The Vision of Elena Silves - Hardcover

Shakespeare, Nicholas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0394584775 ISBN 13: 9780394584775

Publisher: Knopf, 1990

Synopsis

Seemingly doomed to failure, the romance between Elena Silves, who received a vision of the Virgin Mary, and Gabriel Lung, a leader of the Peruvian terrorist group, the Shining Path, endures for over twenty years

About this title

About the Author:

Nicholas Shakespeare was born in 1957. The son of a diplomat, much of his youth was spent in the Far East and South America. His books have been translated into 20 languages. They include The Vision of Elena Silves (winner of the Somerset Maugham Award), Snowleg, The Dancer Upstairs, Secrets of the Sea, Inheritance and Priscilla. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He currently lives in Oxford.

From Publishers Weekly:

One might have thought that the tradition of a British observer romancing the jungles of South America ended with Graham Greene. But no: the lure of the unwashed still pulls, and cocaine trafficking conveniently provides a contemporary hook. The eponymous Elena Silves, born in 1948 in the city of Belen ("Peru's tropical gateway city and door to the mysterious Amazon") has a vision of the Virgin Mary at age 17 while she is in hiding with Gabriel Rondon Lung--a half-Chinese, half-Portuguese Marxist. Shakespeare, literary editor of London's Daily Telegraph , exploits these two simplistic poles of the South American character--fervent Catholicism and political revolution--so much so that the real fates of his characters (Elena spends 18 years in a convent; Gabriel, the same amount of time in prison and on the run) are virtually passed over. Instead, the two rush to a breathless climax--lovers united at last--but far removed from a history that the author is attracted to, it seems, only as exotic backdrop. At a time when British writing is being hailed for its multicultural sensibilities--Rushdie, Kureishi, Ishiguro--this is a disappointing debut.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Knopf
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0394584775
• ISBN 13: 9780394584775
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 249