As "The Dream of the Celt" opens, it is the summer of 1916 and Roger Casement awaits the hangman in London's Pentonville Prison. Dublin lies in ruins after the disastrous Easter Rising led by his comrades of the Irish Volunteers. He has been caught after landing from a German submarine. For the past year he has attempted to raise an Irish brigade from prisoners of war to fight alongside the Germans against the British Empire that awarded him a knighthood only a few years before. And now his petition for clemency is threatened by the leaking of his private diary and his secret life as a gay man...Vargas-Llosa, with his incomparable gift for powerful historical narrative, takes the reader on a journey back through a remarkable life dedicated to the exposure of barbaric treatment of indigenous peoples by European predators in the Congo and Amazonia. Casement was feted as one of the greatest humanitarians of the age. Now he is about to die ignominiously as a traitor.
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Praise for Mario Vargas Llosa:
"In the star-studded world of the Latin American novel, Mario Vargas Llosa is a supernova." --Raymond Sokolov, "The Wall Street Journal"
"Vargas Llosa speaks in his own voice, sees through his own eyes. His vision is unique. His genius is unmistakable." --Eugenia Thornton, "The Plain Dealer "(Cleveland)
"The bold, dynamic and endlessly productive imagination of the Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa, one of the writing giants of our time, is something truly to be admired . . . As with any great writer, [he] makes us see clearly what we have been looking at all the while but never noticed." --Alan Cheuse, "San Francisco Chronicle"
"Generous in friendship, unfailingly curious about the world at large, tireless in his quest to probe the nature of the human animal, [Vargas Llosa] is a model writer for our times." --Marie Arana, "The Washington Post"
"[Vargas Llosa] is a worldly writer in the best sense of the word: intelligent, urbane, well-traveled, well-informed, cosmopolitan, free-thinking and free-speaking." --Merle Rubin, "Los Angeles Times"
"Mario Vargas Llosa has long been a literary adventurer of the very first order . . . [He], I am convinced, can tell us stories about anything and make them dance to his inventive rhythms." --Lisa Appignanesi, "The Independent" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
In an epic and moving novel spanning three continents, one of the world's greatest writers re-imagines the life of Roger Casement, the most controversial hero of Irish nationalism.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This fictionalised biography of Roger Casement should be one story, as it is the story of one man's life, but strangely it feels like two stories glued together that don't really fit. First there is the story of the man who successfully exposed the cruelty of colonialism in the Congo and in Peru. Especially in the latter episode, where the sheer greed of the (London-based) rubber company fuels a culture of violence and torture against the indigenous workers who harvest the rubber, the theme of corporate responsibility chimes very nicely with today's concerns, and Casement emerges as an undisputed hero. As a dramatic historical development with interesting characters, exotic locations and clear relevance for today's world, this would have made a very nice book on its own, either as a factual or as a fictionalised work.
The other story is Casement's role in the much messier business of Ireland's struggle for independence, culminating in the Easter uprising of 1916. Here he joins the more radical camp of those who don't believe in the promise of autonomy and go for full independence, even if it takes armed conflict to achieve it. Even more controversially, at the beginning of World War I, he tries to forge an alliance with Germany. In the end, however, he wavers and wants to call off the uprising, while a shipload of weapons from Germany is already on its way and cannot be contacted. Under circumstances that are still debated, the arms delivery finds no recipients at the arranged rendez-vous, Casement gets arrested, and the uprising fails. He is sentenced to death, and his appeal is quashed amid the revelation of homosexual adventures detailed in his "black diaries.... Read more ›
The other story is Casement's role in the much messier business of Ireland's struggle for independence, culminating in the Easter uprising of 1916. Here he joins the more radical camp of those who don't believe in the promise of autonomy and go for full independence, even if it takes armed conflict to achieve it. Even more controversially, at the beginning of World War I, he tries to forge an alliance with Germany. In the end, however, he wavers and wants to call off the uprising, while a shipload of weapons from Germany is already on its way and cannot be contacted. Under circumstances that are still debated, the arms delivery finds no recipients at the arranged rendez-vous, Casement gets arrested, and the uprising fails. He is sentenced to death, and his appeal is quashed amid the revelation of homosexual adventures detailed in his "black diaries.... Read more ›
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By H. Tee
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is the biographical story of the real Irishman Roger Casement by the noble winning Llosa. I have read all of Llosa's other novels and rate his work very highly indeed particularly liking `War of the end of the world' and `Notebooks of Don Rigoberto'. I enjoy the fictionalisation aspects of his works but often find myself slightly annoyed by not really knowing at the end, fact from fiction.
It is clear from the other reviewers that they know much of Casement and Irish history making observations about accuracy of the book etc; now I have never heard of Roger Casement or his involvement in British colonial or Irish history; so is reading, for me, an educative yet fictionalisation a good idea?
Well this tells the story of an Anglican Irishman (born 1864, baptised secretly into the Catholic faith by his mum) turned diplomat in the period 1870s. He famously visits the Congo (1903) and then the Amazon (1906) detailing on behalf of the British government (he is knighted for his work `a Sir' which later become a difficult label for a republican Irishman) the abuse of indigenous people to deliver latex to the going rubber market by rich, powerful (both locally and nationally) greedy men. The depiction of the sheer torture of the poor workers treated literally worse than slaves is graphic and very thought provoking (whips, starvation, cheating of the quotas, murder, caging, horrific punishments, child killing, town genocide etc) - how anyone responsible could sleep at night was my most constant thought - the only bright-side being that ultimately the international community from Casement's work stop the trade.... Read more ›
It is clear from the other reviewers that they know much of Casement and Irish history making observations about accuracy of the book etc; now I have never heard of Roger Casement or his involvement in British colonial or Irish history; so is reading, for me, an educative yet fictionalisation a good idea?
