El cojo bueno
 | |
| Author | Rodrigo Rey Rosa |
|---|---|
| Original title | El Cojo Bueno |
| Translator | Esther Allen |
| Country | Guatemala |
| Language | Spanish |
| Genre | Fiction |
Publication date | 1996 |
Published in English | 2004 |
| Media type | |
El Cojo Bueno, translated as The Good Cripple, is a short novel by Rodrigo Rey Rosa, originally published in 1996.[1][2]
Plot summary[edit]
Years after being brutally kidnapped by a group of school acquaintances—having first had a toe and then one of his feet severed and sent to his father, who refused to pay the ransom—Juan Luis Luna returns from his travels abroad to confront one of the surviving perpetrators.[3]
Composition[edit]
Rey Rosa began writing The Good Cripple during a stay in Tangier. On the subject of kidnapping, a common occurrence in Guatemala, he stated during an interview:
"I myself have had first hand experience with kidnappings. My mother was abducted in 1981 and freed six months later, after some very complex negotiations. I was asked to deliver the ransom, and the way it's delivered in the novel—with this kind of treasure hunt—is taken from that experience, except for the outcome, of course."[4]
Paul Bowles makes a brief appearance as a character in the novel.
English translations[edit]
El Cojo Bueno has been translated into English by Esther Allen for New Directions in 2004.
References[edit]
- ^ Buiza, Nanci (2018). "The Ethical Question in Postwar Central America and the Mutilated Good in Rodrigo Rey Rosa's El Cojo Bueno". Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies. 27 (1): 94–114. doi:10.1080/13569325.2017.1414038.
- ^ Garcia, Claudia (2012). "Delito e impunidad en la Guatemala de posguerra: El cojo bueno y Noche de piedras, de Rodrigo Rey Rosa". The Journal of Latino-Latin American Studies (in Spanish). 4 (2): 59+.
- ^ Rey Rosa, Rodrigo (2004). The good cripple. Esther Allen. New York: New Directions Pub. ISBN 0-8112-1566-0. OCLC 54356848.
- ^ "Interview with Rodrigo Rey Rosa". The White Review. Retrieved 2021-10-20.
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