Paradiso (Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: José Lezama Lima
- First Published: 1966
- Type of Plot: Artistic education
- Time of Work: The early twentieth century
- Setting: Cuba, Florida, Jamaica, and Mexico
- Principal Characters: José Cemí, Colonel José Eugenio Cemí, Rialta Olaya de Cemí, Ricardo Fronesis, Eugenio Foción, Oppiano Licario
- Genres: Long fiction, Bildungsroman, Family literature
- Subjects: Philosophy or philosophers, Twentieth century, Nineteenth century, Education or educators, Poetry or poets, Florida, Cuba or Cubans, Jamaica or Jamaicans, Mexico or Mexicans
- Locales: Mexico, Jamaica, Florida, Cuba
The Novel
Paradiso is both the story of a Cuban upper-middle-class family during the first quarter of the twentieth century and a Bildungsroman that traces a young man’s path to artistic creation. Although the novel focuses on the protagonist, Cemí, and begins with a description of an asthma attack that he suffers in early childhood, from chapter 2 to chapter 6 it tells the story of his parents’ families, their meeting, and his father the Colonel’s early death at the age of thirty-three.
The death of the Colonel is the event that endows his widow,...
[The entire page is 2025 words long]
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