11 Peru – The storyteller – Mario Vargas Llosa, May 2014

The unnamed Peruvian narrator is in Florence when he comes across an exhibition of photos of “The Natives of the Amazon Forest”. He recognises some of the tribespeople as being Machiguenga, and knows that one of the people is a “storyteller”. The book is infused with the presence and absence of the storyteller.

We then learn that he met Saul Zuratas (known as Mascarito from his large florid birthmark) when they took university entrance exams. They became good friends. Mascarito later changed from studying law to ethnology. He has a parrot called Gregor Samsa.

We listen to Saul when he discusses the way of life and the customs of the Amazonian peoples, and the ways in which the actions of “civilised” men are destroying the Amazonian habitat with its irreplaceable flora and fauna which the tribes need to continue their way of life, and the tribes themselves.

We come across the age-old problem of whether the modern world has the right, or a “duty” to “modernise” the tribes at the expense of destroying their lives, their cultures, their languages, and their very reason for a separate existence.

The myth told on page 37 reads like the effects of a natural disaster seen through the eyes of people trying to make sense of what is happening to them (see Note 1 below).

The Machiguenga are (again on page 37) “The men of earth”. Many tribal, ethnic and national groups have names which translate as “the men”, “the people”, “the ones”, “true people” (see Note 2).

We read about a Machiguenga’s first experience of a Viracocha (see Note 3) sneezing. He was terrified. This could also be the introduction of the deadly common cold which has decimated swathes of Native American peoples.

There is also discussion of the problem of contact between peoples of different culture levels (see Note 4).

The constant use by Mascarito of “pal” to translate “mi amigo” comes across as sarcasm, although Mascarito does not seem to be like that. It might have been better to leave “mi amigo” (which we are all used to), or simply omit it.

Saul tells the Kafka story of himself being turned into an insect. He even calls himself Gregor-Tasurinchi.

At page 215 we read the story of Jesus, told as if he himself were an hablador, breathed out by Tasurinchi, yet himself still Tasurinchi.

At the end, when there is an earthquake, possibly caused by a smaller volcanic eruption since there is a dark cloud across the sky, Saul starts the group he is living with walking in the old way so as to keep the sun in the sky.

I loved this book, with its interaction between cultures and, particularly for its telling of the myths, legends and creation story of the Machiguenga people. I scored it at 9.5, which is my highest score for any book read during our book group’s nearly eleven years of travelling “round the world”.

Note 1 – There have been many such worldwide events caused, for example, by massive volcanic eruptions such as Mount Toba in Indonesia about 70,000 years ago.  A similar event brought about the Dark Ages in Europe by causing a sharp fall in temperature, loss of crops, and consequent starvation and mass movements of people. Refer also to the world-wide effect of Krakatoa closer to our own times. Descriptions of the earlier events discuss the massive amounts of dust thrown into the atmosphere, circling the world, darkening the sky, and blotting out the sun for a generation. This all caused plants to wither, water pollution, animals and humans to starve and die. There were massive rains, tsunamis travelling across the oceans, and flooding on a huge scale.

Note 2 – This applies also in some situations which you might not expect; “Deutsch” means “the people” and “English” means “the fisher folk”.

Note 3 – Viracocha was an ancient Peruvian bearded and light-skinned sun god adopted by the Inca. He disappeared to his home across the ocean by walking on the water, but promised to return to help his people when they needed him. He was known as Tezcatlipoca in Central America, with a similar legend. Unfortunately, he chose to return in the form of the leader of the Conquistadors.

Note 4 – We need look no further than the Europe of 2000 years ago to see the effects of the encroachment of the Roman Empire on the tribes of these lands. Most lost their original language – France, Spain, Portugal, and Romania now speak Romance languages having lost their languages, and much of their culture. Had the legions not been withdrawn from Britannia to defend Rome modern England, at least, may well have been speaking a Romance language with a Celtic substrate.