بنتاليون بانتوخا الضابط الملتزم أو بمعنى أدق المنضبط فما سمي الضابط بذلك الاسم إلا بانضباطه و خضوعه لرؤسائه و تماهيه في النظام.
لست مثل العالم كله. هذا هو سوء حظي. فأنا لا يحدث لي ما يحدث للأخرين. في صباي كنت أقل رغبة في الأكل مما أنا عليه الأن. و لكن ما إن منحوني مهمتي العسكرية الأولى في الإشراف على الوجبات حتى استيقظت فيّ شهية شرسة. صرت أمضي الوقت في الأكل. في قراءة وصفات الطعام. و تعلمت الطهو. و عندما بدلوا مهمتي. هوب! وداعا للطعام. بدأت أهتم بالخياطة. بالملابس. بالموضة. حتى ظن قائد الثكنة أنني مخنث. و كانت المسألة أنهم كلفوني بملابس الحامية. لقد انتبهت إلى ذلك الأن. لو كان الأمر بيدي لما كانت خدمة الزائرات قد ولدت أصلا. أتوسل إليكم أن تصبروا قليلا. أما بشأن بانتوخا فلا تذكر اسمه أمامي يا مونسنيور. إنه يتحمل جزءا كبيرا من الذنب في ما يحدث. فلو أنه نظم على الأقل الأمور بصورة بين بين. بشيء من الخلل. و لكن هذا الأبله حول خدمة الزائرات إلى الجهاز الأكثر فعالية في القوات المسلحة.
رغم اعتراض قائد مهم كالجنرال سكافينو على تكوين جهاز سري لإمداد الجنود بالعاهرات كخدمة توصيل للكتائب على امتداد الجبهة في الأمازون و رغم أن سبب انشاء هذا الجهاز هو إطفاء شهوة الجنود الذين تعددت حوادث اغتصابهم للقرويات و سكان الغابات بسبب بعد هؤلاء الجنود عن المدينة لفترات طويلة. إلا أن الموضوع محير في فهمه و في تقبله أو رفضه. على كل حال فقد تم إنشاء الجهاز و وجد بنتاليون نفسه بين عشية أو ضحاها قد تحول من ضابط برتبة نقيب إلى نقيب بلقب قوّاد.
شك الجنود في أول الأمر و ظنوا أنها مكيدة لاستدراجهم إلى أعمال شاقة أو مجرد مقلب من مقالب القيادة ثم لم بليث الشك أن تحول إلى ضحك صاخب فسخرية ثم فرحة طاغية. حامية نهر سنتياجو تتلقى قافلة كل أسبوع و أنا قافلة كل شهر. إذا كنتم تظنون أن المدفعيين أقل رجولة من المشاة فإنني مستعد لأن أثبت لكم العكس.
كان هناك مثال أخر على تنافس و تباهي فصائل الجيش فيما بينهم عندما اعترضت البحرية على عدم إدراج مآثرها في نشيد العاهرات رغم اسهامها المميز في تكوين الفرقة.
تداخلت الحوارات كثيرا كأن يكون الحديث بين زوجة بنتاليون و أمه و حديث أخر بين بنتاليون و صديقه فيجعل يوسا الحوارين متداخلين فقرة من هنا و فقرة من هناك و يكون ذلك بصورة عبقرية جدا أحيانا و بدون داع في أحيان أخرى و لكنه مزعج و معقد في كل الأحوال. الوضع هنا مختلف. يوجد زبائن على الدوام و أيام عمل من ثماني ساعات. و حضرتك تبقي كل شيء منظم و هذا يفتنهن.
تسابقت العاهرات على الانضمام لفرقة بنتاليون أو بانتالاند كما أطلقوا عليها فمن من العاهرات قد لا تلبي نداء الوطن و من منهم لا ترغب في الاستقرار الوظيفي و حماية الجيش و نظام العمل و الإجازات و الكشف الطبي و المعاملة كموظفة و مناضلة و شهيدة الواجب أيضا. إنني أضاعف الأن الحراسة قبل يوم من وصول القافلة. و أضع خفراء في محيط المكان كله. الكتيبة كلها في حالة الجاهزية للقتال كي يتمكن الجنود من المضاجعة بسلام. يا له من وضع مضحك.
