The captain and his women's battalion

The captain and his women's battalion ( Spanish Pantaleón y las visitadoras ) is a novel by the Peruvian Nobel Prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa from 1973. The military satire is from 1956 to 1959 in Lima , Iquitos and Pomata on Lake Titicaca . The cadaver obedience of a soldier out of passion - here the Captain Pantaleón Pantoja - leads to a gradual escalation of the situation and not only causes strange entanglements that the military can no longer keep under control.

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Captain Pantaleón Pantoja, a talented organizer, is recalled from Chiclayo and sent to the War Ministry in Lima . The generals there , represented in this case by Colonel López López and Generals Collazos and Victoria, command the capable captain to undertake a secret mission - disguised as a civilian - in the Loreto metropolis of Iquitos. There, on the upper reaches of the Amazon , he was received very unkindly by General Scavino in command. That is not surprising. The captain is supposed to set up and manage a mobile brothel in the Selva region . Single ranks of the Peruvian Army are preferred as “users” . Because the climate-related virility of the guards of Peru could not be effectively reduced by adding bromine to meals. Rape of female civilians is the norm during men's exit times.

Panta, as the captain is affectionately known by his wife Pochita, recruits the soldiers for his troop support service from the prostitute scene in Iquitos and the surrounding area. He sets up a supply depot in Iquitos , jokingly called Pantilandia by insiders. Panta must also maintain secrecy towards his mother and wife. Both women do not understand why Panta of all people has become a secret agent , works in bars at night and why the small family is not - as is usual - allowed to live in the relatively comfortable officers' settlement. In addition, Pochita is astonished that Panta has recently been using the stopwatch to measure the duration of the “seminal storm” in the marriage bed. This is important for his demand calculations based on average values.

The required mobility of the manageable new troops is not only guaranteed by the transport vehicles of the Peruvian army. The Air Force helps out with a decrepit aircraft and the Navy provides a river boat. The “users” - that is, the private and soldiers in the military camps approached or flown to - are happy about the services. But some users go overboard; want to line up with the "supervisors" a second time. Panta prevents indiscipline. The War Department does not bear all of the costs. Services rendered are deducted proportionally from the military pay. In accordance with the confidentiality, encrypted services are written in the accounts - for example “payment for culpably incurred losses”, “contribution for sporting activities” or “overuse of troop catering”. The new soldiers, by and large, obey and even accept punishments without protest.

On the one hand, the military chaplains cannot watch the transformation of their units into “whore houses” by “prostitute troops”, but on the other hand - like Major Father Beltrán - initially obediently keep quiet, but then rebel. The support force will be increased with approval from Lima - regardless of church resistance. The representatives of the Catholic Church in the defense area of ​​the Amazon also have a second serious enemy. This is the prophet Brother Francisco from the “Brotherhood of the Ark”, a sect that has followers among the people. The brothers of the ark nail animals and even humans to the jungle trees. In the middle of a village on the cross, an unfortunate person is allowed to bleed to death.

Opposition in the military to fornication does not only come from the ranks of the clergy. A soldier goes on to attack when he recognizes his half-sister in a carer. Panta hires Olga Arellano Rosáura, the beautiful Brazilian. This prostitute was born in Nanay, Peru, but “worked” in Manaos . Panta bravely defends herself against the advances of the newly hired supervisor, but then lets herself be confused.

Disaster approaches in the form of Sinchi . This gentleman later turns out to be a certain Señor Germán Láudano Rosales. He moderates the program “The Voice of Sinchi” on Radio Amazonas. The Sinchi is a mean blackmailer. Panta does not pay for his secret mission, but chases the Amazon media star to hell.

A captain from Ragunas made a request to his superior in a statistical report: NCOs and unmarried officers should be allowed to use the excellent care service. The Peruvian fleet would like to be named next to the army in the anthem (see under “Quotes”). An event is quite inconspicuous, but later brings Panta down. Lonely men from remote Amazonian settlements demand their rights in writing. Like the soldiers, these “civilian elements” want to be “users” when the convoy turns up - at a reduced rate.

Even before Pochita becomes the mother of a little daughter, “The Voice of Sinchi” injects her poison against the expectant father Panta on Radio Amazonas. The supervisor Maclovia comes to the aid of Sinchi. The prostitute had left her convoy, married a first sergeant and was promptly released from the army by Panta. In a letter to Pochita, on her way from woman to woman, Maclovia had asked in vain to be reinstated in the troop and trusted the talkative Sinchi. The name Pantaleón Pantoja is mentioned on the radio in connection with the "cave of vice" in the middle of Iquitos. Maclovia does not hide Panta's secret love for the beautiful Brazilian woman either in the letter or in the radio interview.

