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the old gringo: The Old Gringo Carlos Fuentes, 2013-05-14 In The Old Gringo, Carlos Fuentes brings the Mexico of 1916 uncannily to life. This novel is wise book, full of toughness and humanity and is without question one of the finest works of modern Latin American fiction. One of Fuentes's greatest works, the novel tells the story of Ambrose Bierce, the American writer, soldier, and journalist, and of his last mysterious days in Mexico living among Pancho Villa's soldiers, particularly his encounter with General Tomas Arroyo. In the end, the incompatibility of the two countries (or, paradoxically, their intimacy) claims both men, in a novel that is, most of all, about the tragic history of two cultures in conflict. |
the old gringo: The Old Gringo Carlos Fuentes, 2007-02-20 The Old Gringo tells the story of Ambrose Bierce, the American author, soldier, and journalist, and of his last mysterious days in Mexico living among Pancho villa's soldiers - particularly his encounter with one of Villa's generals, Tomas Arroyo, as well as with a spirited young american woman named Harriet Winslow. In the end, the incompatibility between Mexico and the United States (or paradoxically, their intimacy) claims both Bierce and Arroyo, in a novel that is, most of all, about the tragic history of these two cultures in conflict.--Publisher description |
the old gringo: The Old Gringo Carlos Fuentes, 2007-02-20 The Old Gringo tells the story of Ambrose Bierce, the American author, soldier, and journalist, and of his last mysterious days in Mexico living among Pancho villa's soldiers - particularly his encounter with one of Villa's generals, Tomas Arroyo, as well as with a spirited young american woman named Harriet Winslow. In the end, the incompatibility between Mexico and the United States (or paradoxically, their intimacy) claims both Bierce and Arroyo, in a novel that is, most of all, about the tragic history of these two cultures in conflict.--Publisher description |
the old gringo: The Old Gringo Carlos Fuentes, 1985-10 Set during the Mexican Revolution, a frustrated spinster, a retired journalist, and a fiery young general are inexplicably drawn together as they face love, death and war. |
the old gringo: Gringo Peter Conti, 2016-11-11 The vivid account of a charming rogue who evaded capture for thirteen years as an international fugitive from U.S. law enforcement after being set up by a childhood friend for a crime he didn't commit. |
the old gringo: I the Supreme Augusto Roa Bastos, 2019-02-26 I the Supreme imagines a dialogue between the nineteenth-century 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 and 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 darkly comic, deeply moving meditation on power and its abuse—and on the role of language in making and unmaking whole worlds. |
the old gringo: The Years with Laura Diaz Carlos Fuentes, 2012-08-16 _____________________ 'An admirable novel'- The Times 'In this portrait of men and women swept along by great events, and determined to be on the side of the angels, Fuentes has invested the often colourless world of politics with romantic ardour' - Sunday Telegraph _____________________ An epic and heartbreaking love story that will leave no one untouched. Like Fuentes's masterpiece The Death of Artemio Cruz, the action in this novel begins in the state of Veracruz and moves to Mexico City. From 1905 to 1978, Fuentes traces the extraordinary Laura Díaz; a life filled with a multitude of witty, heartbreaking scenes and the sounds, colours, tastes and scents of Mexico. Laura grows into a politically committed artist who is also a wife and mother, a lover of great men, and a complicated and alluring heroine whose bravery prevails despite her losing a brother, son, and grandson to the darkest forces of Mexico's turbulent, often corrupt politics. Hers is a life which has helped to affect the course of history, and it is the story of a woman who has loved and understood with unflinching honesty. _____________________ 'Fuentes's affair with the fickle forces of creativity reaches a rare and poignant intensity ... a landmark book' - Scotsman |
the old gringo: The Time of the Gringo Elliott Arnold, 1953 |
