The Dissertation

Tinieblas Trilogy #2

by R.M. Koster

The second book in R.M. Koster's highly acclaimed Tinieblas trilogy (following The Prince), The Dissertation is the story of--and a story by--Camilo Fuertes. To fulfill his Ph.D. requirement, Fuertes decides to write about his father, the martyred president of Tinieblas, a country in Latin America. We follow Leon as he winds his twisted path through delinquency, learning, bravery, and incest to the presidency. At once a powerful vision of Latin American history and a brilliant parody of the academic form--complete with endnotes!--The Dissertation is an essential postmodern novel in the tradition of Vonnegut, Barth and Nabokov, ready to be embraced by a new generation of readers.

Genres: Fiction

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

R(ichard) M(orton) Koster is an American novelist best known for the Tinieblas trilogy—The Prince (1972), The Dissertation (1975), Mandragon (1979)—set in an imaginary Central American republic much like Panama, the author's home for many years. He is the author, besides, of two other novels, Carmichael's Dog (1992) and Glass Mountain (2001), and (with Panamanian man of letters Guillermo Sánchez Borbón), of In the Time of the Tyrants (1990), a history of the Torrijos-Noriega dictatorship. Koster's approach in the trilogy is post-modern magical realism, reminiscent of García Márquez in its sometimes fantastical content. In The Prince, for example, conflict over an American military base near the capital of Tinieblas causes a "flag plague" in which activists break out in stinging rashes of their national colors. As García Márquez's translator, Gregory Rabassa, has remarked, however, "Koster’s magical realism was direct, not an imitation of anyone. He was there in Panama so he just fell naturally into it." In its verbal and structural inventiveness Koster's approach is sometimes likened to that of Nabokov. The Dissertation presents itself as a doctoral thesis with contrapuntal stories in the text and notes. Each novel focuses on a larger-than-life protagonist around whom the action revolves, as in a concerto for solo instrument and orchestra. The author himself likens the books to the panels of a triptych, "since each of the three is complete in itself and since they need not be considered in the order of their publication." Major characters from one book appear as minor characters in the others, and vice versa. The unifying "character" of all three is Tinieblas itself. The Tinieblas trilogy may be seen as an imaginative response to the unrest that convulsed Central America during the 1970s and '80s, and as an extended reference to the work of Niccolò Machiavelli. Each protagonist is a political leader, in The Prince an adventurer on the model of Cesare Borgia, in Mandragon a charismatic like Savonarola. For the protagonist of The Dissertation pursuit of powern is a disease, yet he accepts leadership when it is thrust upon him. Throughout the trilogy the wages of power is death, and there are many incidents of grim violence and grotesque humor, often combined.The tiology received considerable acclaim, including a National Book Award nomination for The Prince. Overlook Press is currently reissuing it. The Prince reappeared in March 2013. The Dissertation will be published in October, 2013, and Mandragon early in 2014. Koster was born in Brooklyn in 1934 and has degrees from Yale and New York Universities. He went to Panama as a soldier in the 1950s and has lived there since. He taught
English at the National University of Panama, and from 1964 to 2001 was a member of the faculty of the Florida State University, serving at its Panama branch. He has lectured in English and Spanish at more than 20 universities in the United States and Latin America. In 2003 he was a visiting professor at Southern Methodist University. Koster has had parallel careers in politics and journalism. He was a member of the Democratic National Committee 1967-1996, served on many Democratic panels, and wrote presidential debate copy for Senator John Kerry in 2004. He has reported for the Copely News Service, Newsweek and the New York Times. Essays by him have appeared in Harper's, Playboy, and other magazines. Koster's work is deeply grounded in the western literary canon, though references tend to be playful not pedantic. In Carmichael's Dog (1992), which takes place in a parallel universe, characters quote the playwright Robin Speckshaft, creator of Malaspina, 'the gloomy duke' who had his dwarf strangled for making him smile. Koster's wife, Otilia Tejeira trained as a ballerina and later had a career as a human rights monitor. They have two children and three grand children.

Reviews

[Andrew]

This one passed through the hands of a couple of friends before arriving in my messenger bag, festooned with comparisons to Barth/Vonnegut/Pynchon, all of which are utterly inaccurate. Much like Pale Fire or Infinite Jest, you have to use two bookmarks-- the footnotes compete with the main narrative. It took a while to get into, although the writing technique has relatively little to do with it. I think Koster was a bit more ambitious than his narrative talents allow. He clearly wanted to write some great sprawling Postmodern Epic, but he falls a bit short. It's still a good book and all, but it shouldn't be at the top of your reading list or anything.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fantastic book. Koster deserves to be rediscovered--I don't know how this book fell into my hands, but I was reading a lot of Marquez and the surreal South Americans, and this book just amazed me. A great writer on the sentence level, acrobatic in his ability to keep the story swinging along, a tale concerning the figure and lurid past of the man who became the President of the Republic of Tineblas, a fictional South American country, told through his biographer, who is also his son. What a fun, wild ride. He kicks out all the jams.