Pochita travels with her daughter Gladycita to her unmarried sister Chichi in Chiclayo. She never wants to see Iquitos again and divorce Panta. Panta's mother holds the position at the side of the son in Iquitos. Service is service. Panta continues. He even scrutinizes new candidates for the coveted post of supervisor in a way that may indignant the distinguished reader: “You can't cheat with your tail.” Those who don't excite Panta enough will fail the “introduction test”. Panta is torn. Should he take the Brazilian out of service? No. The captain overcomes his jealousy of the users. He must not violate his duty. The radio listener General Scavino does not understand Sinchi, who suddenly mentions Panta's “work” on the radio with praise: “Should our brave soldiers resort to weakening masturbation?” The voice suggests that the captain be awarded the Order of the Sun by the Supreme Army Command. Apparently, Pochita is no longer thinking of divorce, because she sends photos of her daughter Gladycita. General Collazos is dismayed by Colonel López López's uprisings. The vast majority of the officer corps want subsidized carers. In that case, arms purchases would have to be restricted. This goes too far.

The Brazilian woman's convoy is attacked by civilians who were rejected as "users" at Nauta. The Brazilian is raped and nailed to a Lupuna trunk . Thus, the suspicion should be directed to the brothers from the ark. Panta gives the funeral speech in full uniform. The address becomes the most widely read speech in Peru. People are laughing beyond national borders. General Scavino urgently requests his captain to be released. Panta is crying. Under no circumstances does he want to leave his beloved army. For him, service is the most important thing in life. Panta remains; also when he was ordered to Lima before Colonel López López and Generals Collazos and Victoria. Shortly before, the generals had been reprimanded personally by the Minister of War and also by the Chief of Staff. How could the captain grossly disregard the duty of confidentiality by wearing his uniform when giving his funeral speech!

The martyr Francisco, who was caught on the Napo , is dead. The days of the brotherhood of this prophet are numbered. The domicile of the carers in Iquitos was closed. Unfortunately, there is no adequate punishment for Panta's offense. So he is transported to the bitterly cold wasteland of Pomata. Pochita goes with the now two-year-old Gladycita to the inhospitable high mountain region. The main thing, as the resentful wife thinks, is that her panta doesn't have to make such messes as paymaster there again.

Quotes

• From the hymn of the supervisors:

The soldiers make you happy

Hop, hop, march, march, you sisters!

• A naval officer envies Panta, the resourceful organizer of the "Bumsphallerie", as he calls the army's new branch of service: "You are an Einstein of birds."

Form and interpretation

The name of the protagonist is chosen with a hint of meaning. The narrator refrains from judging. He quotes. The term letter novel is not entirely correct in this context. The novel encompasses various forms such as almost unprecedented dialogues, minutes, letters, newspaper reports or interviews in rapid succession. In addition to private letters, anonymous threatening letters, epistles by sectarians et cetera, Vargas Llosa actually gives many of the reproduced documents a documentary-official military character. It even offers feature-like inserts when the press and Amazon radio have their say. Due to the total preponderance of documents, the narrator takes a back seat. The reader learns almost all the news from such documents.

High demands are made on the concentration of the reader. He must be able to separate two alternating storylines in the shortest text section. In most cases, this is made possible by the name of the speaker in the guise of literal speech. To make matters worse - the name change required for recognition never appears at the beginning of the sentence in the new section. Usually, the two strands do not really relate to each other in terms of content, but only associatively. Vargas Llosa presumably used this strange formal element throughout the novel to prevent it from sliding into the sentimental. Here is an example. The reader constantly asks himself the anxious question: When will Pochita be introduced to her husband's "pig stuff"? Vargas Llosa heats up such fear of readers with his new scene-changing technique: On the one hand, Panta's “collective investigation” of future “carers” is discussed and, in one breath, a domestic scene - only four lines - is inserted into the the cook Pochita tests the recipe for Chilcano. Then it goes on elsewhere with Panta's crush, the beautiful Brazilian. It does not stop at this break point. Such breaks are an essential form element of the novel.

There are two “turning points of the plot” in the sense of “unheard of events”. The first of these two bangs is the letter from the prostitute Maclovia to Pochita and the second is Panta's obituary at the grave of his Brazilian woman. Both are revelations of open secrets, each of which snubbed one of the parties involved. In the first case the wife and child leave and in the second case the army is laughed at all over Peru.

