The Lizard's Tail

By Luisa Valenzuela

Book Overview

The Lizard?s Tail is a whip much favoured by Latin American torturers. It gives its name to this fictional biography of Lopez Rega, Isabel Peron?s minister of social well-being who ruled Argentina through sorcery and witchcraft. A figure of immense power and cruelty, Lopez Rega survives all attempts by politicians and the military to overthrow him. So great is the magic of this power-crazed witch-doctor that the writer / narrator can destroy him only by removing herself: 'By erasing myself from the map, I intend to erase you. Without my biography, it will be as if you never had a life. So long, Sorcerer, felice morte.? In The Lizard?s Tail, Luisa Valenzuela re-invents language to convey the political reality of Latin America. A reality in which the writer hangs in the balance.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1852421126
• ISBN13: 9781852421120
• Release Date: July 1991
• Publisher: Serpent's Tail
• Length: 279 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.1" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

beautiful

a wonderful example of valenzuela's work and a great place to start. her imagery and description sink you into this world even when the circumstances of the plot keep you strangely separate from the characters.

Valenzuela's Argentina is terror personified

This novel is amazing- a deeply disturbing often sadist romp into the netherworld of post-Peronist Argentina where a derranged minister of Juan Peron's second wife (not Evita) runs the show and choke-holds the Argentinian people with his "powers" and his psychosis. Very trippy- fun, in a sick, sick way. Expert craftsmanship and exciting narrative voice. Buy it and read it right away- then pass it on to a friend who can handle it.