El Sueno del Celta

When I was in Peru last year Mario Vargas Llosa had just published  "El Sueno del Celta" ( The Dream of the Celt), which I'm looking forward to reading once it's available in English later this year. I don't think my Spanish is up to reading Vargas Llosa just yet, though I can make a reasonable stab at it. The book is based on the life of Roger Casement and his exposure of conditions for the people  the Peruvian/Brazilian/Columbian Amazon lands under Western imperialism and of course his life in Ireland and in prison in London before his execution. It will be interesting to see what Mario has to say about it all.

W.G. Sebald also writes about Casement, amongst many other things and people in his book " The Rings of Saturn" which I may have mentioned before in a previous postings, but who deserves as many mentions as he can get. People who know about these things say he would have gone on to be awarded the Nobel Prize had he lived. Sadly he was killed in a motoring accident in 2001.
He managed to write some truly great books before he died, including one called "Austerlitz" which I'm about to read, maybe will be my next book. I bought it last week and it's on the list. I'm currently reading "Arthur and George" by Julian Barnes, which seems to be based on a true story involving our very own Conan Doyle, who is the Arthur character. Lovely little number, thanks to Emer for the present.

Sebald also writes about Conrad and his upbringing and his eventual journey to the Congo as a sailor on a Belgian ship. A trip which became the source for  "Heart of Darkness". The Congo is the link to Casement who also went there and wrote a report for the British government about the conditions he found there, which were truly horrific. Ten million Africans are said to have been killed by the Europeans in what can only be desribed as an act of genocide. I don't think even Casement knew the extent of the brutality but he knew enough to know that he had to try to stop it. Of course the British government tried to suppress his report, as did the Belgians, who were the chief destroyers of that part of Africa.
It was at this time that Casement was sent off to South America. Just to get rid of him as he was a beginning to get on their nerves. They also gave him an honour, as he was awarded the CMG. another establishment ploy to silence individuals who are getting troublesome.

But they probably wished that they hadn't bothered sending him out to South America. He sent back reports on conditions in the Amazon areas of Peru, Columbia and Brazil, which were as bad if not worse than those he found in Congo. The only difference this time being that the company doing the exploitation was the Amazon Company, which was British owned and based in London. Whole tribes were wiped out of course and huge tracts of land destroyed in the search for profits.

The British government tried to silence him again by giving him another honour; he was given a knighthood and became Sir Roger. But he refused to compromise.

The rest is history as they say. He was hung by the British government for his support of the Irish republican cause. The prosecutor at his trial was an Ulster loyalist protestant called Frederick Smith, who was also the Director of Public Prosecutions. So the outcome was inevitable. And of course they used his diaries to divert attention away from all he said about the Congo, Peru, Brazil and Columbia.