و القوات المسلحة كالعادة هي الجهة الوحيدة في أي بلد التي تستطيع تحضير العفريت بكل سهولة كما تستطيع صرفه بسلام و تستطيع أيضا إنكار وجود العفريت من الأساس كما تستطيع حبسه و محاكمته بل و قتله و التمثيل بجثته إذا لزم الأمر إن كان له جثة . علما بأن هذه المؤسسة العريقة لا تؤمن أصلا بوجود العفاريت أو أيا من الكائنات الماورائية كما لا تؤمن إلا بالوطنية و بتفسيرها الحصري الذي صنعته بنفسها و أعطت لنفسها الحق في تفسيره أو تغييره أينما شاءت و في الوقت و بالكيفية التي تريد و على الوجه الذي ترجوه.
و من هنا فقد صنعت جهاز الزائرات و مولته و رعته و يسرت له كل السبل ثم أنكرت وجوده في الوقت نفسه ثم عاقبت قائد الجهاز على ذلك ليس برغم نجاحه فحسب بل و بسبب هذا النجاح بالذات.
و كما في فيلم أرض الخوف عندما وجد يحي أبودبوره نفسه وحيدا و يعامله النظام الذي صنعه كتاجر مخدرات لا كضابط شرطه فإن بنتاليون هنا رفض أن يظل قوادا و فضل البقاء في بدلته العسكرية بدلا من البقاء في أرض ليست له. 9789871106929 إيه يا يوسا دة:)
تبدأ الحكاية بقرار من القيادات العليا في جيش البيرو بتعيين القائد بانتاليون للقيام بتأسيس خدمة للزائرات (بائعات الهوي) للجنود لإشباع إحتياجاتهم الجنسية بعد قيامهم بعمليات إغتصاب وتحرش لبنات ونساء القرية.. وطبعاً بالخدمة دي هم بيساعدوا الجنود بجعلهم أكثر راحة وأكثر قدرة علي إحتمال ظروف خدمتهم...!
الرواية طبعاً فيها إنتقادات لاذعة للمنظومة العسكرية وإزاي بيقدروا يضفوا القدسية علي تصرفاتهم حتي لو كانت غير أخلاقية طالما دة في مصلحتهم..
طبعاً رواية زي دي لو حد غلبان من بلادنا العربية كان كتبها كان زمانه مرمي في السجن وعمره ما حيطلع منه:)
فكرة مجنونة من كاتب جرئ بطريقة سرد مختلفة جداً بس ممتعة في نفس الوقت..
مع الانتهاء من كل رواية ليوسا يزداد عشقي لقلم هذا الرجل❤️
مش عارفة أقول فيك ايه يا يوسا..
يخريب بيت دماغك :)) 9789871106929 You can't win 'em all. Captain Pantoja's Special Service is a brothel for the Peruvian army in the Amazonian basin. The book is a mixture of satire and slapstick comedy, but not really even close to the writing quality on The Time of the Hero, The Green House or Conversation in the Cathedral that proceeded it or Aunt Julia and The War at the End of the World which succeeded it. I only found it marginally humorous and could not help but be put off by its outright misogyny. Whatever, I will still continue to read other books from Vargas Llosa, this one is clearly not his at his finest.
I learned that - in fact - this was based on a true story and there is a famous movie about this story. Perhaps I'll need to re-evaluate my review sometime by watching the movie and re-reading the book. I also learned that this kind of secret service was very common in South America - near coal mines, etc.
Fino's Mario Vargas Llosa Reviews:
Fiction
The Cubs and Other Stories (1959) TBR
The Time of the Hero (1963)
The Green House (1966)
Conversation in the Cathedral (1969)
Captain Pantoja and the Special Services (1973)
Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter (1977)
The War of the End of the World (1981)
The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta (1985)
Who Killed Palomino Molero? (1987)
The Storyteller (1989)
In Praise of the Stepmother (1990)
Death in the Andes (1996)
The Notebooks of Don Rigoberto (1998)
The Feast of the Goat (2001)
The Way to Paradise (2003)
The Bad Girl (2007)
The Dream of the Celt (2010)
The Discrete Hero (2015)
The Neighborhood (2018)
Harsh Times (2021) TBR
Non-Fiction
The Perpetual Orgy (1975)
A Fish Out of Water (1993)
Letters to a Young Novelist (1998) 9789871106929 Mission, oh so delicate and secret, because army and pimping do not even mix well. That is given to us by Captain Pantaléon Pantoja, chosen for his undeniable organizational skills, rigour, and above all, his blind obedience to his superiors. Embarrassed by the content of this mission, Pantaléon will put all its professional conscience at the Service of its success. He was endeavouring to recruit the most efficient visitors to meet the needs of its mates and profitably cost while maintaining optimal health and safety conditions and preserving an atmosphere of Service as military as possible.