Well this tells the story of an Anglican Irishman (born 1864, baptised secretly into the Catholic faith by his mum) turned diplomat in the period 1870s. He famously visits the Congo (1903) and then the Amazon (1906) detailing on behalf of the British government (he is knighted for his work `a Sir' which later become a difficult label for a republican Irishman) the abuse of indigenous people to deliver latex to the going rubber market by rich, powerful (both locally and nationally) greedy men. The depiction of the sheer torture of the poor workers treated literally worse than slaves is graphic and very thought provoking (whips, starvation, cheating of the quotas, murder, caging, horrific punishments, child killing, town genocide etc) - how anyone responsible could sleep at night was my most constant thought - the only bright-side being that ultimately the international community from Casement's work stop the trade.... Read more ›
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Mario Vargas Llosa's "The Dream of the Celt" is an elegiac and moving fictionalization of the career and death of the troubled Irish Martyr and British traitor Roger Casement.
Casement was born in 1864 in Co Antrim into a Protestant Irish family. He spent most of his career as a loyal and honored - knighted in 1911 - servant of the Crown. He rose to the rank of consul and achieved international fame for his exposés of the atrocities perpetrated in King Leopold's Congo and the Putumaya region in Peru. He was on visiting terms with foreign secretaries and his prominent friends included Yeats, Conrad, Conan Doyle, the sculptor, Herbert Ward, the campaigning journalist E.D. Morel and the historian Alice Stopford Green among many others.
Beneath his official mask, Casement was an ardent Irish nationalist .The seeds of this may have been sown by his parents, both of whom died while he was young: his mother had him secretly baptized as a Roman Catholic while on a visit to Wales; his father, in a down and out phase, flirted with violent nationalism. Eventually, Casement went to Germany - then at war with Great Britain - in an attempt to form an Irish Brigade along the lines that he had witnessed in the Boer War and to persuade the Kaiser to synchronize an invasion of England with an Irish revolt. He failed in both of these objectives but did secure an arms shipment timed to help the Easter Rising of 1916 (which he himself unsuccessfully opposed for logistical reasons). The British intercepted the guns and Casement. He was tried in London, convicted of treason in a surprisingly technical trial and sentenced to hang.
Casement's supporters were optimistic that the British cabinet would commute his sentence.... Read more ›
Casement was born in 1864 in Co Antrim into a Protestant Irish family. He spent most of his career as a loyal and honored - knighted in 1911 - servant of the Crown. He rose to the rank of consul and achieved international fame for his exposés of the atrocities perpetrated in King Leopold's Congo and the Putumaya region in Peru. He was on visiting terms with foreign secretaries and his prominent friends included Yeats, Conrad, Conan Doyle, the sculptor, Herbert Ward, the campaigning journalist E.D. Morel and the historian Alice Stopford Green among many others.
Beneath his official mask, Casement was an ardent Irish nationalist .The seeds of this may have been sown by his parents, both of whom died while he was young: his mother had him secretly baptized as a Roman Catholic while on a visit to Wales; his father, in a down and out phase, flirted with violent nationalism. Eventually, Casement went to Germany - then at war with Great Britain - in an attempt to form an Irish Brigade along the lines that he had witnessed in the Boer War and to persuade the Kaiser to synchronize an invasion of England with an Irish revolt. He failed in both of these objectives but did secure an arms shipment timed to help the Easter Rising of 1916 (which he himself unsuccessfully opposed for logistical reasons). The British intercepted the guns and Casement. He was tried in London, convicted of treason in a surprisingly technical trial and sentenced to hang.
Casement's supporters were optimistic that the British cabinet would commute his sentence.... Read more ›
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3.8 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Revolutionaries upset your view of things.
Sir Roger Casement, according to W B Yeats was the most international Irishman. That may be he was certainly an iconoclast, an idealist and a diligent public servant. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Hugh Claffey
5.0 out of 5 stars
Vargas
This is such a beautifully written book in every way - anyone who likes good literature - go for it!!!!
Published 2 months ago by Alexandra Jóhannesdóttir
3.0 out of 5 stars
Broken Archangel
Dream of the Celt is an attempt to write Roger Casement's life as a novel, a great idea since his career was so full of incident - abuse, torture, homosexuality, human rights,... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Rob
2.0 out of 5 stars
A Disappointment!
I was really looking forward to this! Roger Casement's life is a fascinating one and I had hoped that Mario Vargas Llosa would use his considerable literary skills to help me get... Read more
Published 5 months ago by David Ebsworth
3.0 out of 5 stars
A brave and passionate crusader
WARNING: THIS REVIEW DESCRIBES THE MAIN STORY OF THE NOVEL AND READERS WHO WANT TO DISCOVER THIS FOR THEMSELVES ARE ADVISED NOT TO READ IT BEFORE THEY HAVE READ THE BOOK. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Ralph Blumenau
2.0 out of 5 stars
Fiction or dramatised fact?
Roger Casement's life is well documented both in biographies and through his own diaries so to retell the story needs a new angle if we are to learn something new about this... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Keith Carter
2.0 out of 5 stars
A Flawed Translation
When, a noble laureate, Mario Vargas Llosa, described on the dust jacket as being one of the world's greatest writers, , takes up his pen on a subject you admire and profess to... Read more
Published 10 months ago by John McGuiggan
1.0 out of 5 stars
Embarrassing reading.
Vargas Llosa is an extremely uneven writer. The War of the End of the World was a marvellous book which took my breath away and had me sobbing uncontrollably. Read more
Published 10 months ago by AnthonyWeir
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