el paraiso

Tinto (Moderator) says on Aug 18, 2004, 15:10:

very popular book http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/158348809X/qid=109286430...



The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001.



Isaacs, Jorge





(hôr´h ´säks) (KEY) , 1837–95, Colombian novelist. The son of a prosperous Englishman and a creole, Isaacs witnessed the ruin and premature death of his parents and the despoilment of his estate by civil war. He fled to Bogotá, where he won critical acclaim with a book of poems (Poesiás, 1864). His masterpiece, María (1867, tr. 1890), a melancholy romantic novel, won immediate success and was widely imitated. His finely drawn characters and colorful accounts of local customs are complemented by a masterful picture of the landscape of the Cauca valley. Isaacs was named consul to Chile and occupied several government posts, but died in poverty.

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SiV says on Aug 18, 2004, 15:18:

Nice place, rubbish book El Paraiso is nice enough, there´s a bit of a period museum there, the river to swim in, and they do parascending in the mountains nearby, if you´re feeling adventurous. I started to read the book, but it was absolutely tedious, so I didn´t get past a few chapters.

SiV

Stultórum númere infinitum est.

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Desideria (Moderator) says on Aug 19, 2004, 11:50:

nice place, nice book I've been at El Paraiso, but that was many years ago. It's supposed to be the hacienda where Jorge Isaacs wrote his famous and popular book María. There's a statue of Efraín and María by the Cali River downtown Cali.
The book (I read it in Spanish, I have no idea if it has been translated) is required reading for every Colombian school kid; it's a classic. It can be a bit tedious, since the language is very florid and the book is almost unbearably romantic and sentimental. There are some very nice chapters describing Sfrain's return from London to his "montañas americanas", arriving to Buenaventura on a boat and taking a river boat (a thatched canoe-type) upriver Dagua to try to reach Cali before his beloved María dies.
Cheers,
Desi

"I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don't always agree with them."-President George W. Bush

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Desideria (Moderator) says on Aug 19, 2004, 12:23:

just kidding:) that was the ending of "Aura O Las Violetas". Really, María is just about to be elected as the first Colombian Queen of the Mazamorra, enrolled at an introduction agency called "Hot Caleñas" and started to date gringos with pockets stuffed with greenbacks....Efrain better make haste...
Cheers,
Desi

"I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don't always agree with them."-President George W. Bush

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Tinto (Moderator) says on Aug 19, 2004, 12:29:

And since hip huggers (low rise pants).... ...were not yet invented, the Gringos must have been attracted to her "swelling bodice" or "bosom" or whatever the Victorian term is.

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Desideria (Moderator) says on Aug 19, 2004, 12:39:

actually it's her purity, her chastity and her traditional upbringing what really atracts the gringos...she would have died of shame is Efraín had ever gotten a glimpse of something more than her lily-white wrists or her delicate ankles below the layers of her petticoats....
(or am I giving away too much again?)
Cheers,
Desi

"I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don't always agree with them."-President George W. Bush

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Tinto (Moderator) says on Aug 19, 2004, 12:46:

...and then Theodore Roosevelt ...killed Efrain in a duel, married Queen María, poisoned her with arsenic, she died, and he stole Panama! El Fin.

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Desideria (Moderator) says on Aug 19, 2004, 12:50:

now you don't have to read that "boring" book any more...since you've got it all figured out:)

"I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don't always agree with them."-President George W. Bush

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