the old gringo: A Gringo Manual on How to Handle Mexicans Jos? Angel Guti?rrez, 2001-04-30 José Angel Gutiérrez is the firebrand civil rights leader of the 1960s and 70s who succeeded in making a minority-based political party a reality in Texas and various other states. In 1970, Gutiérrez led la Raza Unida Party to stunning victories in Crystal City, Texas, and surrounding communities, with Mexican Americans winning all contested seats on the city council and school board, seats held for decades by Anglos. One of the four great leaders of the Chicano Movement, Gutiérrez, along with César Chávez, Reies López Tijerina, and Rodolfo Corky Gonzales, made national calls for militancy and unity, penned nationalist manifestoes, and forced political and educational reform at national and regional levels. Despite Gutiérrezs total commitment to la causa, he found time to write in order to share his political wisdom. Originally self-published during the head of the Chicano Movement, A Gringo Manual on How to Handle Mexicans, now expanded and revised, is a humorous and irreverent manual meant to educate grassroots leaders in practical strategies for community organization, leadership, and negotiation. With tongue in cheek, Gutiérrez attacks the authorities and sacred cows that caused Chicanos anxiety for decades. The manual is a classic in Chicano politics and as a political self-help recipe book. It remains as relevant today as when it was originally published in the early 1970s. |
the old gringo: The Umbrella Country Bino A. Realuyo, 2011-02-23 Certain things are better kept than said. . . . But certain things you have to find out now. . . . On the tumultuous streets of Manila, where the earth is as brown as a tamarind leaf and the pungent smells of vinegar and mashed peppers fill the air, where seasons shift between scorching sun and torrential rain, eleven-year-old Gringo strives to make sense of his family and a world that is growing increasingly harsher before his young eyes. There is Gringo's older brother, Pipo, wise beyond his years, a flamboyant, defiant youth and the three-time winner of the sequined Miss Unibers contest; Daddy Groovie, whiling away his days with other hang-about men, out of work and wilting like a guava, clinging to the hope of someday joining his sister in Nuyork; Gringo's mother, Estrella, moving through their ramshackle home, holding her emotions tight as a fist, which she often clenches in anger after curfew covers the neighborhood in a burst of dark; and Ninang Rola, wise godmother of words, who confides in Gringo a shocking secret from the past--and sets the stage for the profound events to come, in which no one will remain untouched by the jagged pieces of a shattered dream. As Gringo learns; shame is passed down through generations, but so is the life-changing power of blood ties and enduring love. In this lush, richly poetic novel of grinding hardship and resilient triumph, of selfless sacrifice and searing revelation, Bino A. Realuyo brings the teeming world of 1970s Manila brilliantly to life. While mapping a young boy's awakening to adulthood in dazzling often unexpected ways, The Umbrella Country subtly works sweet magic. |
the old gringo: Terra Nostra Carlos Fuentes, 2013-05-14 Terra Nostra is one of the great masterpieces of modern Latin American fiction. Concerned with nothing less than the history of Spain and of South America, with the Indian Gods and with Christianity, with the birth, the passion, and the death of civilizations, Fuentes's great novel is, indeed, that rare creation--the total work of art. Magnificently translated by Margaret Sayers Peden, Terra Nostra is, as Milan Kundera says in his afterword, the spreading out of the novel, the exploration of its possibilities, the voyage to the edge of what only a novelist can see and say. |
the old gringo: The Crystal Frontier Carlos Fuentes, 2012-08-16 _______________________ A DRAMATIC FICTIONAL PORTRAIT OF THE US-MEXICO BORDER, MIGRATION, AND ITS IMPACT ON PEOPLE'S LIVES _______________________ Through this network of nine personal stories, Carlos Fuentes sets out to explain Mexico and America to each other – and to the rest of the world. He presents a dramatic fictional portrait of the relationship between the United States and Mexico, as played out in a Mexican dynasty led by a powerful Mexican oligarch with complex ties north of the border. It is the story of Mexican families who send their sons north to provide for whole villages with dollars and of Mexican tycoons who exploit their own people. Young Jose Francisco grows up in Texas, determined to write about the border world – the immigrants and illegals, Mexican poverty and Yankee prosperity – stories to break the stand-off silence with a victory shout, to shatter at last the crystal frontier. |
the old gringo: The Last Gringo Michael McCaffrey, 2020-08-05 THE LAST GRINGO is a Cross-cultural thriller in the tradition of Graham Greene, Paul Theroux and Lawrence Osborne. Set in an unnamed Central American country after years of civil war, two American Ex-pats lives intersect with the locals of a forgotten backwater town on the Pacific Ocean, with a climax that is both tragic and redemptive. |
