Novel
Dejando atrás al hombre de celofán
Not translated into English
Justo Arroyo · 1971
Synopsis
A Spanish teacher, a womaniser engaged to Michelle, accepts a post that nobody wants, on an isolated island, then teaches in the Latin American schools of Colón, in the Canal Zone administered by the United States. Between another woman, who serves him as an escape, his pupils and his colleagues, he discovers the segregation of the Zone and the tensions between English and Spanish speakers.
Context
The novel received the Ricardo Miró novel prize in 1971 and appeared in 1973 in Panama City, with Mariano Arosemena, for the National Institute of Culture. It has autobiographical features: the author himself taught in the province of Bocas del Toro. In it he deals with xenophobia, national feeling and freedom in the face of imposed ideologies. It has been translated neither into French nor into English.
Who it is for
To discover from the inside the Panama cut in two by the American enclave, from the pen of a writer who was himself a teacher.
Prizes and reception
The blog Cicuta Dry hails it as a fantastic novel, bearing a message of freedom against corruption and imposed ideologies.