The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey - Softcover

Guevara, Ernesto "Che"; Keeble, Alexandra

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007182228 ISBN 13: 9780007182220

Publisher: Fourth Estate, 2004

Synopsis

An expanded and freshly translated edition of the cult bestseller, for a new generation of Che Guevara fans.

In January 1952, two young men from Buenos Aires set out to explore South America on ‘La Poderosa’, the Powerful One: a 500cc Norton. One of them was the twenty-three-year-old Che Guevara.

Written eight years before the Cuban Revolution, these are Che's diaries – full of disasters and discoveries, high drama, low comedy and laddish improvisations. During his travels through Argentina, Chile, Peru and Venezuela, Che’s main concerns are where the next drink is coming from, where the next bed is to be found and who might be around to share it. Che becomes a stowaway, a fireman and a football coach; he sometimes falls in love and frequently falls off the motorbike.

Within a decade the whole world would know his name. His trip might have been an adventure of a lifetime – had his lifetime not turned into a much greater adventure.

Features exclusive, unpublished photos taken by the twenty-three-year-old Ernesto on his journey across the continent and a tender preface by Aleida Guevara, offering an insightful perspective on her father – the man and the icon.

About this title

Review

‘It’s true; Marxists just wanna have fun.’ Guardian

‘What distinguishes these diaries is that they reveal a human side to El Che which historians have successfully managed to suppress...one senses El Che’s belief that determination and conviction can be enough to change one's self and others...a joy to read from start to finish.’ Financial Times

‘Political incorrectness galore...this book should do much to humanise the image of a man who found his apotheosis as a late Sixties cultural icon. It is also, incidentally, a remarkably good travel book about South America.’ Scotsman

‘Politically-correct revolutionary hero? Perhaps a few years later, but in this account Che Guevara comes over as one of the lads.’ Bike News

From the Back Cover

ERNESTO CHE GUEVARA: "The enormity of our endeavor escaped us in those moments; all we could see was the dust on the road ahead and ourselves on the bike, devouring kilometers in our flight northward."

The young Che Guevara's lively and highly entertaining travel diary. This new, expanded edition features exclusive, unpublished photographs taken by the 23-year-old Ernesto on his journey across a continent, and a tender preface by Aleida Guevara offering a highly insightful perspective on her father the man and the icon.

"A journey, a number of journeys. Ernesto Guevara in search of adventure, Ernesto Guevara in search of America, Ernesto Guevara in search of Che. On this journey of journeys, solitude found solidarity, 'I' turned into 'we'." -- Eduardo Galeano

"Our film is about a young man, Che, falling love with a continent and finding his place in it." Walter Salles, Director of "The Motorcycle Diaries"

About this edition

• Publisher: Fourth Estate
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0007182228
• ISBN 13: 9780007182220
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 176