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No digas que fue un sueño

Year:

1986

Author:

Terenci Moix

Contry:

Spain

Language:

Spanish

Publisher:

Bibliotex

Genre:

Historical Fiction, Adventure

Other websites:

Summary
This work is a romantic novel set during the last years of Ptolemaic Egypt and its conversion into a Roman province in the 1st century BC. The novel recounts events that occurred during the life of Cleopatra, highlighting historical episodes such as the defeat of Antony in the Battle of Actium. The novel was a sales success in Spain and was the winner of the Planeta Prize in 1986. It is one of six novels about Egypt written by this Catalan writer.
Egyptomania narratives or motifs
No digas que fue un sueño (Do not Say It Was a Dream) is a novel in which Terenci Moix recreates one of the periods in Egyptian history that has contributed most to Egyptomania: the reign of Cleopatra VII, with all its intrigues and love stories between Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, and Mark Antony. In this novel, Terenci Moix moves away from the vision that cinema and literature have constructed of Cleopatra as a femme fatale, as a queen who conquers men to use them for her own interests. Terenci Moix instead presents us with a Cleopatra who is studious, intelligent, a mother concerned about the future of her children and her subjects. She is also a patriot, eager to defend Egypt's independence in the face of the coming Roman invasion. As the author of the novel has argued, he strove to portray a strong, determined, and courageous woman. In support of this, it is interesting to recall Moix's own words in an article published in the Spanish newspaper ABC (15th November 1986, p. 42), following the publication of the novel in 1986, entitled “Reivindicación de la pérfida Cleopatra” (Vindication of the perfidious Cleopatra):

Diría abiertamente que mi intención de reivindicar su nombre me llega a través del desconocimiento que descubro en gran parte de mis contemporáneos. Todavía hoy la figura de Cleopatra está sujeta a todo tipo de falsificaciones. No se ignora sólo su extraordinaria intelectualidad – “más que la de muchos hombres”, dice algún cronista sin atreverse a defensas más arriesgadas – es que además su vida privada suele enterrarse bajo un vulgar erotismo de pésima pintura orientalista, como si fuera un cromo desfigurado después por el cinematográfico. Y siempre se producen murmullos de desconcierto e incluso de ironía cuando explico que la más legendaria entre todas las reinas de la Antigüedad fue honesta madre de cuatro hijos, uno de los cuales, Cesarión, alcanzó diecisiete años.


I would openly state that my intention to defend her reputation arises from the lack of knowledge I observe in most of my peers. Even today, Cleopatra's image is still distorted in various ways. Not only is her remarkable intelligence overlooked - "greater than that of many men," as one chronicler timidly puts it - but her personal life is often overshadowed by a cheap eroticism depicted in orientalist art, as if it were a distorted version later embellished by cinema. There are always whispers of surprise and even irony when I reveal that the most legendary of all ancient queens was a devoted mother of four sons, one of whom, Caesarion, lived to be seventeen.


Conversely, Moix’s previous experience as a Shakespeare translator during his earlier years, has resulted in a subtle Shakespearean influence being evident on a formal level in this novel, particularly in the utilization of dramatic language, as highlighted by Islam Abd El Fattah.
Lastly, it is imperative to underscore how, despite being a historical novel set in late Hellenistic Egypt, certain universal aspects are addressed in the work, which also reflect the author's personal experiences. This is exemplified by the polyglot nature of the Egyptian queen, mirroring the bilingual reality of Terenci Moix and his familial background, since he was the son of an Aragonese and a Barcelonian. The portrayal of unrequited love is also noteworthy, a sentiment of universal suffering. Cleopatra is deserted by her lover, and the queen's agony resonates with the writer's own emotional tribulations in his love life.
Other information
Cortés Ibáñez, Emilia (1995). «No digas que fue un sueño: el ocaso del esplendor egipcio». In: La novela histórica a finales del siglo XX: actas del V seminario internacional del instituto de semiótica literaria y teatral de la UNED. Madrid, Visor Libros, pp. 189-199.
Not available
Islam Abd El Fattah Abd El Azim (2007). La imagen de Egipto en la novela histórica de Terenci Moix. Barcelona: Universidad Autónoma de Barceona.
Open access
Ramos, Carlos (2009). «Terenci Moix. De la transición heróica a la seducción de masas», en Bou, Enric y Pittarello, Elide (eds.), (En)claves de la Transición. Una visión de los Novísimos. Prosa, poesía y ensayo. Madrid: Iberoamericana, pp. 79-101.
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