A parody situation is more accentuated that our Pantaléon is a virtuous man, who discovers a universe very far from his and must also hide his activities from his wife and mother. Despite a business plan to make a consultant fade with envy, the excellent wheels of the SVGPFA will somewhat have to seize by disruptive elements that the military logic of our fearless captain did not allow him to anticipate.
Suffice to say that we are not bored in this novel and laugh a lot.
Vargas Llosa offers us a jubilant satire on military and religious fanaticism, also original in its form.
The author alternates different narrative forms, which energize the narrative, surprise and contribute to its humour. Letters, radio broadcasting, and embedded dialogues indicate the speaker's actions and relations between soldiers about the Service of the visitors, where the antagonism between the form and the subject is hilarious. 9789871106929 My Spanish is getting a little rusty. This work took me waaay longer than I'm used to in investing any given novel. But with the Peruvian storyteller this is another story altogether. You must at least once in your life read classics in their original language (which is why I should learn French sooner than later). The flavor of different character's vernacular would be lost in the translation: I've read so many of them in the case of M.V.L.
This is a hard sell. The picaresque novel, the megacomedic juggernaut, is rarely written or attained. Aunt Julia is the twin brother of this one--they both ridicule misogynism and inundate the tale with war torn realities that makes one know with absolute certainty that only M.V.L., the Rennaissance Man of all World-renowned Writers could have written it.
Strangely though, because of the spotlight of the #metoo movement, the tones of slight or inexcusable sexism are too much to bear. But this happened, too, when I saw Book of Mormon, an illuminating work that seems to have no place in this global unhater ambiance. 9789871106929
Pantaleon Pantoja, a recently promoted army captain, is entrusted with a top secret mission to establish a prostitution service for the Armed Forces of Peru. As a faithful soldier, Pantaleon transfers to Iquitos in the middle of the jungle, to carry out his mission. His enthusiasm, however, endangers the very scheme he has put in motion. Thus begins this novel, which was published in 1973 and later made into a film. Vargas Llosa uses this theme to highlight the hypocrisy of so-called exemplary institutions and of the oldest profession in the world. The eternal debate between truth and lie, necessity and virtue, and the pernicious consequences of rigorous adherence to duty are the fundamental values of this satirical and extraordinary novel. Pantaleón y las visitadoras
S.V.G.P.F.A. (Servizio delle Visitatrici per Guarnigioni, Posti di Frontiera e Affini)
Questo autore non finisce di sorprendermi!
Il registro umoristico e a tratti addirittura comico, assente nelle opere più robuste e impegnate che finora ho letto (“La festa del caprone” e “La guerra alla fine del mondo”) ma che traspare in “La zia Julia e lo scribacchino”, qui almeno in apparenza è decisamente dominante.
Si percepisce, e l’eloquente saggio/prologo dell’autore lo conferma, che Vargas Llosa si sia divertito alquanto nella stesura di questo romanzo e tale divertimento è destinato a trasmettersi irresistibilmente al lettore.
Il suo fondamento principale risiede nel contrasto grottesco e quasi surreale fra la prosaicità dell’intento, allestire un rimedio per la soddisfazione sessuale delle frustrate truppe peruviane dislocate in sperdute località e avamposti amazzonici, e il linguaggio “militar-burocratico” che ne presiede l’ideazione, l’organizzazione, il contrasto con le autorità civili, religiose e in parte militari che lo osteggiano, il successo travolgente favorito dall’intraprendenza e dalla caparbietà dell’ufficiale incaricato, l’ineffabile capitano Pantaleon Pantoja.
Ma Vargas Llosa non sarebbe il geniale artista che è se non avesse saputo aggiungere ed amalgamare a questo soggetto molteplici elementi, narrativi e stilistici, che ne arricchiscono la struttura e il senso. Sul piano strutturale i dispacci, le ordinanze, i rapporti e le missive che i vari gradi dell’esercito (ma anche marina e aviazione finiranno con l’essere coinvolti) si scambiano col tipico linguaggio che caratterizza la disciplina militare, vengono alternate come un contrappunto, ad una profusione di dialoghi serrati, a volte addirittura intrecciati fra loro, per cui uno scambio di opinioni fra colonnelli si mescola ad un pettegolezzo fra comari o ad un diverbio coniugale tra Pantita e Pochita (il protagonista e la consorte) creando un “dialogo plurale”, un vociare che è straniante finchè non si prende confidenza col metodo, e poi quasi ritmico e musicale, con una tecnica di cui i narratori latino americani (Manuel Puig in primis) sono maestri.