Funny subplots make reading a lot a pleasure. A prime example of this is Panta's loyal mother and her relationship to the son, this stupid big child who is steadfastly coming to an end.

Vargas Llosa, who himself was trained at a military school, fits in perfectly with the style of the bureaucratically-endeavored, sometimes naive success or problem reports of the military, which are richly provided with lengthy details. The parodic effects are in the details, they are set accurately. The gradually increasing alarmed tone of the reports and the ever-increasing pseudo-precise needs calculations by Panta for additional supervisors point to the slow but compelling escalation of the situation up to absurdly surrealistic scenes. The always dry and objective reporting style illustrates the helplessness of the attempts to control the situation by an overwhelmed military bureaucracy with chaotic command channels, pronounced departmental thinking and many jealousies and sensitivities.

reception

Vargas Llosa came across the material on two trips to the Peruvian Amazon in 1958 and 1965.

By not taking the Brazilian woman out of service, the captain would get the meaning of his mission - the taming of male instincts in a military way.

One problem is the balance between comedy and tragedy. It seems that Vargas Llosa did not succeed in this weight distribution in every passage. For example, the sect crucifies people. There is humor in the textual surroundings of the atrocities described. The critics, who are mostly suspicious of humor, are taught better by the reader. The entertainment value cannot be denied to the text.

Media adaptations

Peruvian films

• In 1975 José María Gutiérrez Santos and Vargas Llosa produced the feature film "Pantaleón y las visitadoras". José Sacristán played the Pantaleón Pantoja and Camucha Negrete the Brazilian.
• On September 27, 2002, “Pantaleón y las visitadoras” by Francisco José Lombardi had its US premiere. Salvador del Solar played the Pantaleón Pantoja, Mónica Sánchez his wife Pochita, Angie Cepeda the Brazilian, Carlos Kaniowsky the Father Beltrán, Aristóteles Picho the Sinchi, Carlos Tuccio the General Scavino, Gustavo Bueno the Colonel López and Gianfranco Brero the General Collazos. Vargas Llosa worked on the script. The film was released in Peru in 1999.

Stage version

• A play of the same name by the Colombian Jorge Alí Triana and his daughter Verónica Triana hit the boards of the Spanish Repertory Theater in New York in 2009.

literature

Used edition

• The captain and his women's battalion. Novel. Translated from the Spanish by Heidrun Adler. Verlag Volk und Welt, Berlin 1976 (1st edition, paperback, 316 pages), without ISBN (Licensor: Claasen, Düsseldorf 1974)

Secondary literature

• Thomas M. Scheerer : Mario Vargas Llosa. Life and work. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1991, ISBN 3-518-38289-6

Remarks

1. ↑ General Felipe Collazos, known as Tiger Collazos, is head of the administration, Intendantur and Reverse Services of the Army (Edition used, p. 153, 10. Zvo).
2. ↑ Scheerer speaks on p. 93, 4th Zvu of “ intermittent storylines”.
3. ↑ See also novella
4. ↑ The output used is not free from printing errors (see for example the output used, p. 257, 1. Zvu).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ span. Pomata
2. ↑ Edition used, p. 220, 10. Zvu, p. 228, 4. Zvu
3. ↑ Spanish Nanay
4. ↑ Edition used, p. 220, 18. Zvo
5. ↑ Edition used, p. 239, 12. Zvo
6. ↑ eng. Nauta
7. ↑ Edition used, p. 158, 6. Zvo
8. ↑ Edition used, p. 231, 4th Zvo
9. ↑ Edition used, p. 230, 16. Zvo
10. ↑ Scheerer, p. 93, middle
11. ↑ span. Chilcano fish soup
12. ↑ Edition used, p. 146, 1. Zvu
13. ↑ Scheerer, p. 88, middle
14. ↑ Scheerer, p. 91, middle
15. ↑ Scheerer, pp. 87-99
16. ↑ Spanish Pantaleón y las visitadoras (1975)
17. ↑ eng. José Sacristán
18. ^ Spanish Camucha Negrete
19. ^ Spanish Salvador del Solar
20. ↑ eng. Mónica Sánchez
21. ↑ eng. Angie Cepeda
22. ^ Spanish Gustavo Bueno
23. ^ Spanish Gianfranco Brero
24. ↑ Spanish Pantaleón y las visitadoras (1999)
25. ^ Spanish Jorge Alí Triana
26. ↑ eng. The Spanish Repertory Theater ( Memento of the original from May 25, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
27. ↑ Spanish Pantaleón y las visitadoras