the old gringo: A Gringo in Mañana-Land Harry L. Foster, 2022-08-21 A Gringo in Ma√±ana-Land by Harry L. Foster is a captivating exploration of expatriate life in Latin America, specifically Mexico, characterized by its humorous, insightful prose. Foster masterfully weaves anecdotes, cultural observations, and poignant reflections on the complexities of adapting to a vibrant yet perplexing society. His literary style is marked by a conversational tone, rich with vivid imagery and sharp wit, offering readers a personal and immersive experience into the world of a foreigner navigating cultural nuances and societal quirks. Contextually, this book emerges from the wave of expatriation that marked the mid-20th century, reflecting broader themes of belonging, identity, and the often humorous dissonance encountered by foreigners in unfamiliar lands. Harry L. Foster, an American author and adventurer, draws upon his own extensive experiences in Latin America, where he lived for several years. His background in anthropology and passion for cross-cultural exchange undoubtedly influenced his narrative style, allowing him to delve deep into the intricacies of Mexican culture while maintaining a disarming levity. This blend of scholarly insight and personal experience enriches the narrative, revealing the genuine affection Foster holds for his adopted home and its people. Readers seeking an engaging, humorous, and enlightening journey through the challenges of expatriate life will find A Gringo in Ma√±ana-Land a delightful read. Foster'Äôs ability to illuminate the beauty and absurdities of cultural differences resonates universally, making this book not only entertaining but also a thoughtful reflection on what it means to belong. Ideal for travel enthusiasts, armchair adventurers, and anyone intrigued by the richness of human experience, this work promises to entertain and inform. |
the old gringo: Gringo Love Marie-Eve Carrier-Moisan, 2020-08-26 In the city of Natal in northeastern Brazil, several local women negotiate the terms of their intimate relationships with foreign tourists, or gringos, in a situation often referred to as sex tourism. These women have different experiences, but they share a similar desire to escape the social conditions of their lives in Brazil. Based on original ethnographic research and presented in graphic form, Gringo Love explores the hopes, dreams, and realities of these women against a backdrop of deep social inequality and increasing state surveillance leading up to the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games. It touches on important contemporary issues, including sexual economics, transnational mobility, romantic imaginaries, gender representation, race and inequality, and visual methods. The graphic story is accompanied by analysis and contextual discussion, which encourage readers to engage with the narrative and expand their understanding of the broader social issues therein. |
the old gringo: Vlad Carlos Fuentes, 2012-07-18 Where, Carlos Fuentes asks, is a modern-day vampire to roost? Why not Mexico City, populated by ten million blood sausages (that is, people), and a police force who won’t mind a few disappearances? “Vlad” is Vlad the Impaler, of course, whose mythic cruelty was an inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula. In this sly sequel, Vlad really is undead: dispossessed after centuries of mayhem by Eastern European wars and rampant blood shortages. More than a postmodern riff on “the vampire craze,” Vlad is also an anatomy of the Mexican bourgeoisie, as well as our culture’s ways of dealing with death. For—as in Dracula—Vlad has need of both a lawyer and a real-estate agent in order to establish his new kingdom, and Yves Navarro and his wife Asunción fit the bill nicely. Having recently lost a son, might they not welcome the chance to see their remaining child live forever? More importantly, are the pleasures of middle-class life enough to keep one from joining the legions of the damned? |
the old gringo: Myself with Others Carlos Fuentes, 1988 A collection of essays reflecting the author's beginnings as a writer and his love of literature and politics. |
the old gringo: Nietzsche on His Balcony Carlos Fuentes, 2016-12-09 On a hot, insomniac night at the Hotel Metropol, the novelist Carlos Fuentes steps onto his balcony only to find another man on the balcony next door. The other man asks for news of the social strife turning into revolution in the unnamed city below them. He reveals himself as the 19th-century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, permitted to revisit earth once a year for 24 hours based on his theory of eternal return. With tenderness and gallows humor, the novelist and the philosopher unflinchingly tell the story of the beginning of the revolution, its triumph, fanaticism, terror, and retrenchment: a story of love, friendship, family, commitment, passion, corruption, betrayal, violence, and hope. |
