The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman

by DE BERNIERES, LOUIS

• ISBN13: 9780375700156
• ISBN10: 0375700153
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 1998-09-01
• Publisher: Vintage

Summary

With the same ebullient storytelling, luxuriant prose, and irrepressible eroticism he brought to The War of Don Emmanuel s Nether Parts and Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord, Louis de Bernieres continues his chronicle of Cochadebajo, the Andean village where macho philosophers, defrocked priests, and reformed (though hardly inactive) prostitutes cohabit in cheerful anarchy. But this unruly utopia is imperiled when the demon-harried Cardinal Guzman decides to inaugurate a new Inquisition, with Cochadebajo as its ultimate target. On his side, the Cardinal has an army of fanatics who are all too willing to destroy bodies in order to save souls. The Cochadebajeros have precious little ammunition, unless you count chef Dolores's incendiary Chicken of a True Man, and a civil defense that deems nothing more crucial than the act of love. Part epic, part farce, The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman confirms de Bernieres's reputation as England's answer to Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Author Biography

Louis de Bernieres, who lives in Norfolk, was selected as one of the twenty best Young Novelists in 1993. His first novel, <i>The War of Don Emmanuel’s Nether Parts</i>, won a Commonwealth Writers Prize and was followed shortly by two sequels, <i>Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord</i> and <i>The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman</i>. His fourth novel, <i>Captain Corelli’s Mandolin</i>, won the Commonwealth Writers Prize, Best Book in 1995 and is now an international bestseller, having sold over 1.5 million copies.<br><br><br><i>From the Hardcover edition.</i>

Table of Contents

Prologue	xvii
PART ONE	3	(246)
1 His Eminence, Tormented by Demons, Resolves to Save His Soul	3	(7)
2 Ena and the Mexican Musicologist (1)	10	(7)
3 Of the New Restaurant and the New Priest	17	(8)
4 Ena and the Mexican Musicologist (2)	25	(5)
5 The Sermon of Father Garcia to the Jaguars from the Top of an Obelisk	30	(7)
6 Ena and the Mexican Musicologist (3)	37	(6)
7 The Submission of the Holy Office to His Eminence (I)	43	(4)
8 How Love Became Possible in Cochadebajo de los Gatos	47	(15)
9 The Submission of the Holy Office to His Eminence (2)	62	(7)
10 Of Dionisio Vivo and Professor Luis	69	(6)
11 The Submission of the Holy Office to His Eminence (3)	75	(8)
12 How We Brought the Tractors from Chiriguana to Cochadebajo de los Gatos	83	(11)
13 In Which His Eminence Makes a Fateful Choice	94	(7)
14 The Monologue of the Conde Pompeyo Xavier de Estremadura Walking in the Sierra	101	(3)
15 Concepcion	104	(7)
16 In Which His Excellency President Veracruz Wins the General Election Without Rigging It Very Much (I)	111	(6)
17 How Dionisio Inadvertently Started the Battle of Dona Barbara	117	(4)
18 In Which His Excellency President Veracruz Wins the General Election Without Rigging It Very Much (2)	121	(8)
19 Monsignor Rechin Anquilar	129	(7)
20 The Battle of Dona Barbara	136	(6)
21 In Which Cristobal Confounds His Eminence with Pertinent Questions, and Monsignor Rechin Anquilar Imparts Somber News	142	(7)
22 What Really Happened in Rinconondo	149	(7)
23 The Beast and the Three-Hundred-Year-Old Man	156	(7)
24 Return to Rinconondo	163	(7)
25 A Further Extract from General Fuerte's Notebooks	170	(7)
26 The Massacre at Rinconondo	177	(7)
27 The Lieutenant Who Loved Redheads	184	(5)
28 In Which His Excellency President Veracruz Fiddles While Medio-Magdalena Burns	189	(9)
29 Concepcion Buys His Eminence a Present	198	(6)
30 Dionisio Unexpectedly Acquires Two More Lovers on the Way to See His Family	204	(9)
31 The Erotica Symphony	213	(9)
32 Dionisio's Continuing Adventures on the Way to Valledupar	222	(8)
33 General Hernando Montes Sosa Confides in His Son	230	(9)
34 Cristobal	239	(10)
PART TWO	249	(200)
35 In Which the Presidential Couple Enjoy the Delights of Paris	249	(4)
36 Dionisio Receives Sad News	253	(3)
37 Dr. Tebas de Tapabalazo	256	(4)
38 Of the New Albigensian Crusade	260	(6)
39 The Spectacular and Wonderful Tapabalazo Teratoma	266	(5)
40 In Which the Monsignor Encounters One or Two Difficulties	271	(8)
41 An Apocalypse of Embarrassment Strikes the City (1)	279	(8)
42 The Hummingbird	287	(7)
43 An Apocalypse of Embarrassment Strikes the City (2)	294	(7)
44 St. Thomas Is Inspired to Mournfulness	301	(7)
45 Don Emmanuel's Patriotic Concert	308	(6)
46 How Aurelio Became Himself	314	(7)
47 St. Thomas Recalls	321	(5)
48 Of Concepcion and Dominic Guzman	326	(9)
49 Parlanchina's Warning	335	(7)
50 Sibila	342	(7)
51 Parlanchina's Lament	349	(4)
52 In Conspectu Tormentorum	353	(8)
53 The Mexican Musicologist Recalls the Building of the Wall	361	(7)
54 Of Death and Returning	368	(8)
55 Sibila Retrieves Her Fallen Crown and Dons Her Robe of Light	376	(7)
56 Letters	383	(8)
57 In Which Felicidad's Gyrating Backside Provokes Hostilities	391	(7)
58 The Council of War and the Cripple's Atonement	398	(7)
59 In Which Dionisio Humanely Miscalculates	405	(7)
60 Don Salvador the False Priest Reveals a Secret	412	(7)
61 Father Garcia Is Saved by St. Dominic	419	(4)
62 The Discussion in the Whorehouse	423	(6)
63 Strategic Maneuvers and a Pleasant Surprise	429	(6)
64 The Epiphany of the False Priest	435	(7)
65 The Pit	442	(7)
Epilogue	449