Tyrant Memory

The tyrant of Horacio Castellanos Moya's ambitious new novel is the actual pro-Nazi mystic Maximiliano Herna ndez Marti nez -- known as the Warlock -- who came to power in El Salvador in 1932. An attempted coup in April, 1944, failed, but a general strike in May finally forced him out of office. Tyrant Memory takes place during the month between the coup and the strike. Its protagonist, Hayde e Aragon, is a well-off woman, whose husband is a political prisoner and whose son, Clemente, after prematurely announcing the dictator's death over national radio during the failed coup, is forced to flee when the very much alive Warlock starts to ruthlessly hunt down his enemies. The novel moves between Hayde e's political awakening in diary entries and Clemente's frantic and often hysterically comic efforts to escape capture. Tyrant Memory -- sharp, grotesque, moving, and often hilariously funny -- is an unforgettable incarnation of a coun- try's history in the destiny of one family.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
Published: 06/29/2011
ISBN: 9780811219174
Pages: 288
Weight: 0.66lbs
Size: 8.02h x 5.29w x 0.74d

Review Citations: Publishers Weekly 05/30/2011
New York Times Book Review 07/10/2011 pg. 13
New York Times Book Review 07/17/2011 pg. 22
Library Journal 08/01/2011 pg. 82
Library Journal 10/01/2014 pg. 45