I cannot begin without pointing out that this fictionalized biography of the life of Alonso Pérez Guzmán, written by Juan Luis Pulido Begines and published in November by Editorial Almuzara, was totally necessary.
Guzman the good.
A character who lived through one of the most important periods of the so-called "Reconquest" of the Iberian Peninsula. At the end of the 13th century, on the one hand, the Kingdom of Castile, and on the other the Kingdom of Aragon, after six centuries of continuous battles, had practically expelled the Muslim kingdoms. Only granting the presence in Hispania, of a Nasrid dynasty already born in the Peninsula itself. Knowing that the real danger to their domains had always come from North Africa, the control of the Strait of Gibraltar from the Plaza de Tarifa became transcendental.
Through there, through Tarifa, the Umayyads, Almoravids and Almohads had entered consecutively over the centuries, and through there these dynasties had retreated to North Africa. Now another will try to do the same, the Benimerines, so the control of this square was transcendental to sustain the reconquest.
A reconquest placed in the historiographical spotlight, through a broad debate around his own reason for being. Halfway between religiosity and territorial ambition. A fundamental theme very present in this historical novel, because it is definitely a fundamental theme to understand the figure of Guzmán the good.
Juan Luis Pulido.
Let me tell you a little about its author, Juan Luis Pulido is a Cadiz born in Seville, Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Cádiz and author of several books referring to the his profession. What better place to escape from the "tedious" Law, than by transporting oneself to the history of his land in that exciting 13th century, where he has centered his last two historical narratives. If in the first he put us in the shoes of an Andalusian family that loses everything he had, in the second he immerses us in the life of a man who had nothing and gets everything. In short, the dichotomy that presides over this historical period of eight centuries of history.
As far as we are concerned as readers of historical novels, I have to highlight a great virtue of Juan Luis Pulido. His narrative is excellent and his language is necessary to transport you to the Middle Ages. One tip is to read it with a paper and a pencil, to write down certain words that you will need to know. Because what can sometimes become tedious, is an interesting way of transporting yourself to that moment with the use of words that, knowing them, suggest the time in question.
In the same aspect, another fact to highlight is the scarce use of dialogs. These normally when reading medieval narrative, or are very much in keeping with the time, or end up taking you out of history. This does not happen with Juan Luis Pulido, since the few dialogues are structured in such a way that it seems to you that you are listening to a person from the 13th century. A note for the purists, I know that if he listened to Guzmán himself speak, he would surely not understand two words in a row.
The key to the novel, the characters.
What the reader will find inside the novel by Juan Luis Pulido is a complete journey through the life of Alonso Pérez Guzmán, with the exception of his first years of his life absent from sources. From his incursions into Moroccan territory, which is where he makes his real fortune, we will learn about his tortuous marriage of convenience with María Coronel, his victories and defeats, or his death on the slopes of the mountain where he was located. Gaucin Castle. Also the episode that made him go down in history, the death of his son Sancho under the walls of Tarifa and at the hands of the Infante don Juan.
I leave the great success of this historical novel for last. The creation of the characters:that of María Coronel is exceptional, while with that of her most faithful man, "the German", she makes you feel her presence as if she were protecting you. But nothing comparable to the character of Zag ben Yuçaf Barchilón , the Jewish slave who becomes Juan Luis Pulido's literary weapon to give credibility to his work. I'm going to explain.
Guzmán the good is a character who, despite the distances, can be compared with the “Cid Campeador”. But with the peculiarity that his sources are scarcer and therefore less reliable. Both are two characters who perfectly embody the spirit of the Reconquest, mythologized by their descendants as brave medieval knights at the service of Christianity and the reconquest, in this case Castilian. But both with a side of dark and excessive ambition. If we know many passages of the Cid's history, Guzmán only speaks of his great deed of throwing a knife at the traitor Infante de Juan, so that he would kill his son, in order to save the reconquest and the kingdom. of Castile. But it is true that this feat contains in itself all the idiosyncrasies of the Reconquest.
Guzmán the good throwing the dagger, work of Martínez Cubells.
At this point the Jewish slave Yuçaf comes into play, from the beginning proclaiming that only his word knows the truth about his master Guzmán. Juan Luis Pulido always places him next to him, except when the somewhat “laphead” Mr. Guzmán makes his love escapes. At the key moment of the story he does not separate in an instant from his owner; “so nobody can argue with me what happened there ”. With this memorable phrase he begins to narrate the events that occurred in the endless hours prior to the fatal outcome. Crucial moment where Juan Pulido, through the Jew, tells us about the fine line that separates honor, fidelity, ambition and pride.
Buy Guzmán the good.