Seize Your Copy Captain Pantoja And The Special Service Outlined By Mario Vargas Llosa Released As Publication

che mi fa restare a bocca aperta di Vargas Llosa è che la sua incontenibile, straripante inventiva narrativa trova sempre il giusto sostegno in soluzioni stilistiche originali.

Il cutup dei dialoghi tra i personaggi di questo romanzo, tutti interrotti da incisi descrittivi via via più lunghi e improbabili, i finti dispacci e le disposizioni militari sono la prova di un vero funambolo dell'arte del racconto.
Aunque se trata de una novela "en broma", es una de las mejores obras de MVLL, Pantaleón Pantoja, un capitán del ejército con una excelente hoja de vida, recibe la misión de implementar un servicio de visitadoras en Iquitos, para evitar los acosos y los abusos sexuales que perpetraban los soldados contra las mujeres de las comunidades aledañas a

sus regimientos.
Tal es su afán de servir al ejército que Pantaleón lleva la misión de forma perfecta hasta las últimas consecuencias, es decir, hasta provocar la debacle de la misma.
En paralelo asistimos a la vida, pasión y muerte del Hermano Francisco, una especie de profeta que postula la salvación de las personas mediante el sacrificio de animales y personas crucificadas de hecho, la asunción y caída de ambas historias coinciden cronológicamente.


Pantaleón no es un personaje entrañable apenas demuestra sentimientos cuando es asesinada La Brasileña, una de sus visitadoras de hecho, su favorita su pasión por el ejército lo lleva a pasar incluso por encima de su propia familia.
MVLL nos muestra mediante Pantaleón que solo con una vida mediocre, sin ambiciones ni emociones ni pasiones, con un deseo descomunal recibir órdenes, incluso teniendo un comportamiento bastante torpe que recuerda al protagonista de "Al pie de la letra", tradición de Ricardo Palma se puede triunfar en una institución tan subyugante como lo es el ejército.
Y lo más interesante es que, dentro de su mediocridad, Pantaleón solo quiere hacer bien las cosas y así las hace, generando el caos no solo en el ejército sino en la comunidad, especialmente en los ámbitos más conservadores, y ganándose enemigos de muy baja calaña, entre ellos otros militares, un periodista, un sacerdote y, claro, los hermanos de la nueva y extravagante congregación.


Así las cosas, vemos que no hay arista de la sociedad que no haya sido parodiada en esta novela.
Pero aún va más allá, pues entre gags y recursos literarios interesantes, con los cuales "militariza" toda la narración, nos suelta la historia del feminicidio de La Brasileña, la constante amenaza en la que viven las prostitutas loretanas las mujeres de la vida en contraste con la sobreprotección asfixiante en que viven señoras y señoritas como Pochita y Alicia o la mismísima doña Leonor que parecen mujeres sin vida.
En general los personajes femeninos no están desarrollados más allá de unas cuantas interacciones y bosquejados a manera de arquetipos, pero se supone que eso es lo que son las mujeres en el universo de Pantaleón, con todo lo que implica para ellas sumergirse en él.
Hacia el final de la novela se revela la hipocresía de los personajes masculinos y la sumisión de las mujeres a las manías y voluntades masculinas incluyendo a la esposa de Pantaleón.


Si bien se trata de una obra en clave de comedia, es bastante serio lo que nos dice / denuncia MVLL en sus páginas.
Que solo un mediocre puede ser feliz en el ejército y, por extensión, en la vida, que las mujeres solo tienen dos opciones de vida, que los extremos fanatismo religioso y sexualidad desbocada se tocan y que solo un sacrificio muy grande y trágico como el de La Brasileña, equivalente a la expiación de los pecados de la humanidad mediante la crucifixión de Jesús puede regresar la vida a su cauce anodino, del cual no puede desbordarse bajo riesgo de volverse invivible.
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“Were going to get to the root of this problem and nip it in the bud,” General Victoria strikes his open palm with his fist.


