Paraguay

Exotic Territory

An exceptional anthology of award-winning poets, Exotic Territory seeks to address a dearth of information in the English-speaking world about Paraguayan poetry. The twelve outstanding poets included here—José Luis Appleyard, Moncho Azuaga, Gladys Carmagnola, Susy Delgado, Oscar Ferreiro, Renée Ferrer, Joaquín Morales, Amanda Pedrozo, Jacobo Rauskin, Elvio Romero, Ricardo de La Vega, Carlos Villagra Marsal—represent a wide diversity of themes, styles, and perspectives in this little-known nation.

The majority of these poets have published extensively, have been recognized through literary awards and inclusion in national/international anthologies, and continue writing today.

To contextualize the poets and their poetry for readers unfamiliar with Paraguay, the introduction provides a brief background of its geography, history, government, economy, society, and artistic milieu. Following that is a wide selection of representative poems published previously in Spanish, with translations in English on facing pages. The book concludes with a brief biographical sketch of each poet, followed by an unprecedented and extensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources intended to encourage those readers who might want to pursue further reading or research on any poet of interest.

(A special thank you to book club member, Beth Cummings for the suggestion.)

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The 1989 Coup d'Étát in Paraguay

The year 1989 was crucial for Paraguay. After a long period of 35 years of dictatorship, General Alfredo Stroessner was finally overthrown by a violent coup d’état. In a sort of prophetic way, he once said …”I came to power by arms and I will only leave by arms” and that came true on 2 February of that year.

The 1989 Coup d’état in Paraguay discusses Stroessner’s climb to power during a coup of 1954, fraudulent elections that got him re-elected seven times, and the ways Stroessner kept himself afloat through cooperation with the armed forces, a right-wing political party, and the USA. Arguably, longing to maintain his popularity, the dictator launched a large number of major development projects, including construction of roads, water and sewage facilities, three big hydro-electrical power stations, and a build-up of an airline. At the same time, abuse of human rights and oppression of any kind of political opposition became a norm: dozens of political prisoners were tortured and even executed, and thousands driven into exile.

As could be expected from a dictator with a military background, Stroessner prompted a major expansion and a build-up of the armed forces and the police, too. Nevertheless, it was the armed forces of Paraguay that brought about his demise: the coup that finally ended Stroessner’s rule was planned by General Andres Rodriguez, the Commander of the I Army Corps—and then with full support of large segments of the Army, Air Force, and the Navy of Paraguay.

A description of the coup in question, and how Stroessner was driven into exile in Brazil, is the centrepiece of this narrative. Containing over 100 photographs, colour profiles, maps and extensive tables, ‘The 1989 Coup d’etat in Paraguay’ is a unique study and a source of reference about an important episode in Latin American history.

(Group read suggestion from Ivor Watkins, book club moderator.)

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The Curse of Nemur

The Tom-raho, a subgroup of the Ishir of Paraguay, are one of the few remaining indigenous populations who have managed to keep both their language and spiritual beliefs intact. They have lived for many years in a remote region of the Gran Chaco, having limited contact with European or Latin American cultures. The survival of the Tom-raho has been tenuous at best; at the time of this writing there were only 87 surviving members.

Ticio Escobar, who lived extensively among the Tom-raho, draws on his acquired knowledge of Ishir beliefs to confront them with his own Western ideology, and records a unique dialogue between cultures that counters traditional anthropological interpretation. The Curse of Nemur—which is part field diary, part art critique, and part cultural anthropology—offers us a view of the world from an entirely new perspective, that of the Ishir. We acquire deep insights into their powerful and enigmatic narrative myths, which find expression in the forms of body painting, feather decoration, dream songs, shamanism, and ritual.

Through dramatic photographs and native drawings, and Escobar’s lucid observation, The Curse of Nemur illuminates the seamless connection of religious practice and art in Ishir culture. It offers a glimpse of an aesthetic “other” and in so doing, causes us to reexamine Western perspectives on the interpretation of art, belief, and Native American culture as well.

“A beautifully written, profoundly engaged exploration of the mythology of a small indigenous society. Original, sensitive, and thoughtful in execution…It's a smart, sometimes moving view of the cosmology of a little-known people and is valuable for anyone seeking to understand more about the pain, beauty, and complexity of indigenous experience in this hemisphere.” —Orin Starn, author of Ishi's Brain

“A compelling read.” —Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

(Group read suggestion from Beth McCrea, book club co-founder.)

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The Emotional Life of the Toddler

Alicia F. Lieberman’s The Emotional Life of the Toddler is the seminal, detailed look into the varied and intense emotional life of children aged one to three. Hailed as “groundbreaking” by The Boston Globe after its initial publication, the new edition includes the latest research on this crucial stage of development.

Anyone who has followed an active toddler around for a day knows that a child of this age is a whirlwind of explosive, contradictory, and ever-changing emotions. Alicia F. Lieberman offers an in-depth examination of toddlers’ emotional development, and illuminates how to optimize this crucial stage so that toddlers can develop into emotionally healthy children and adults.

Drawing on her lifelong research, Dr. Lieberman addresses commonly asked questions and issues. Why, for example, is “no” often the favorite response of the toddler? How should parents deal with the anger they might feel when their toddler is being aggressively stubborn? Why does a crying toddler run to his mother for a hug only to push himself vigorously away as soon as she begins to embrace him? This updated edition also addresses 21st century concerns such as how to handle screen time on devices and parenting in a post-internet world.

With the help of numerous examples and vivid cases, Lieberman answers these and other questions, providing, in the process, a rich, insightful profile of the roller coaster emotional world of the toddler.

(Group read suggestion from Ivor Watkins, book club moderator.)

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I the Supreme

I the Supreme imagines a dialogue between the 19th Paraguayan dictator known as Dr. Francia and Policarpo Patiño, his secretary and only companion. The opening pages present a sign that they had found nailed to the wall of a cathedral, purportedly written by Dr. Francia himself ordering the execution of all of his servants upon his death. This sign is quickly revealed to be a forgery, which takes leader and secretary into a larger discussion about the nature of truth: “In the light of what Your Eminence says, even the truth appears to be a lie.”

Their conversation broadens into an epic journey of the mind, stretching across the colonial history of their nation, filled with surrealist imagery, labyrinthine turns, and footnotes supplied by a mysterious “compiler.” A towering achievement from a foundational author of modern Latin American literature, I the Supreme is a meditation on power and its abuse—and on the role of language through the author’s own verbal invention.

“A text of a verbal density that recalls the later James Joyce. . . . Roa Bastos’s novel has challenged and fascinated thousands of readers around the world.” —LA Times

“Passages reverberate with surrealism—peopled with dwarves, women warriors and clairvoyant animals… However cumbersome and rhetorical I the Supreme may often feel, the novel remains a prodigious meditation not only on history and power, but also on the nature of language itself.” —The NY Times

(Group read suggestion from Mia DeGiovine Chaveco, book club co-founder.)

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