Hallucinations: or, The Ill-Fated Peregrinations of Fray Servando [Paperback]

Reinaldo Arenas (Author), Andrew Hurley (Translator), Thomas Colchie (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 31, 2001

In the brilliant tradition of Don Quixote and Candide, Hallucinations is a modern masterpiece of Latin American fiction. Fray Servando-priest, blasphemer, dueler of monsters, irresistible lover, misunderstood prophet, prisoner, and consummate escape artist-wanders among the vice-ridden populations of eighteenth-century Europe and the Americas, fleeing dungeons, a marriage-minded female, a slaveship captain, and the Inquisition. Whether by burro, by boat, or by the back of a whale, Fray Servando's journey is at once funny and romantic, melancholy and profound-a tale rooted in history, yet outrageously hallucinatory.

"An impenitent amalgam of truth and invention, historical fact and outrageous make-believe. . . . A philosophical black comedy." (The New York Times)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Spanish (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Reinaldo Arenas was born in Cuba in 1943. In 1980 he was one of 120,000 Cubans who arrived in the United States during the Mariel boatlift. Arenas settled in New York where he lived until his death in 1990.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (December 31, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142000191
• ISBN-13: 978-0142000199
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.5 x 7.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #808,058 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars hallucinations, February 17, 2005

By 

Caroline Miller "tmcm" (mass.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hallucinations: or, The Ill-Fated Peregrinations of Fray Servando (Paperback)

Although it was a bit difficult do get into, once I did, it was non stop. I knew that it was somewhat based upon factual occurrences but the "hallucination" parts were a bit disconcerting. He talks of escape a number of times and these can vary between mental as well as physical escape. It was a bit mind-blowing when I finally finished and had time to process the entire story. Wow.

2 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars move on, christian soldiers, August 15, 2003

By 

G. Busy (busan, korea) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hallucinations: or, The Ill-Fated Peregrinations of Fray Servando (Paperback)

The author clearly choose to forgo such things as character and detail of description in creating this short, yet way too long, epic of astoundingly bad proportions. The aesthetic is of his choosing, but it's simply not very good, IMHO. A very poor man's take on the picaresque tale.

Some sentences were quite pleasing, however. And the scenes in the Cadiz prison with the rats are also good. On the whole, though, please do not waste your time. Move on to some of the author's other work, which is probably better since it could be no worse.