the old gringo: Destiny and Desire Carlos Fuentes, 2011-01-04 Winner of the Cervantes Prize Carlos Fuentes, one of the world’s most acclaimed authors, is at the height of his powers in this stunning new novel—a magnificent epic of passion, magic, and desire in modern Mexico, a rich and remarkable tapestry set in a world where free will fights with the wishes of the gods. Josué Nadal has lost more than his innocence: He has been robbed of his life—and his posthumous narration sets the tone for a brilliantly written novel that blends mysticism and realism. Josué tells of his fateful meeting as a skinny, awkward teen with Jericó, the vigorous boy who will become his twin, his best friend, and his shadow. Both orphans, the two young men intend to spend their lives in intellectual pursuit—until they enter an adult landscape of sex, crime, and ambition that will test their pledge and alter their lives forever. Idealistic Josué goes to work for a high-tech visionary whose stunning assistant will introduce him to a life of desire; cynical Jericó is enlisted by the Mexican president in a scheme to sell happiness to the impoverished masses. On his journey into a web of illegality in which he will be estranged from Jericó, Josué is aided and impeded by a cast of unforgettable characters: a mad, imprisoned murderer with a warning of revenge, an elegant aviatrix and addict seeking to be saved, a prostitute shared by both men who may have murdered her way into a brilliant marriage, and the prophet Ezekiel himself. Mixing ancient mythologies with the sensuousness and avarice and need of the twenty-first century, Destiny and Desire is a monumental achievement from one of the masters of contemporary literature. |
the old gringo: A New Time for Mexico Carlos Fuentes, 2013-05-18 From time immemorial, Mexico's legendary beauty has been matched by intense historical drama. Mayan mythmakers, Aztec emperors, Spanish conquistadors, Yankee and French invaders, dictators and peasant revolutionaries are still vivid influences on Mexico's present. In this stunning collection of essays, first published in Britain in 1997, Carlos Fuentes examines mexico as it faces a new time. Torn between tradition and modernity, impatient with an exhausted political system but unsure how and with what to replace it, Mexicans are struggling to make the transition from authoritarian to democratic politics. Fuentes' bold and timely study discusses the origins and nature of the unforeseen events that have transformed Mexico's politics and scoiety: the 1994 rebellion in Chiapas, the subsequent rash of assassinations, the break between Presidents Salinas and Zedillo, and continual traumas for democratic self-rule. |
the old gringo: The Gringo Champion Aura Xilonen, 2017-01-19 Million Dollar Baby meets The Brief Life of Oscar Wao Liborio has to leave Mexico, a land that has taught him little more than a keen instinct for survival. He crosses the Rio Bravo, like so many others, to reach the promised land. And in a barrio like any other, in some gringo city, this illegal immigrant tells his story. As Liborio narrates his memories we discover a childhood scarred by malnutrition and abandonment, a youth during which he has nothing to lose. In his new home, he finds a job at a bookstore, where of all places he begins to doubt the usefulness of words. He falls in love with a woman so intensely that his fantasies of her verge on obsession. And, finally, he finds himself on a path that just might save him: he becomes a boxer. Liborio's story is constructed in a dazzling language that reflects the particular culture of border towns and expresses both resistance and fascination. This is a migrants' story of deracination, loneliness, fear, and, finally, love – a thoroughly contemporary take on the picaresque novel – told in sparkling, innovative prose. |
the old gringo: Beyond All this Fiddle: Essays, 1955-1967 Alfred Alvarez, 1968 A collection of essays, articles and reviews, written over a long period, is justified only if the author is a critic of exceptional skill and insight or of his work reflects the ideas of his times. Beyond All This Fiddle triumphs on both accounts. A. Alvarez is a literary critic of sympathy and intelligience and he has no rival as a commentator on modern poetry. There is no question, for instance, but that his obituary on Sylvia Plath significantly infleneced her subsequent appreciation, or that his Introduction to The New poetry, 'Beyond the Gentility Principle', established a new criterion for modern poets and readers of poetry. These are not belles-lettres, but reports-bristling with nervous energy-from an unending psychic battle between artist and audience. Alvarez's skill and delight at examining poetry do not obscure his feeling that poetry is read more and more for professional reasons alone. And in the title essay to this volume-which was featured last year in The Times Literary Supplement-he wonders whether Extremist Art is an expression of the