The Shape of the Ruins – A Complex and Layered Novel on the Elusive Nature of Political History

“”Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric,” wrote Yeats. “Out of the quarrel with ourselves we make poetry.” And what happens when both quarrels arise at the same time, when fighting with the world is a reflection or a transfiguration of the subterranean but constant confrontation you have with yourself? Then you write a book like the one I’m writing now, and blindly trust that the book will mean something to somebody else.”

Robert Bolano and Juan Gabriel Vasquez are couple of my favorite Latin-American authors, whose works serve as antithesis to the canonized magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Both Mr. Vasquez and Mr. Bolano ostensibly like to insert themselves into their narratives (Bolano shows up as Arturo Belano) and they both possesses the gift to turn a anecdote of some obscure history (pertaining to their nations) into a compelling fiction. May be the Chilean author Bolano differs from Colombian Vasquez in the way he employs his deliberately impassive prose to convey the horror and violence of Latin America’s historical reality. Vasquez’s prose also presents the human toll claimed by the country’s years of violence, but it resonates more with lyricism and poignancy.  

Juan Gabriel Vasquez’ latest novel The Shape of the Ruins (originally published in 2015 and translated to English by Anne McLean in 2018), which got shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize, focuses on pair of political assassinations in 20^th century Colombia that was enveloped in the shadows of conspiracy theories. One was the killing of reformist liberal politician Jorge Eliecer Gaitan whose death plunged Colombia’s capital Bogota into chaos, and the resulting massive riots caused death of 3,000 Colombians (referred to as ‘El Bogotazo’). The riots were followed by ‘La Violencia’, a ten year civil war. Juan Roa Sierra is the man who guns down Gaitan and in the ensuing pandemonium he is lynched by the mob, his body paraded around the streets. But soon there are talks of mysterious elegant men in grey suit, disappearing witnesses, cover-ups, and fall-guys. The other political murder was that of Rafael Uribe Uribe in 1914, a liberal statesman axed to death in broad day-light (Uribe was the inspiration behind the fictional character Aureliano Buendia in Gabriel García Márquez’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude.”) The perpetrators are captured, but a young lawyer named Tulio Anzola makes public accusations of a conspiracy involving prominent figures (Jesuits, Police chief, Prosecutor, etc).

The Shape of the Ruins, however, isn’t an Oliver Stone’s JFK-style counter-propaganda on the murder of Colombia’s two prominent political figures of 20^th century. It isn’t a conventional political thriller, where the author strongly propagates his version of truth. Vasquez rather deftly explores how the conspiratorial visions smooth over the jagged rifts left by conflict-ridden national history and the perils of obsession over such hearsay and speculations. Vasquez achieves this by injecting his fictionalized self as the narrator-protagonist. As the narrator’s premature twin daughters are fighting for their lives, he attends a party thrown by his friend, Dr Benavides. In the party, Vasquez meets Carlos Carballo, an eccentric middle-aged man obsessed with figuring out the alternative version of 1948 murder of Jorge Eliecer Gaitan. Their initial encounter leads to physical altercation, pushing Vasquez to categorize Carlos as a conspiracy theorist and fantasist. But later when encountering Carballo at a funeral of a writer-friend, Vasquez questions his initial assessment of Carballo. And Carballo approaches Vasquez (with plethora of materials), requesting him to open his mind and write a book that may unravel the secrets behind Gaitan’s death.

Juan Gabriel Vásquez

I like reading novels like The Shape of the Ruins because it takes some elements of historical truth to build an intricate tale around it. In the due process, I have also learned a lot about Colombian history (not just the conspiracy theories behind the political assassinations). Vasquez’ literary world has one foot set in the fact and the other is set among personal memories and private lives. The novel attains immense depth when these two facets of Vasquez’ world meet each other. In fact, the historical, political landscape and private conflicts are beautifully and captivatingly voiced so that it doesn’t get lost among the elliptical narrative. Overall, The Shape of the Ruins is a magisterial novel that deals with pliancy of historical narratives and human obsession for scrutinizing the shadows of the past.