The Dream of the Celt by Mario Vargas Llosa

The Dream of the Celt is a re-imagining of the life of Irish nationalist Roger Casement. As a young man Roger believed in the ideals of the British Empire and left Ireland to fulfil his ambition of joining an expedition through the Congo. Quickly disillusioned by his experiences, Casement strove to expose the atrocities committed by European colonists against indigenous people of the Congo and the Amazon in the name of Christianity, civilisation and commerce. His success brought him fame in England as a great humanitarian and explorer but the time spent in the colonies awakened a fierce passion against the Empire, bringing him to the forefront of the Irish nationalist movement. Casement's experiences in the jungle, often horrifying and brutal, are the most gripping parts of the novel. The bland account of the nationalist struggle pales in significance beside the rich details and individual stories that chart his time abroad. The Dream of the Celt itself solves Vargus Llosa's claim that Casement's story had disappeared from history as it charts his private and public life across three continents, exploring the contradictions that allowed a man knighted for his service to Great Britain, to later be hung for treason against it. [Rowena McIntosh]