holocaust or the consequences of the smashing of the traditional bases of the arts. It is this side of Alvarez that examines the literature of concentration camps and the violent world of Dashiell Hammett and that relates Jean-Luc Godard's cryptic 'Le morale c'est le travelling' to that archetypal modernist Laurence Sterne. Beyond All This Fiddle is finally justified because , as much as a diary, a journal or a novel, it reflects the personality and preoccupations of its author. There is an excitement conveyed in this collection-whether generated by Robert Lowell, the prospect of New York or the gamble of mountaineering-that is not usually found in criticism. A. Alvarez was born in London in 1929 and educated at Oundle School and Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he took a first in English. For a time he researched and taught in Oxford and America. Out of this came a critical study of modern poetry, The Shaping Spirit (1958). Since 1956 he has lived as a freelance writer in London, travelling a good deal and making occasional academic forays to the States-most recently as a visiting Professor of English at the State University of New York. His seminars on Criticism at Princeton University in 1958 resulted in another book, The School of Donne (1961).-Publisher |
the old gringo: The Hydra Head Carlos Fuentes, 2013-05-14 Carlos Fuentes, Mexico's leading novelist, author of The Old Gringo, Terra Nostra and The Death of Artemio Cruz, has produced what is probably the first Third World spy thriller, an action-filled, quick-paced novel of intrigue as contemporary as a headline. The Hydra Head has a constant political reality as backdrop: the permanent tension in the Middle East and the vast new oil resources of Mexico, the setting for a brilliant attempt to portray the diversity of one man's experience. |
the old gringo: Gringo Nightmare Eric Volz, 2010-04-27 In the spirit of Midnight Express and Not Without My Daughter comes the harrowing true story of an American held in a Nicaraguan prison for a murder he didn’t commit. Eric Volz was in his late twenties in 2005 when he moved from California to Nicaragua. He and a friend cofounded a bilingual magazine, El Puente, and it proved more successful than they ever expected. Then Volz met Doris Jiménez, an incomparable beauty from a small Nicaraguan beach town, and they began a passionate and meaningful relationship. Though the relationship ended amicably less than a year later and Volz moved his business to the capital city of Managua, a close bond between the two endured. Nothing prepared him for the phone call he received on November 21, 2006, when he learned that Doris had been found dead---murdered---in her seaside clothing boutique. He rushed from Managua to be with her friends and family, and before he knew it, he found himself accused of her murder, arrested, and imprisoned. Decried in the press and vilified by his onetime friends, Volz suffered horrific conditions, illness, deadly inmates, an angry lynch mob, sadistic guards, and the merciless treatment of government officials. It was only through his dogged persistence, the tireless support of his friends and family, and the assistance of a former intelligence operative that Eric was released, in December 2007, after more than a year in prison. A story that made national and international headlines, this is the first and only book to tell Eric’s absorbing, moving account in his own words. Visit the companion Exhibit Hall at the Gringo Nightmare website for additional photos, audio clips, video, case files, and more. |
the old gringo: Latin America Carlos Fuentes, 2001-04-01 A passionate argument for the geopolitical autonomy of Latin America, Carlos Fuentes's 1984 CBC Massey lectures trace the region's unique historical and cultural tensions and call upon foreign powers to cease interference in a sphere of influence they rarely fully understand. Fuentes sees the turbulence in Latin America ending not with political solutions, but economic ones. Foreshadowing the end of the Cold War, the signing and expansion of NAFTA, and the Mexican peso crisis of 1994, Fuentes urges further co-development in a progressively interdependent world and the creation of a new global economic and financial system. The new world economic order is not an exercise in philanthropy, he contends, but in enlightened self-interest for everyone concerned. Forthright and intelligently reasoned, Carlos Fuentes's Latin America is a timeless book about the challenges facing emergent democracies and the opportunities for growth that exist within the countries themselves. |
the old gringo: A Gringo's Guide to Authentic Mexican Cooking Mad Coyote Joe, 2001 Popular TV host and author Mad Coyote Joe takes the foreign out of Mexican cuisine and replaces it with genuine, mouth-watering dishes. Featuring more than 100 of Joe's favorite recipes, this is the real enchilada. |
