Makbara

By Juan Goytisolo

Book Overview

The author of Landscapes After the Battle, Juan the Landless and The Virtues of the Solitary Bird returns with a novel whose essential theme is love. Much of the wit and black humour in the book stems from the author's vision of sex as a great leveller, a cosmic joke perpetrated upon man.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1852422661
• ISBN13: 9781852422660
• Release Date: August 1994
• Publisher: Serpent's Tail
• Length: 270 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.2" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

This is Goytisolo's best work to date.

First published in 1980, Makbara demonstrates a radical use of linguistic and structural experimentation. Now that Goytisolo has loosened his ties to his mother country (since completing the Mendiola trilogy), his search for his "authentic self" is challenged by the indomitable formalizations of the spoken language. The pleasure of reading Makbara comes from a reading which does not depend on such linguistic verbal formalities, and deciding whether other forms of communication are possible. This novel is intricate and challenging on all levels in accord with Goytisolo's intent that his writing is not for everyone to read.