The Renunciation (Unesco Collection of Representative Works) [Hardcover]

Edgardo Rodriguez Julia (Author), Edgardo Rodriguez Julia (Author), Andrew Hurley (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Unesco Collection of Representative Works | Publication Date: October 1997

Acclaimed Puerto Rican novelist Edgardo Rodriguez Julia--translated into English for the first time--delivers a masterfully structured and exciting historic novel about class and race in Puerto Rico's colonial past.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

A self-serving bishop persuades Baltasar Monta?ez, the son of a famous black leader in 18th-century Puerto Rico, to marry under pretense the white daughter of a government leader and thereby avert racial bloodshed. Baltasar goes along with the plan for a while, then turns on the officials. Tagged a subversive, he is excommunicated and incarcerated. When the bishop later tries to convince him to denounce the church in order to stem the slave revolt that occurred anyway, Baltasar refuses to collaborate. Thus, the hero is confronted with not one but a series of renunciations: his race, his ideals, and his power. In a literary tour de force, the narration of this apocryphal figure's life is encapsulated within three supposed academic lectures delivered by the narrator, a pseudoscholarly device that would make Borges proud. Letters, chronicles, and other documents all help lend an air of veracity. Recommended for public and academic libraries.?Lawrence Olszewski, OCLC Lib., Dublin, Ohio
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Spanish

Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: Four Walls Eight Windows (October 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568580576
• ISBN-13: 978-1568580579
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #964,879 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)