the old gringo: The Buried Mirror Carlos Fuentes, 1992 A unique history of the social, political, and economic forces that created the remarkable culture that stretches from the mysterious cave drawings at Altamira to the explosive graffiti on the walls of East Los Angeles. |
the old gringo: The Campaign Carlos Fuentes, 1991-10 An inflamed revolutionary democrat and the son of a wealthy Argentine ranch owner, Baltasar Bustos, kidnaps the child of the Marquise de Cabra in 19th century South America. |
the old gringo: The Gringa Andrew Altschul, 2020-03-10 A gripping and subversive novel about the slippery nature of truth and the tragic consequences of American idealism … Leonora Gelb came to Peru to make a difference. A passionate and idealistic Stanford grad, she left a life of privilege to fight poverty and oppression, but her beliefs are tested when she falls in with violent revolutionaries. While death squads and informants roam the streets and suspicion festers among the comrades, Leonora plans a decisive act of protest—until her capture in a bloody government raid, and a sham trial that sends her to prison for life. Ten years later, Andres—a failed novelist turned expat—is asked to write a magazine profile of “La Leo.” As his personal life unravels, he struggles to understand Leonora, to reconstruct her involvement with the militants, and to chronicle Peru’s tragic history. At every turn he’s confronted by violence and suffering, and by the consequences of his American privilege. Is the real Leonora an activist or a terrorist? Cold-eyed conspirator or naïve puppet? And who is he to decide? In this powerful and timely new novel, Andrew Altschul maps the blurred boundaries between fact and fiction, author and text, resistance and extremism. Part coming-of-age story and part political thriller, The Gringa asks what one person can do in the face of the world’s injustice. |
the old gringo: Hey Gringo! What Are You Doing Here? David K. Martineau, 2015-06-01 This book of historical fiction contains a summary of the Mormon Colonization in northern Mexico and the Mexican Revolution, as well as some biographies of early colonists. It tells the story of a Mormon Colonist boy who is captured by Pancho Villa's raiding party enroute to Columbus, New Mexico, his subsequent hire by the Pershing Punitive Expedition into Mexico searching for Pancho Villa, and their exploits. |
the old gringo: Umami Laia Jufresa, 2016-07-07 'A wonderfully surprising novel, powered by wit, exuberance and nostalgia.' Chloe Aridjis, author of Sea Monsters A captivating portrait of contemporary Mexico, cut through with dazzling wit and sensitivity It started with a drowning. Deep in the heart of Mexico City, where five houses cluster around a sun-drenched courtyard, lives Ana, a precocious twelve-year-old still coming to terms with the mysterious death of her little sister years earlier. Over the rainy, smoggy summer she decides to plant a vegetable garden in the courtyard, and as she digs the ground and plants her seeds, her neighbors in turn delve into their past. As the ripple effects of grief, childlessness, illness and displacement saturate their stories, secrets seep out and questions emerge – Who was my wife? Why did my mom leave? Can I turn back the clock? And how could a girl who knew how to swim drown? Using five voices to tell the singular story of life in an inner city mews, Umami is a quietly devastating novel of missed encounters, missed opportunities, missed people, and those who are left behind. Compassionate, surprising, funny and inventive, it deftly unpicks their stories to offer a darkly comic portrait of contemporary Mexico, as whimsical as it is heart-wrenching. |
the old gringo: The Orange Tree Carlos Fuentes, 1994 Five novellas on the Spanish conquest of the New World which mix drama, philosophy and satire. In The Two Americas instead of discovering America, Columbus discovers paradise and decides to stay. |
the old gringo: The Gringo J. Grigsby Crawford, 2012-12 Within weeks of arriving as a volunteer in a remote corner of South America, Crawford got a lot more than he bargained for: a narrow escape from a kidnapping plot hatched by the people he was sent there to help. Then things only got stranger. In his quest to find adventure, Crawford undertook a savage journey of danger, drugs, sex, and alarming illness. What resulted is The Gringo one part literary tale of two lonely years in the Amazon jungle and one part gonzo-journalism account of life in the Peace Corps, an agency wandering aimlessly through the twenty-first century. Filled with sharp humor and eye-opening observations about the human condition, this is an unforgettable story that grabs the reader and doesn't let go. |
