Le Recours de la méthode — Histoire déjantée de l'Amérique latine (1974)

Authors : Alejo Carpentier

Genres : roman

Original language : espagnol

Editions

  • Compañía General Editora (Mexico), 1974 es
  • Gallimard, coll. Du monde entier, 1975 fr
  • Gallimard, coll. L'Imaginaire n°567, 2008 fr
    ISBN 9782070346148

Le Recours de la méthode (El recurso del método, 1974)

Le Recours de la méthode (El recurso del método) is the sixth novel by Alejo Carpentier, published in 1974. It received the Cino-Del-Duca World Prize that same year and is often considered one of his most ferocious novels on dictatorial power.

The story centers on two characters: a Caribbean politician, a general who proclaimed himself “dictator” of an imaginary Caribbean republic — whose full name is El Imprevisible, El Supremo, and the Student (embodiment of hope). The second part follows the fate of the Student, an idealized young man dreaming of democracy and freedom, who attempts to overthrow the dictatorship. The two narrative arcs intertwine and confront utopian idealism with the brutal reality of power.

The title itself — El recurso del método (Le Recours de la méthode) — refers to a political invention: when the dictator, faced with the impossibility of conquering his adversary militarily (the Student exiled in Europe), invents a “recourse”: a perverse diplomatic tactic that transforms the enemy into an ally. Carpentier demonstrates that Western political methods themselves can serve to perpetuate tyranny.

Sources