The Way to Paradise
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| The Way to Paradise | |
| Author | Mario Vargas Llosa |
|---|---|
| Original title | El paraíso en la otra esquina |
| Translator | Natasha Wimmer |
| Cover artist | Paul Gauguin |
| Country | United States |
| Language | Spanish |
| Genre(s) | Historical novel |
| Publisher | Faber and Faber, UK (Eng. trans.) |
| Publication date | 2003 |
| Published in English |
2004 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 9-78-057122-0397 |
The Way to Paradise (Spanish: El paraíso en la otra esquina) is a novel written by Mario Vargas Llosa in 2003.
The novel is a historical, double biography of the Post-Impressionist painter Paul Gauguin and his grandmother Flora Tristan, one of the founders of modern feminism. The book is divided into 11 chapters, each alternating between stories of Flora Tristan and Paul Gauguin, the grandson she never knew. Flora Tristan, illegitimate daughter of a wealthy Peruvian man and a French woman, is repelled by sex, detests her husband Andre Chazal, and abandons him to fight for woman's and worker rights. She thus abandons her personal life and family for her cause. The life of Paul Gauguin also unfolds along a similar quest for ideal life. Gauguin abandons his wife and children, and job as a stock-broker in Copenhagen, to chase his passion of painting. In the process he distances himself more and more from civilization, turning to Tahiti and French Polynesia for inspiration. The contrast and similarities between two lives attempting to break free from the suffocating norms of the society, present a long but elegant read.
[edit] Translations
The English translation by Natasha Wimmer was published by Faber and Faber, UK in 2004.[1] The French translation by Albert Bensoussan is called Le Paradis, un peu plus loin. It has also been translated into German by Elke Wehr as Das Paradies ist anderswo.
[edit] See also
- William Somerset Maugham's 1919 novel The Moon and Sixpence is also based on the life of Paul Gauguin.
[edit] References
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