Quanto al racconto, Vargas Llosa affianca alla vicenda che dà titolo al romanzo la contestuale comparsa di un fenomeno di isteria religiosa collettiva, con la figura del predicatore Francisco (personaggio peraltro realmente esistito e che precorre l’Antonio il Consigliere di “La guerra alla fine del mondo”) e della sua colonia di adepti, i Fratelli dell’Arca, che si diffonde nelle contrade peruviane con un’espansione travolgente e un successo paragonabile e quasi parallelo al “Servizio delle Visitatrici”. “Dopo la pazzia militare, la pazzia religiosa è forse uno dei temi che mi tentano di più” afferma l’autore, sviluppando un doppio crescendo incontrollabile (e l’impossibilità di “controllo” è proprio ciò che innervosisce le gerarchie militari e religiose) fino all’esplosione e al finale, malinconico come in altre opere di Vargas Llosa.
Insomma, quello che in prima battuta può apparire come una sorta di divertissement di un autore alla ricerca della propria dimensione letteraria, si dimostra in realtà carico di una ricchezza di temi e di registri che confermano la statura di uno scrittore generoso, versatile, fantasioso, capace di imprimere ad un racconto audaci acrobazie stilistiche senza rinnegarne affatto la valenza popolare.
9789871106929 جميلة ومتفردة ولا مثيل لها. 9789871106929 Un divertido libro de Vargas Llosa, de los mejores del Nobel.
En plena profundidad del amazonas peruano, el capitán Pantaleón Pantoja recibe el encargo más peculiar de su carrera. Debe establecer un servicio de acompañamiento femenino (prostitución) para las Fuerzas Armadas asentadas en Iquitos. Pero, eso sí, debe ser un programa muy profesional y con absoluto secreto militar.
A partir de ahí, la situación se vuelve divertida y disparatada. El pobre Pantaleón - serio, formal, estricto cumplidor del deber - deberá atender a una patulea de soldados sucios y rudos, a la vez que trata de meter en vereda a un variopinto conjunto de acompañantes poco acostumbradas a tanta formalidad. Prepárense para el humor, la sátira y la ironía de la mano de un maestro.
«Intenté al principio contar esta historia en serio. Descubrí que era imposible. Fue una experiencia liberadora, que me reveló las posibilidades del juego y el humor en la literatura.» (Vargas Llosa) 9789871106929 La svolta comica di MVL
O meglio: alla sua ricca faretra si aggiunge la freccia del comico diretto.
Secondo me, farà ancora più ridere il successivo La zia Julia e lo scribacchino, ma già questo è molto divertente.
Può sorprendere chi ha letto soltanto i suoi capolavori giovanili, piuttosto tragici, vedere l'esplosione di questa leggerezza di tono. Anche se, a ben vedere, pur declinate in questo modo nuovo, continuano ad essere presenti tutte le componenti dei libri precedenti. Ritornano infatti temi e ambientazioni: l’esercito peruviano (La città e i cani), l’esercito peruviano in Amazzonia (La casa verde), gli anni Cinquanta in Perù ( Conversazione nella Cattedrale), bordelli e prostitute (La casa verde e Conversazione nella Cattedrale)...
E risplende nuovamente un alto virtuosismo tecnico, forse meno vertiginoso, più amichevole per la lettura ma anche qui ricchissimo; e persino più dilatato: se da una parte si semplificano i dialoghi telescopici, dall'altra si perfeziona la tecnica della didascalia di dialogo inzeppata di materiale. E poi si aggiungono la parodia del rapporto militare, della lettera, o della trasmissione radiofonica pettegola, con tutto il lavoro su formule vivacemente morte del linguaggio burocratico, dello stile obbligatoriamente enfatico, pieno di roboanti, pignole o patriottiche frasi fatte.
(anche questo un anticipo della Zia Julia...)
E non dimentichiamo l'esplorazione: seguendo il protagonista Pantalón Pantoja (Pantita), efficientissimo e integerrimo ufficiale incaricato di provvedere a un servizio di “visitatrici” per l’esercito peruviano in Amazzonia, in modo da stroncare le continue lamentele per donne violentate, bambini illegittimi, matrimoni riparatori; possiamo riprendere il giro del Perù della ditta MVL, facendo tappa stavolta a Iquitos, sul fiume Itaya, capoluogo della regione di Loreto. E quindi nel nord-ovest amazzonico del Perù, verso l’equatore, al confine con la Colombia e il Brasile.
