I quite enjoyed reading Captain Pantoja and the Special Service, as Mario Vargas Llosa wrote it as a clear satire and almost parody of the popular spy novels and movies of his time. The story of Captain Pantoja actually reminded me of other comedic parodies like Austin Powers and sketch tv comedies like Monty Python and SNL, because of the way that they bring often ‘taboo’ subjects like sexuality and intimacy into, sometimes overtly, serious action and thriller stories. The way that Captain Pantoja and the Special Service is written is also an interesting literary decision by Mario Vargas Llosa, in that the ‘novel’ changes structure each chapter, chapters that alternate between dialogue scenes which parallel and interrupt each other, fictional letters written in first person narration, and imaginary news journal articles and military dispatches. Overall, these different styles of writing work surprisingly well to create a coherent and well-written story about the so-called ‘special’ service. Although the novel is a piece of satire, at times it almost felt like surrealist, in a way similar to Pedro Paramo and One Hundred year of Solitude. Events like the crucifixions by the Amazonian cult, The Brothers of the Ark that Panta’s mother falls prey to, and the hundreds of prostitutes that go into the Amazon, and the use of substances like alcohol and ayahuasca feel so alien to my own lived experiences that they sound fantastical.
The background of the novel itself is interesting, especially if you, as an informed reader, know the history of Peru during the 20th century. The time period which Mario Vargas Llosa writes Captain Pantoja and the Special Service, is rather uneventful for the country of Peru, in the early part of the century up until the 1940s, Peru was fighting wars with its neighbors, Ecuador and Colombia and indeed the characters of Pochita and Mama mention that the region that the Amazonian garrison is protecting is bordered against territory in Colombia that used to belong to Peru. After the 1950s when Captain Pantoja takes place, Peru would be then be led by a Leftist military dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s, which would then be replaced by a conservative dictatorship which fought with communist guerrillas in the 1980s and 1990s. Understanding this context to what was happening in Peru during the fictional events of Captain Pantoja and the Special Service, is important I believe, because it makes us understand why the Peruvian military and generals even bother to entertain their troops in the novel in the first place.
Question: Do you believe that Pantoja changed his personality because of the “heat” as Pochita describes, or was he always a little more loose than the persona that he used in his professional and personal life?
In this case, as you say, knowing why the troops were in that particular place helps us to have a better understanding of the novel. In a time of particular territorial tensions, and in which the crowds left the traditional costumes, events such as those recounted by Vargas Llosa take on another, even stranger air. There is an “excess energy” that cannot be harnessed. The energy of the narration itself is present, engulfing other styles.
It is a great question. I think that the notion that Pochita is describing is talking about how the influence is getting of the environment is getting to him. A person in such a hot climate no matter what will sweat and want to drink water or rest in the shade. In Pantoja’s case, the heat from temptation is making him want to cure it with the only thing that can, giving in to that temptation.