VOYAGE ELEPHANT Jose 'Saramago (who died June 18, 2010)
We are in the middle of the sixteenth century, Europe stunned by the winds of protest Lutheran makes its pop the elephant Solomon, who arrived from India to amaze the crowds but now, in Lisbon, that does not "eat and sleep." It seems an unnecessary presence, when suddenly Joao III, King of Portugal and the Algarve, and his wife Catherine of Austria decided to send a gift to Archduke Maximilian, now that is the regent of Spain in Valladolid. The gift is accepted, and so we proceed to organize the caravan that must accompany the portentous quadruped and its first cornac Subhra from Lisbon to the English border, and then from Valladolid to Vienna, passing through Genoa, Verona, Padua and Innsbruck. The novel is thus the story of this journey, this motley group of officers, soldiers, servants, priests, horses and oxen, in the midst of many difficulties and between the wings of people excited, is tasked to escort the precious gift to Vienna, where the elephant will be architect of a "miracle" uniquely human. A choral book, ironic and delicate, involving the reader in first person, throwing him through the visionary power of writing, through the maze of history in which we are all immersed.
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