- The Way to Paradise
infobox Book |
name = The Way to Paradise
title_orig = El paraíso en la otra esquina
translator = Natasha Wimmer
image_caption =
author =Mario Vargas Llosa
cover_artist =Paul Gauguin
country =United States
language = Spanish
series =
genre =Historical novel
publisher =Faber and Faber, UK (Eng. trans.)
pub_date = 2003
english_pub_date = 2004
media_type = Print (Paperback )
pages =
isbn = ISBN 9-78-057122-0397
preceded_by =
followed_by ="The Way to Paradise" ( _es. El paraíso en la otra esquina) is a
novel written byMario Vargas Llosa in 2003.The novel is a historical, double biography of the
Post-Impressionist painterPaul Gauguin and his grandmotherFlora Tristan , one of the founders of modernfeminism . The book is divided into 11 chapters, each alternating between stories ofFlora Tristan andPaul 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 André 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 ofPaul Gauguin also unfolds along a similar quest for ideal life. Gauguin abandons his wife and children, and job as a stock-broker inCopenhagen , to chase his passion of painting. In the process he distances himself more and more from civilization, turning toTahiti andFrench 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.Translations
The English translation by Natasha Wimmer was published by
Faber and Faber ,UK in 2004. [cite web |url=http://www.faber.co.uk/book_detail.html?bid=6959 |title=Faber publicity page |accessdate= |format= |work= ] 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".See also
*
William Somerset Maugham 's 1919 novelThe Moon and Sixpence is also based on the life ofPaul Gauguin .References
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