the old gringo: Salt Water Josep Pla, 2020-12-01 Peter Bush, winner of the Ramon Llull Prize for Literary Translation, brings to English this most prolific and influential of Catalan writers. Dripping with a panache that can turn in a comic instant to the most conciliatory humility, Josep Pla's foray into the land and sea most familiar to him will plunge readers head-first into its mysterious (and often tasty!) depths. Here are adventures and shipwrecks, raspy storytellers and the fishy meals that sustain them. After describing the process of beating an octopus with branches to soften up its flesh, Pla writes, These are dishes that must be seen as a last resort. Pla inflects the mundane with the hidden rhythms of power sculpting culture, so that a hot supper is never just food--it embodies economic precarity and environmental erosion along with its own peculiar flavor. A lifetime of reporting on current events gave Pla the necessary skills to describe the world in all its gritty, funny, invigorating detail. |
the old gringo: The Good Conscience Carlos Fuentes, 2013-05-14 The Good Conscience is Carlos Fuentes's second novel. The scene is Guanajuato, a provincial capital in Central Mexico, once one of the world's richest mining centers. The Ceballos family has been reinstated to power, and adolescent Jaime Ceballos, its only heir, is torn between the practical reality of his family's life and the idealism of his youth and his Catholic education. His father is a good man but weak; his uncle is powerful, yet his actions are inconsistent with his professed beliefs. Jaime's struggle to emerge as a man with a good conscience forms the theme of the book: can a rebel correct the evils of an established system and at the same time retain the integrity of his principles? |
the old gringo: Barbarian Nurseries Héctor Tobar, 2011-09-27 Scott Tores is a thirty-something Mexican-American with a beautiful, blonde wife, Maureen, a mansion outside L.A., and a staff of servants to tend his lawn, clean his house, and care for their three children. But as the novel opens, all the servants have been let go, save for Araceli, the maid. Scott has fallen on hard times after a failed investment and in order to make ends meet has been forced to cut costs. With the recent addition of a newborn into their family, tension escalates, and the couple soon part ways, Maureen to a spa with their baby, Scott to a female co-worker’s house. Both believe the other is caring for the children. Araceli, who has never raised children before, spends more time daydreaming about her former life as a Mexico City artist than caring for the kids. When she starts to run out of food, she spirits the children off on an absurd adventure through Los Angeles in search of their Mexican-American grandfather. When Maureen and Scott finally return home, they panic, thinking Araceli has kidnapped the children. Soon a national media circus explodes over the “abduction.” The Barbarian Nurseries is a lush, highly populated social novel in the vein of Tom Wolfe with a bit of T.C. Boyle that explores dashed dreams through a city divided. |
the old gringo: The Death of Artemio Cruz Carlos Fuentes, 2009-02-03 Seventy-one-year-old Mexican financier recalls the turbulent days of his life, as he lies dying. |
the old gringo: They Call Me Güero David Bowles, 2021-08-24 An award-winning novel in verse about a boy who navigates the start of seventh grade and life growing up on the border the only way that feels right—through poetry. They call him Güero because of his red hair, pale skin, and freckles. Sometimes people only go off of what they see. Like the Mexican boxer Canelo Álvarez, twelve-year-old Güero is puro mexicano. He feels at home on both sides of the river, speaking Spanish or English. Güero is also a reader, gamer, and musician who runs with a squad of misfits called Los Bobbys. Together, they joke around and talk about their expanding world, which now includes girls. (Don’t cross Joanna—she's tough as nails.) Güero faces the start of seventh grade with heart and smarts, his family’s traditions, and his trusty accordion. And when life gets tough for this Mexican American border kid, he knows what to do: He writes poetry. Honoring multiple poetic traditions, They Call Me Güero is a classic in the making and the recipient of a Pura Belpré Honor, a Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children's Book Award, a Claudia Lewis Award for Excellence in Poetry, and a Walter Dean Myers Honor. |
