Gioconda Belli

On an outing from her boarding school, young Luc a meets Manuel--art historian and exquisite storyteller--who shares with her the tale of one of history's most tumultuous loves: Queen Juana of Castile's legendary devotion to her husband, Prince Philippe the Handsome. Embracing a union thrust upon her by political necessity, Juana responds with all the passionate abandon inherent in her fiery nature--and is forced to pay a high price for her honest sensuality. For there are those at the Renaissance court who will not allow such unabashed independence in the heir to one of the world's most powerful empires--and they declare Juana mad, denying her ascension to the throne. But is she truly insane, or is she merely a victim of her own impetuosity and unbridled desire? Or is Juana a pawn in a fierce power struggle for control of the throne? Luc a attends raptly to the tale Manuel relates--and their own story begins to miraculously, dangerously mirror that of Juana the Mad and her beloved prince.

Drawn to sixteen-year-old Lucia during a visit to Madrid's Prado museum, art historian Manuel draws parallels between Lucia and Juana the Mad, the daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, whose story Lucia and Manuel find themselves replaying.

Die richtige Umarmung zwischen Liebenden ist eine Kunst! Ist sie zu leicht, fehlt es ihr an Innigkeit. Ist sie zu eng, nimmt sie die Luft zum Atmen. Gioconda Belli hat mit ihrer kleinen Geschichte eine wunderschöne Parabel gefunden für die rechte Umarmung: Das Samenkorn einer Bougainvillea, jener Ranke, die im Sommer eine leuchtende Blütenpracht entfaltet, wird vom Wind in einen Garten geweht, wo es neben einer großen Pinie landet. Dort senkt es sich in die Erde, verwandelt sich in einen Spross und beginnt zu wachsen. Der alte Baum, der die Gartenmauer weit überragt, wird dem jungen Trieb zur Stütze. An ihm rankt sich die Bougainvillea hoch und höher in dem wilden Wunsch, wie er über die Mauer auf das Treiben der Stadt zu sehen. Der Baum liebt den Übermut und die Begeisterung der jungen Schlingpflanze und sie dankt ihm mit der Pracht ihrer Blüten, die sich um jeden seiner Äste legen. Doch irgendwann geht dem Baum der Atem aus, so eng sind die Schlingen der Bougainvillea um ihn gezogen. Er ist erschöpft und sehnt sich nach seiner Einsamkeit zurück. Doch erst, als die Bougainvillea eines Tages dem besorgten Gespräch zweier Gärtner zuhört, die den Baum aus ihrer Umarmung befreien wollen, gelangt sie zu ihrer Schlingpflanzenweisheit, die sie selbst, den alten Baum und ihre Liebe rettet.

Lavinia is accomplished, independent, and fiercely modern. She is also sheltered and self-involved, until the spirit of an Indian woman warrior enters her being. Then she dares to join a revolutionary movement against a violent dictator and finds the courage to act.

Set in strife-torn Guatemala City in the early 1980s, this sophisticated, quasi-comedic tale depicts the decline and near-fall of a prominent Guatemalan Jewish family.

Tras casarse muy j ven y ser madre, Gioconda Belli se uni al clandestino y emergente movimiento Sandinista, sustituyendo su deseo de ser una buena esposa por la necesidad de vivir una vida plena y comprometida con los cambios sociales en su pa s. Ir nicamente, su pertenencia a la burgues a y su carrera como poeta renombrada, le brindaron la fachada que le permiti funcionar, secretamente, como rebelde. Desde su infancia en Managua y sus encuentros iniciales con poetas y revolucionarios, a persecuciones urbanas, reuniones con Fidel Castro, relaciones amorosas truncadas por la muerte o el exilio en M xico y Costa Rica, hasta su inesperado matrimonio con un periodista norteamericano, la historia de Gioconda Belli es tanto la de una mujer que se descubre a s misma, como la de una naci n que forja su destino. ENGLISH DESCRIPTION "A passionate, lyrical, tough-minded account of an extraordinary life in art, revolution, and love. It's a book to relish, to read and re-read. Unforgettable." --Salmon Rushdie An electrifying memoir from the acclaimed Nicaraguan writer ("A wonderfully free and original talent"--Harold Pinter) and central figure in the Sandinista Revolution. Until her early twenties, Gioconda Belli inhabited an upper-class cocoon: sheltered from the poverty in Managua in a world of country clubs and debutante balls; educated abroad; early marriage and motherhood. But in 1970, everything changed. Her growing dissatisfaction with domestic life, and a blossoming awareness of the social inequities in Nicaragua, led her to join the Sandinistas, then a burgeoning but still hidden organization. She would be involved with them over the next twenty years at the highest, and often most dangerous, levels. Her memoir is both a revelatory insider's account of the Revolution and a vivid, intensely felt story about coming of age under extraordinary circumstances. Belli writes with both striking lyricism and candor about her personal and political lives: about her family, her children, the men in her life; about her poetry; about the dichotomies between her birth-right and the life she chose for herself; about the failures and triumphs of the Revolution; about her current life, divided between California (with her American husband and their children) and Nicaragua; and about her sustained and sustaining passion for her country and its people.

A powerful memoir by the acclaimed Nicaraguan writer describes her privileged youth, her growing awareness of Nicaragua's social inequities, her involvement with the Sandinistas, her current life with an American husband and children, and her continuing devotion to her country and its people. Reprint. 20,000 first printing.

This memoir is an account of the Nicaraguan revolution, of meetings with Fidel Castro and exile in Costa Rica, and it is a tale of political and romantic awakening as Gioconda Belli learnt to fight against the shackles of society.

Wer Gioconda Bellis Gedichte liest, durchläuft das erfüllte Leben einer ungewöhnlich sinnlichen Frau. Ihre neuen Gedichte spiegeln die ganze Fülle von Empfindungen ihrer weiblichen Gegenwart, vom Abschiedsschmerz über Lust und Genuss bis hin zur Rebellion und der Gier nach dem Leben.

Gioconda Belli's poetry, widely published and revered in Latin America and Europe, celebrates the longing for a society in which humanity constructs its future, animated by an inextinguishable erotic, maternal, and transcentendly loving desire. As Salman Rushdie wrote in his book, The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey, her poetry is a ""kind of public love poetry that comes clower, to expressing the passion of Nicaragua than anything I [have] yet heard.""

Nicaraguan tunnetuimpiin kuuluva runoilija Gioconda Belli johdattelee romaanissaan lukijansa monikerroksiseen todellisuuteen, jossa arkinen ja myyttinen lomittuvat. Pelko on jatkuvasti läsnä poliittisessa taistelussa ja ihmiset antavat henkensä yhteisen päämäärän puolesta. Keskiluokasta lähtöisin oleva naisarkkitehti Lavinia joutuu rakkauden ja työn myötä arvioimaan uudelleen koko elämänsä perusteet. Tämä on jännityskertomus, jonka kirjailija on taidokkaasti punonut käyttäen esikuvinaan todellisia henkilöitä ja tapahtumia Nicaraguan lähihistoriasta. Tarina pitää lukijan tiukassa otteessaan loppuratkaisuun asti.