The Peruvian Army has a problem in its jungle outposts on the Amazon river, namely the numerous reports of assaults and rape on the civilian population by soldiers whose passions were inflamed by the tropical climate and who were growing crazy with lust in the remote outposts on the border.
The high brass from Administration in Lima got together to brainstorm for a solution,

“Heres our man,” Colonel Lopez Lopez stands up, “Come in, Pantoja. Congratulations on that new stripe, ”
“The highest grade on your promotion exam and by unanimous decision of the judges,” General Victoria stretches out a hand, claps him on the shoulder.
“Bravo, Captain. Thats how you serve career and country, ”
“Born organizer, mathematical sense of order, executive capacity,” Tiger Collazos reads, “He conducted the administration of the regiment with efficiency and real inspiration, ”

The Generals settle on the newly promoted Capt, Quartermaster Pantaleon Pantoja, the rising star of the administrative service, and order him to go to Iquitos and organize a relief service for randy soldiers using local talent from the bawdy houses in town.
Above all, they stress he must keep the project secret and he must avoid scandals that would reflect badly on the army.
Being the conscientious soldier he is, Capt, Pantoja cannot refuse the direct order and sets out for the Amazon River accompanied by his mother and by his young bride Panchita, who are convinced he has become a spy who goes out without his uniform and works mostly at night in bars.


“Convoys are the trips to the barracks” the Brazilian is astonished, claps her hands, lets out a laugh, winks mischievously, exaggerates.
“And services must be Oh, how funny!”

And so it begins, the saga of the Special Service for Garrisons, Frontier and Related Installations, known informally around Iquitos as Pantiland after the name of its organizer.
The author has claimed in interviews that the story is based on facts he researched extensively in the field and, based on the number of times I laughed out loud by myself while reading this, he must have had a lot of fun writing this unusual novel that lampoons military routine and exposes the hypocrisy of society in its rapid condemnation of women who engage in sex for money.
Being Llosa, even when writing a farce, he brings his top game to the written page, experimenting with structure rapid fire dialogue that jumps from one character to the next and form local jargon alternates with dry military reporting.
Also being Llosa, no matter how funny the situation may be, he injects a painful reminder of the brutalities other people can inflict on those who, like Pantaleon Pantoja, lay themselves down like a bridge over troubled waters.


II y a des hommes nayant pour mission parmi les autres que de servir dintermédiaires on les franchit comme des ponts, et Ton va plus loin.

FLAUBERT, Léducation sentimentale

From hilarity to despair it is only a short trip, and the laughter from the first half of the novel, describing the successful organization of the SSGFRI, comes back to haunt the reader as the good intentioned captain becomes a victim of his own success.
From six specialists initially, he quickly becomes the pimp of over a hundred women who are sent as visitadoras to service the remote army outposts by boat or by plane.
His success brings not only notoriety in the jungle, but problems at home with his wife, with enraged clergy and with venal radio personalities out for a bribe.
Even the army who was supposed to offer him discreet support starts to clamour for extending the service to its officers and even civilian authorities demand their share of the visits.
Keeping the SSGFRI secret is no longer an option,

“At least he could have organized the thing in a mediocre, defective way, But that idiot has converted the Special Service into the most efficient unit of the armed forces, ”

Captain Pantoja himself goes through personal changes, as his rigid, duty oriented worldview is challenged by the new world that has been thrust upon him by his superiors: He starts to drink, he interviews and inspects candidates for the Special Service personally, he becomes himself inflamed to illicit passion by the most beautiful of his specialists, the one known as the Brazilian.
Above all, Pantoja becomes convinced that he is serving his country to the best of his powers by making the Service a success.
To the tune of the popular folk song “The Mexican Hat Dance” his red and green painted boat can be seen all over the Amazon basin:

Crossing jungles and rivers and ditches
Not a leopard or puma could scare us
Cause we serve for our Countrys great honor
Making love and not war to get rich.


gtgtgtltltltgtgtgtltltlt

I saw the second film adaptation years before reading the novel, so I knew what was in store for the Captain and his Special Service, yet the end of the novel still managed to unsettle me and to make me question my readiness for laughter at the issues, questions of respect for women that are as still critical in the world of today as they were inin Iquitos.
I do not consider this novel to be a lesser book in the prestigious catalogue of the author,

“Whos going to understand something like this Why enemies We were happiness to so many people, the soldiers got so glad when they saw us.
They made us feel like Santa Claus when I went to the barracks, ”
.