the old gringo: The Eagle's Throne Carlos Fuentes, 2012-08-16 _________________________ 'A compelling drama ... Fuentes at his best' - Sunday Times '[Fuentes] writes with an energy, passion and humour that are as compelling now as when he first published a novel, more than forty years ago ... rattlingly good entertainment' - Daily Telegraph 'A man of remarkable gifts ... Fuentes has produced a narrative crammed with penetrating insights and provocative comments not merely on politics but also on history, art and literature' - Spectator _________________________ The year is 2020. The Mexican President has provoked the United States by calling for the removal of US troops from Colombia and demanding higher prices for Mexico's oil. But the country's satellite communications system is controlled in Miami and suddenly Mexico is deprived of phone, fax and email. In a country where politicians never put anything in writing, letters are now the only way to communicate, leaving the private lives and true feelings of all brutally exposed. Especially regarding the hot topic of the day: Who will be the next President, the next to ascend the Eagle's Throne? As the characters struggle to identify and ally themselves to the future President, the letters fly ever faster. Who will be the victor? Handsome Nicolás Valdivia? Bald satyr Tácito de la Canal? Or the 'unsavoury' ex-President César León? There are many questions to be answered before the last letter is sent. _________________________ 'This is Fuentes at his satirical best, mixing political wisdom, biting wit and poignant self-realisation' - Scotland on Sunday |
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Old is a 2021 American body horror thriller film written, directed, and produced by M. Night Shyamalan. It is based on the French-language Swiss graphic novel Sandcastle by Pierre …
OLD Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of OLD is dating from the remote past : ancient. How to use old in a sentence. Synonym Discussion of Old.
Old (2021) - IMDb
Jul 23, 2021 · Old: Directed by M. Night Shyamalan. With Gael García Bernal, Vicky Krieps, Rufus Sewell, Alex Wolff. A vacationing family discovers that the secluded beach where …
OLD | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
OLD definition: 1. having lived or existed for many years: 2. unsuitable because intended for older people: 3…. Learn more.
Old - definition of old by The Free Dictionary
1. An individual of a specified age: a five-year-old. 2. Old people considered as a group. Used with the: caring for the old. 3. Former times; yore: in days of old.
What does OLD mean? - Definitions.net
What does OLD mean? This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word OLD. "his mother is very old"; "a ripe old age"; …
OLD Synonyms: 311 Similar and Opposite Words - Merriam-Webster
Some common synonyms of old are ancient, antiquated, antique, archaic, obsolete, and venerable. While all these words mean "having come into existence or use in the more or less …
You're rooting for Adam Scott at the 2025 U.S. Open. Here's why
2 days ago · Adam Scott's charge up the U.S. Open leaderboard has tapped into the best type of sports story: The Old Guy Has Still Got It.
OLD Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com
old age. as if or appearing to be far advanced in years. Worry had made him old. having lived or existed for a specified time: a century-old organization.
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Old (film) - Wikipedia
Old is a 2021 American body horror thriller film written, directed, and produced by M. Night Shyamalan. It is based on the French-language Swiss graphic novel Sandcastle by Pierre …
OLD Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of OLD is dating from the remote past : ancient. How to use old in a sentence. Synonym Discussion of Old.
Old (2021) - IMDb
Jul 23, 2021 · Old: Directed by M. Night Shyamalan. With Gael García Bernal, Vicky Krieps, Rufus Sewell, Alex Wolff. A vacationing family discovers that the secluded beach where they're …
OLD | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
OLD definition: 1. having lived or existed for many years: 2. unsuitable because intended for older people: 3…. Learn more.
Old - definition of old by The Free Dictionary
1. An individual of a specified age: a five-year-old. 2. Old people considered as a group. Used with the: caring for the old. 3. Former times; yore: in days of old.
What does OLD mean? - Definitions.net
What does OLD mean? This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word OLD. "his mother is very old"; "a ripe old age"; …
OLD Synonyms: 311 Similar and Opposite Words - Merriam-Webster
Some common synonyms of old are ancient, antiquated, antique, archaic, obsolete, and venerable. While all these words mean "having come into existence or use in the more or less …
You're rooting for Adam Scott at the 2025 U.S. Open. Here's why
2 days ago · Adam Scott's charge up the U.S. Open leaderboard has tapped into the best type of sports story: The Old Guy Has Still Got It.
OLD Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com
old age. as if or appearing to be far advanced in years. Worry had made him old. having lived or existed for a specified time: a century-old organization.