REALMS OF STRIFE; The Memoirs of Juan Goytisolo,1957-1982

San Francisco: North Point Press, 1990. 1st English-language editions. Cloth spine and boards in dust jacket. Light shelfwear. Very good. 261pp. Translated by Peter Bush. Born into the failing bourgeoisie of Barcelona in 1931 and a Nationalist family, the early years of Goytisiolo's life were marked by intellectual and sensual suppression. In a poisonous, hypocritical household that matched the authoritarian regime, the atmosphere of intellectual and emotional intlerance forced him to self-education, seeking refuge in foreign literature. Juan found inspiration and perspective in multi-lingualism as he also came to face his own homosexual inclinations. This, the second volume of his memoirs, begins with Spanish expatriate Goytisolo newly arrived in Paris, where he has lived ever since. This volume captures the excitement of literary and political life in Europe in the fifties and sixties - his encounters with Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Yevtushenko, Castro, Marguerite Duras, Garcia Marquez, and devoting a complete chapter to Jean Genet. Recounting the evolution of his political life, Goytisolo moves from his early engagement and subsequent disillisuionment with the Communist Party, especially regarding censorship and human rights. Concentrating on his literary life, he becomes more personal in his focus, describing his coming to terms with his homosexuality in both the exhilaration of his first encounters with men and the confusion of his feelings towards his common-law wife, Monique. Goytisolo's narrative alternates between a first-person narrative and lyrical passages in which he addresses himself in the second and third persons, creating startling shifts in perception. With unsparing candor and sef-scrutiny, Goytisolo exposes, layer by layer, the complexities and profund emotion, the telling conflicts and desires of his life.