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Voices of Time: A Life in Stories

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Eduardo Galeano's lyrical and poetic literary style floats like a butterfly; when his subjects are the political and social outrages of history, it can also sting like a bee. In his earlier works this combination is extremely potent: one is given one's historical instruction in small but powerful installments, always keyed to the individual, close to the ground, intimate. Then all the more memorable for their emotional wallop. When his subjects are the powerful and unscrupulous, Galeano knows how to draw blood, but in the courtliest way, with surgical precision and surprise.

Most of the small narratives (some only a paragraph) in "Voices of Time" show us Galeano at his gentlest. Like Borges he's an ironist, the significances and twists and turns in his tales giving heft to their brevity. A few detail the trademark social and economic outrages that comprised the history of Latin America and the Third World generally, but many involve Galeano's friends, pets, family, non-political occurences and observations. If you remember Paul Harvey's short radio biographies (revealing the name of his subject only in the last sentence), you'll have an idea of a favorite Galeano technique.

If you've never read Galeano before, I'd recommend his earlier books over this one, "Upside Down" or "Century of the Wind;" you'll then see why he's considered one of Latin America's greatest journalist-historians. But if you're a Galeano fan and are wondering whether this volume is worthwhile, please consider this a rave. "Voices of Time" is a modestly scaled work, grandfatherly in tone, but given its intentions, perfect.

Eduardo Galeano is possibly one of the most important writers working in today's marketplace. His committments to idealogical matters, his belief in poetry, his unique narrative voice, his willingness to speak out again oppression -- all of these make him a strong and vital writer.

His prose is tremendous. Buy this book! Then, buy the Book of Embraces, Memory of Fire, and Soccer in Sun and Shadow. I've loved his work for years, and every new book is a joy.

For readers who bask in the repeated perusals of Eduardo Galeano's books, such as the endlessly entertaining and informing 'Centuries of the Wind', then buying and reading 'Voices in Time: A Life in Stories' will come as no surprise. Galeano's Spanish thoughts are beautifully translated by Mark Fried and as is the case in all translations of books of other languages, the translator owns a significant portion of the success of the book.

Galeano continues his idiosyncratic manner of writing in brief bits and pieces of thoughts, responses, fits of anger, musings on beauty, and responses to the world in which we struggle to live. The short 'stories' contained in this volume began as newspaper quips and the 'VOICES OF TIME' is more a compendium of various excerpts rather than a novel. Galeano writes with mischief, humor, rancor, anger, and philosophical views about subjects that range form global importance such as the war in Iraq, the vanishing species of our planet, of poets (Isaac Asimov and Rafael Alberti) and of family and friends.

At times the brevity of Galeano's style can become annoying (there are 333 stories in this book of almost the same number of pages!), and the quality of what he has to contribute on his subjects varies from invigorating to dull excesses. But for those who love Galeano's lyrical style of dropping petals on the surface of the pond that serves as the matrix for thought, VOICES OF TIME will not disappoint. Not as strong as his previous work, perhaps, but even mediocre Galeano is a treat! Grady Harp, July 06

In an insightful collection of memories, acute observations and multicultural folklore, Uruguyan writer Eduardo Galeano has recorded a witty and compassionate view of human nature in "Voices of Time: A Life in Stories."

Throughout this intriguing compilation of 333 vignettes, averaging several paragraphs, and none longer than a page and a half, Galeano has weaved together moments of his life, along with those of history, into an assortment of revelations and discoveries that can tug on the readers' heartstrings, or propel them into disappointment over the state of world affairs.

While it would be impossible for an author, even one of Galeano's stature, to make every story poignant, he does manage to have more hits than misses. His first stories center around the beginning of man's time on earth, when blue algae, after a million years, decided to turn green, and "...bit by bit, the green algae begat lichens, mushrooms, mold, medusas, and all the color and sound that came later, as did we, to unsettle the sea and the land."

Galeano's description on man's time on earth is equally thought provoking: "...the first human gesture is the embrace. After coming into the world, at the beginning of their days, babies wave their arms as if seeking someone. Other doctors, who work with people who have already lived their lives, say that the aged, at the end of their days, die trying to raise their arms. And that's it, that's all, no matter how hard we strive or how many words we pile on. Everything comes down to this: between two flutterings, with no more explanation, the voyage occurs."

Galeano has earned an international reputation as a fearless commentator on our social and political lives. The winner of the first Lannan Foundation Cultural Freedom Prize in 1998, he is one of Latin America's foremost writers, as well as a distinguished journalist and historian. He is the author of "Upside Down," the "Memory of Fire" trilogy (for which he won the 1989 American Book Award), "Open Veins of Latin America" and many other works.

"Voices of Time" follows the writing style he perfected in "Memory of Fire" by using sentences in a hypnotic poetic rhythm that mixes irony and moral judgment. Alas, Galeano doesn't shy away from the harsh realities of life, and the outcome of his tales don't always contain the bright uplifting finale we want our life to possess, as in the story, Father.

"Vera stayed home from school and spent the entire day indoors. At dusk, she wrote her father a letter. He was in the hospital, quite ill. She wrote, "You must like yourself, take care of yourself, look out for yourself, spoil yourself, forgive yourself, love yourself, cherish yourself. I'll like you, I'll take care of you, I'll look out for you, I'll spoil you, I'll forgive you, I'll love you, I'll cherish you." Hector Carnevale lasted a few days more. Then, with his daughter's letter under his pillow, he departed in his sleep."

Images of the art of Peru's Cajamarca region accompany many of the stories, leading the reader into deeper retrospection. According to Galeano, these works, painted, etched, or carved anonymously, were collect by Alfredo Mires Ortiz in the course of many years of exploration and discovery. Some of them are thousands of years old, but look as fresh as if they were made last week.

The vignettes in "Voices of Time" have many meanings, literally and symbolically. Galeano has bared his life's soul for all to see, and the view is quite remarkable.

So simple. yet so deep. Of the ordinary yet so dearly educating and inspiring. Each story but a page or less. Each story a lifetime. Each story connecting to each story. Life connecting to life. And such simple but poetic prose. I heard Eduardo Galleano speak on democracynow.org and never knew of him before. I bought this book soon after - what a Joy! Viva Galleano!

Arrived as promised. It was a gift, so I didn't read it. Though my friend was very pleased to receive it. It was a book he'd been looking for and wanted to have. I was able to find it on Amazon very quickly and the price was very reasonable!