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably my favorite book of all time. It is magical realism, so it takes time to get into, but it is worth the struggle. It is written in the format of a dissertation, so you go back and forth between a story in the text and a story in the footnotes. The story in the text is clever and hilarious; the story in the footnotes is heartbreaking and uplifting.

Read it! I can't believe the author is so unknown; he's amazing. But be warned it may test your patience.

[Jeff Ereverock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Camilo Fuertes utilizes unconventional methods researching the life of his illustrious father, Leon.

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

What is the book really about? It is about the difficulties of governing democratically in Central America. It is about the vagaries and limitations of doctoral research in the humanities. It is about searching for a father one never really knew. It is about the history of Central America in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is a clear and detailed description about what life after so-called “death” is really like. It is a hoot. Camilio Fuertes researches his doctoral dissertation on his remarkable father, Léon, who was a skilled baseball and tennis player, an operatic tenor, a Bowery bum, a catamite to an elegant Riviera queen, a warrior in WWII, a dedicated husband and father, a lecher and a politician who was assassinated. His research methodology mostly involves conversation with the spirits of his ancestors, which is looked on with some skepticism by his thesis advisors.

How did you react to the book? Another re-read, this one thoroughly enjoyable and well worth the time and effort. A readable book, in both halves. Léon’s story is pleasantly preposterous, and chillingly realistic (terrific scenes in the Battle of Monte Cassino); Camilo’s story is pleasantly preposterous and convincing, as long as you are willing to believe in what someone who obviously is mentally deranged is telling you. Stylistically, both elegant and energetic, told in a way that continues to pull you through.

What will you remember about the book? I will remember the premise, of the dissertation that tells about Léon and Tieneblas, and the notes that tell Camilo’s story, of his marriage and his breakdown and his recovery through bravery and love. I will remember how Léon won the ball game against the Yankee soldiers, by beaning the scoring runner and then calming tagging him out; I will remember again the remarkable scene when Léon sandbags President Kennedy by turning his own high-falutin’ words against him, and then giving him a way out. I will remember the awful WWII scenes, the trek through the Sahara and the Battle of Cassino. I will remember Camilo’s torture and imprisonment in the walls of the fortress, and his trip into the afterlife, the Astral Plane and what he learns there.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2. Interesting read, just maybe dragged on a bit. #2 in trilogy but could stand alone. Style is curious. Some is farce and some is slyly humorous, the rest could read real banana republic stuff. First half of book is the hero's "dissertation" about his father, assassinated president of fictional Central American country Tinieblas. Second half is his notes, basically his own story - how he got his info in touch with the spirit world, how he interacted with the real world while writing his dissertation, etc.

[Daniel Blok · Rating 4 out of 5]

Remarkable, well-written book that is at times funny, fantastic and outrageous, cleverly structured, sometimes a tiny bit tedious, but pleasantly weird as well, so all in all: highly entertaining.
A young man writes a dissertation about his father, not by using traditional sources like books or scientific articles, but by talking to witnesses who knew his father. Trouble is, these witnesses are all dead. Luckily, our narrator is one of those selected few who are able to communicate with spirits in the afterlife. He also explains this, as he explains a lot of things in order to write his father’s life story. Now his father is not just a man, or even Wilson Pickett’s ‘man and a half’, no, he’s at least six men wrapped up in one. The epitaph ‘larger than life' hardly does justice to Léon Fuertes, who in his younger days excels in music, sports, science, love, sex… well, in everything, really, who then goes to hell and back as a bum in New york and a soldier in the foreign legion, and finally makes it to the presidency of a small banana republic, where he turns into a kind of a messiah. But then again, we see the picture develop through his son’s troubled eyes, which makes the story almost a hagiography.

The fun part takes place in the dissertation’s end notes, which is an account of both the son’s struggle to write his dissertation, ánd his adventures with his unfaithful wife and her lover and everything that happens then (which is quite a lot). These notes – there are one hundred of them; often very long and rather illogical sidesteps – form actually the better story, and it's too bad that gradually this storyline fizzles out.

And yes, the structure is vaguely reminiscent of Nabokov’s Pale Fire – end notes reflecting and commenting on a main story, forming a story in itself – but it’s not that clever. Which is ok.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess this book isn't famous? It's a cross between, though not as good as, Pale Fire and 100 Years of Solitude. I don't normally do the "it's a cross between..." thing with books, so just trust me. And it's another book I read that has no cover jacket art, so my Goodreads page looks that much uglier. Thanks R. M. Koster for not being famous enough to warrant a 5kb gif of your book's cover.

[Donald Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating

[Dex Quire · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Koster's writing; it is grand in theme, daring in style; wonderful stuff.