Preview: The Journals of a Revolutionary To Be. (ff1)

Ernesto at the time he traveled with Granados

    Though I seem to rarely have time to read, I have been trying to squeeze in a new book. A few months ago, I picked up a copy of a collection of journal entries entitled "The Motorcycle Diaries", written by Ernesto "Che" Guevara while on a road trip with colleague and friend Alberto Granados through South America in the 1940's. I have  had a strong interest in Che Guevara, as well as his travels, for awhile now, and this opportunity to really see his words was well worth the fifteen dollars.
    While I have only thumbed through a small portion of the novel, I am very familiar with the movie inspired from this book of the same title, "los diarios de moticicletas" (in the original español). Throughout introductions by Aleida Guevara (Che's daughter from his second marriage) and academics, the reader is promised that the following volume portrays one of the most diverse looks at Che ("che" is a colloquial address commonly used in Argentina, where Guevara was born. It's the equivalent of the Puerto Rican use of the word "loco" or the English "dude").  Here, in these various entries detailing all that Ernesto saw and experienced, the reader understands many things.
     First, there is the overall setting and denizens of South America, ranging in social status and climate. Secondly, there is the opportunity to see the formation of Guevara's way of thinking about politics, society, etc. He remarked that these trips had been influential for him immensely. He did not return to Argentine soil as the same man who first departed. Thirdly, from a more literary point of view, this journal contains such a range in Guevara's voice. He is at times extremely impassioned and poetic, always brutally and unflinchingly honest, and other times just blunt or descriptive. It will truly be enticing to flip through a journal with a movie in mind, however with the addition of primary dialogue and thought.