Days and Nights of Love and War

Days and Nights of Love and War (Spanish: Días y Noches de Amor y de Guerra) is a 1978 book by Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano. It was published in English translation in 1982 by Monthly Review Press.[1] Structured as a series of fragments, the book varies in tone from straight journalism to expressionism and poetic lyricism and in genre from short story to aphorism to biography.[2] It established the formal and thematic qualities of Galeano's prose,[2] and won the Casa de las Américas Prize in 1978.[3]

Days and Nights of Love and War
First edition
AuthorEduardo Galeano
Original titleDías y Noches de Amor y de Guerra
TranslatorJudith Brister
CountryCuba
LanguageSpanish
PublisherCasa de las Américas
Publication date
1978
Published in English
1982
ISBN959-04-0017-5
OCLC6814530

Origins and focus

The book grew out of the repression Uruguay suffered under dictatorial rule in the 1970s,[4] during Galeano's 11-year exile from the country.[5] It chronicles two decades of struggle and perseverance in Latin America, with the 1976 Argentine coup d'état as its focal point.[6] Galeano reveals episodes of his early life such as his surviving malaria, his loss of faith in God, the threats of military coups, dictators and censorship, as well as his experiences living amongst Indians, guerrillas, presidents and prostitutes.[7] He defends his compatriots as well as Brazilian street children, the embattled indigenous Mexicans in Chiapas, and the continent's millions of abandoned children.[5]

Impact

Days and Nights of Love and War was a transitional book between Galeano's earlier journalistic work and his later more literary output; it was the first of a series of works (culminating in his Memory of Fire trilogy) which established his reputation as a writer.[2]

It inspired the anarchist collective CrimethInc.'s 2001 manifesto Days of War, Nights of Love, which shares its mixed form, aphoristic style and embrace of philosophy and morality as weapons within a political superstructure.[6]

References
  1. Barsamian, David (2004). Louder Than Bombs. Boston: South End Press. p. 136. ISBN 0-89608-725-5.
  2. Classe, Olive (2000). Encyclopedia of Literary Translation into English. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn. p. 489. ISBN 978-1-884964-36-7.
  3. Fischlin, Daniel (2001). Eduardo Galeano. Montréal: Black Rose Books. p. 3. ISBN 1-55164-178-X.
  4. Price, Greg (1990). Latin America. London: H. Hamilton. p. 16. ISBN 0-241-12952-4.
  5. Fonseca, Isabel (November 12, 2000). "A Land in Exile From Itself". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved October 5, 2008.
  6. Ryan, Ramor (2004). "Days of Crime, Nights of Horror". Perspectives on Anarchist Theory. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
  7. Todaro, Lenora (November 28, 2000). "Conscientious Objector: A Conversation With Eduardo Galeano". Village Voice. Retrieved October 5, 2008.


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