Synopses & Reviews
"One of Latin America's most gifted novelists". -- Washington Post Book World
A finalist for the National Book Award for her 1995 novel, La casa de la laguna, Rosario Ferre is one of Latin America's most original andimportant writers. In the four stories that make up Maldito amor Ferre explores the history of political and cultural struggle in her native Puerto Rico through one family, the aristocratic and contentious De la Valles.
The title story tells of the piratical Don Julio; his son, Nino Ubaldino, patriot and politician; andUbaldino's two sons, who are locked in a fight to the death over control of the Diamond Dust sugar mill andof the woman both men love. The other three stories follow the lives of later generations of the De la Valles, together creating a drama in four parts that raises fascinating issues of independence, religion, and race, imbued with all of Ferre's characteristic wit and verve.
"Marvelous, spellbinding". -- Chicago Tribune
"A superb storyteller". -- Library Journal
Synopsis
Unas veces liricamente encantadora, y otras astutamente sat rica, Rosario Ferr es una de las m s originales escritoras de Latinoam rica. En Maldito amor, ella explora las luchas de clases y la evoluci n pol tica de su Puerto Rico natal a trav s de la historia de una familia, los aristocr ticos y belicosos De la Valle, y su lucha por la dominaci n y control del vecino ingenio azucarero.
El cuento titular narra la vida del pir tico Don Julio; su hijo, el astuto pol tico Nino Ubaldino; y los hijos de Ubaldino, Ar stides y Nicol s, envueltos en una lucha a la muerte por el control de la fortuna familiar y por la mujer que ambos quieren. Los tres cuentos siguientes relatan las vidas de las nuevas generaciones de los De la Valle, creando un drama en cuatro partes que presenta las cuestiones fascinantes de la independencia, la religi n y la raza, con todo el ingenio y energ a caracter sticos de Ferr .
ENGLISH DESCRIPTION
"Hypnotic... should not be missed."--Lucy Stark, Voices from the Gaps
Originally published in Spanish under the title Maldito Amor (Cursed Love), Sweet Diamond Dust introduced American readers to a voice that is by turns lyrical and wickedly satiric. A finalist for the National Book Award with her 1995 novel, The House on the Lagoon, Ferre here uses family history as a metaphor for the class struggles and political evolution of Latin America and Puerto Rico in particular. The result is writing of the highest order--provocative, profound, yet delightfully readable.
The sweet diamond dust of the title story is, of course, sugar. In this tale the De La Valle family's secrets, ambitions, and passions, interwoven with the fate of the local sugar mill, are recounted by various relatives, friends, and servants. As the characters struggle under the burden of privilege, the story, permeated with haunting echoes of Puerto Rico's own turbulent history, becomes a splendid allegory for a nation's past. The three accompanying stories each follow the lives of the descendants of the De La Valle family, making the book a drama in four parts, raising troubling issues of race, religion, freedom, and sex, with Ferre's trademark irony and startling imagery--a literary experience no reader would want to miss.
Table of Contents
Maldito amor --El regalo --Isolda en el espejo --La extraäna muerte del Capitancito Candelario.