The Man Who Loved Dogs History Chapters 1-4 Notes PDF

Preview

Summary

Literature and Revolution in Latin America
Juan Decastro
notes for the man who loved dogs by Leonardo Padura chapters 1-4...

Description

11/16

The Man Who Loved Dogs Chapters 1-7 -

Trotsky Biography Video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kO1T0JCsko) -

Born Nov 7 1879

-

Lev Davidovich → Leon Trotsky

-

Ukrainian Jewish

-

Socialist

-

Tried to unionize workers

-

Friends with Lenin (bolshevik leader)

-

Trotsky became bolshevik leader

-

1920 trotsky's red army won civil war for bolsheviks

-

Power struggle for lenin's seat after he died

-

stalin and trotsky both fought for the job

-

Stalin became leader 1924

-

Trotsky was later exiled, didn’t go into a quiet retirement and remained in the public eye

-

“Trotskyism” became more popular

Book has three men who love dogs -

Trotsky, the guy on the beach (maybe lev because the beach guy has a russian wolfhound like maya), and the narrator Ivan

-

3 storylines, linked to 3 utopian moments in 20th century history (and their failures)

-

Spanish Civil War Background

-

Republicans in spain are the progressives

-

Picasso painting Guernica (town bombed by the germans in 1937)

-

Russia (soviet) and mexico supported the republic in spain

-

1939 francisco franco wins (fascist regime)

-

Doesn't ally himself with italy and germany during WWII (although not entirely separated from them)

-

The grey year

Cuban Revolution 1959-

Grey Years → 1971-76

-

Special Period → 1991-2000 (extreme poverty)

-

Special period started when soviet union fell and financial aid stopped

-

2 tier economy (surviving okay versus abject poverty)

-

Russia wanted cuba to specialize in producing sugar because that’s what they (russia) needed from cuba

-

Chapter 1 -

First character story starts in 2004

-

Narrator’s (Ivan) wife has died due to economic crisis of special period

-

Special period has passed but the consequences are still real (still not having enough food four years after the special period ended)

-

Beginning of crisis: no paper, ink, or electricity

-

Government expects them to make crafts by hand for money

-

No one would want to buy these or have the disposable income to buy the handmade crafts that other struggling people made

-

-

Riding bicycles because no gas for cars

-

Global warming and hurricane ivan

-

Ana described as angelic (socialism in cuba didn’t like the idea of religion)

-

“Fear kept me from writing”

Chapter 2 -

Looking through Trotsky's eyes

-

Sympathetic, open minded

-

Different from other revolutionaries

-

Told the story of trotsky

-

Icy barren place in the middle of nowhere

-

Being censored, books disappearing (similar to what ivan is going through in crisis, both writers)

-

Dreitser tells Lev that in his exile he can’t bring maya the dog with him

-

Lev threatens Dreitser with sending him to work camp (gulag?) even though he has no power

-

-

Lev forces them to let him take his dog

-

Abilities of stalin, manipulating institutions to helping his goals

-

Stalin was leader of the party which led to him being the ruler of russia

-

Gave people positions who then “owed” him

-

stalinists believe that Trotskyists are fascists and anti-revolutionary

Chapter 3 -

Ramon Mercader

-

Spanish communist

-

Born 1913 in barcelona, died 1978

-

His mom (Caridad) kills the dog he and his men were taking care of (churro)

-

Caridad- takes kids away from financially stable home, drug addict, prostitute, once was a part of the bourgeoisie and left

-

-

Caridad sacrificing a lot for the revolution and politics

-

Ramon agrees to the mission his mom sends him on

-

Listens to Africa no matter what

Chapter 4 -

Vladimir Mayakovsky

-

Russian/Soviet Poet

-

Last poem Past One O’Clock

“Past one o’clock. You must have gone to bed. The Milky Way streams silver through the night. I’m in no hurry; with lightning telegrams I have no cause to wake or trouble you. And, as they say, the incident is closed. Love’s boat has smashed against the daily grind. Now you and I are quits. Why bother then To balance mutual sorrows, pains, and hurts. Behold what quiet settles on the world. Night wraps the sky in tribute from the stars. In hours like these, one rises to address The ages, history, and all creation.”

-

Mayakovsky lacked the courage to go into exile

-

Offered his poetry to political activity

-

Lev calling him “the Exile”

-

Ended up killing himself

-

Why does Padura choose Mayakovsky?

-

Cuban art needed to be revolutionary/ not anti-revolutionary

-

Can’t have a revolution without death...