200-page length. It time-travels and shape-shifts, with elements of memoir, several dream sequences, memos from military officials -- not to mention who's-the-narrator guessing games. Oh, and there's some striking poetry, to boot. I will probably reread it at some point. Parts of it were fascinating and somehow at once fanciful and visceral. Other parts were difficult to wrap my head around. I read this over three months, having read a couple of books in between starting and finishing this one, which was, in retrospect, probably not the way to go.

[أحمد شاكر · Rating 4 out of 5]

لقد غدا الواقع في رواية خوان غويتيصولو، تخييلا، هو قصة الرعب الذي نواجه كل يوم..

[R.K. Cowles · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 1/2 stars

[Vilis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Izlasāma vienā dienā, bet atstāj ļoti spēcīgu iespaidu par aplenkumā nonākušu pilsētu un saprātu. Šķiet tikai drusku par izskaitļotu, un visi slāņi tā kā neiet kopā, taču šī noteikti ir grāmata pārlasīšanai.

[Jacek · Rating 2 out of 5]

July 6th, 2022 : A short novel, full of pain, full of truth. I appreciated that it offered the pain and the truth. I didn't, couldn't connect with the way it was narrated. Someone who could, might well find a multi-faceted and brilliant novel.

[Kam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah, I guess it was good. Serious. About war.

[Jerrod · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning. A fierce reckoning with the damage we humans impose upon one another and the terrible difficulty of coming to terms with this nature