Il bello è che Vargas Llosa è sempre piuttosto cauto su questo punto. Come già in La casa verde. La prima origine di entrambi in romanzi è in un viaggio compiuto nel 1958, prima di andare in Europa, nell’Alto Marañon, con una missione diretta dall’antropologo messicano Juan Comas. La paura è sempre quella di un esotismo interno, di vedere soccombere il romanzo di fronte allo strapotere della natura scatenata, con tutte le leggende che porta con sé. E la principale strada per sfuggire a questo pericolo qui è appunto l'invenzione delle, chiamiamole così, didascalie-ricettacolo.
Il testo evita di calcare la mano su fiume-foresta-indigeni-animali-malattie terribili, ma per evitare l'altro eccesso, di astrattismo, quanto viene espulso dal portone principale fa un po' capolino dalla finestra delle didascalie.
Un paio di esempi:
Non mi preoccupano i lati negativi del Servizio delle Visitatrici ma quelli positivi, Tigre, - sceglie un tavolo all'aperto, si siede a capotavola, si allenta la cravatta, studia il menu molto attentamente il generale Victoria. - Il grave sono i suoi fantastici successi.
Sprizza sempre scintille, almeno con me, - esce sul molo, guarda il fiume che luccica sotto il sole omicida, le barche a motore e i canotti che arrivano al porto di Belén il capitano Pantoja. - Sa qual è il motivo delle bizze adesso? 9789871106929 Edit: 29/12/16 - Best Fiction read of 2016.
Captain (Quartermaster) Pantaleon Pantoja is a career military man in the Peruvian Army, like his father and his grandfather. He is a model officer, known for his efficiently, logistics, planning and honesty. An officer 'without vices', is how the Intelligence Service have reported him to his superiors. His superiors about to give him a special assignment - a secret one. One in which he will have to remain in disguise, out of uniform, as a civilian.
Deep in the Peruvian Amazon, the men are lacking release. The few women near the military camps are wives of the senior officers, or the wives and mothers of the local people. Every skirt is spoken for in the Amazon settlements. The soldiers are causing a lot of trouble - attacks and rapes. Would you believe that a Corporal in Horcones was taken by surprise while carrying on like a newly wed with a monkey?
Captain Pantoja is to set up a small and discrete brigade of women to service the lonely troops. Along with Captain Pantoja, his wife, and his mother accompany him to the Amazon. Due to the secret nature of his mission, he may not disclose the details of his work.
The first stage, for the SSGFRI (Special Service for Garrisons, Frontier and Related Installations) is research. Research is undertaken by sending a questionnaire to the commanding officer of each garrison, requesting the following information (this is the shortened version):
1. How many unmarried men are under your command? (Exclude married, but also co-habiting men, or men in relationships).
2. Subtract from this number, men incapacitated.
3. Proceed with cunning to now determine the number of marital services each subject will require monthly to satisfy the requirements of his virility. (Maximum 30, minimum 4).
4. Again with discretion, establish how much time the subject calculates the marital service will last in his case. (Maximum 2 hours, minimum 10 minutes.
With this raw data, logistics can be arranged around visitations, and the number of 'specialists' who must be engaged. But this is merely the start of the research...
Not without opposition from within the army (especially the Army Chaplains), Captain Pantoja find himself battling religious zealots, the army itself, the navy, the civilians who are either disgusted, or disgusted that they are missing out, and at times the female 'specialists' themselves.
I thought this book was great. Written really well, and translated very well (I assume). It uses a number of methods in its writing, from 'normal' narrative, military reports, military and civilian correspondence, radio broadcasts, and conversation. Conversation is a key one, because the author has written multiple simultaneous conversations together. Thoroughly confusing until the reader adjusts to the various characters, but ultimately an interesting device. It does mean attention is required to keep track sometimes, and I found myself re-reading the occasional paragraph or two if I lost the train of it all.
Very funny, and incredibly accessible, this book is more than just an absurd story setting out an unlikely situation. The characters are very real, the emotion is real. A strait-laced military man who sets up a brigade of prostitutes, but who gives them respect and the same dignity he would any other branch of the army. He takes very seriously his orders, and the organisation and running of the SSGFRI is second to none. The precision of his report writing is excellent. But of course, it must all come unravelled at the end.
Five stars. Wish I could remember where I saw this recommended! 9789871106929
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