![](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://humanitiesinaminute.ie.edu/video/pablo-marco-the-war-of-the-end-of-the-world-excerpt/&media=https://humanitiesinaminute.ie.edu/wp-content/uploads/Foto-IE-humanities-Pablo-Marco-The-war-of-The-End-of-the-World-by-Mario-Vargas-Llosa-_1.jpg&description=<a href="https://es.linkedin.com/in/pablomarcoblanco/es" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pablo Marco</a> - Associate Vice Dean, IE School of Politics, Economics & Global Affairs.
Reading:
<strong><em>The war of The End of the World (La guerra del fin del mundo) (excerpt)</em></strong> by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Vargas_Llosa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mario Vargas Llosa</a> (1981).
The man was tall and so thin he seemed to be always in profile. He was dark-skinned and rawboned, and his eyes burned with perpetual fire. He wore shepherd’s sandals and the dark purple tunic draped over his body called to mind the cassocks of those missionaries who every so often visited the villages of the backlands, baptizing hordes of children and marrying men and women who were cohabiting. It was impossible to learn what his age, his background, his life story were, but there was something about his quiet manner, his frugal habits, his imperturbable gravity that attracted people even before he offered counsel.
He spoke of simple and important things, not looking at any person in particular among those who surrounded him, or rather looking with his incandescent eyes beyond the circle of oldsters, men and women, children, at something or someone only he could see. Things that were understandable because they had been vaguely known since time immemorial, things taken in along with the milk of one’s mother’s breast.
In the eyes of everyone, his teachings appeared to be good ones and therefore, first in one and then in another and finally in all the towns of the North, the man who gave such counsel began to be known as the Counselor, despite the fact that his Christian name was Antônio Vicente and his last name Mendes Maciel.
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El hombre era alto y tan flaco que parecía siempre de perfil. Su piel era oscura, sus huesos prominentes y sus ojos ardían con fuego perpetuo. Calzaba sandalias de pastor y la túnica morada que le caía sobre el cuerpo recordaba el hábito de esos misioneros que, de cuando en cuando, visitaban los pueblos del sertón bautizando muchedumbres de niños y casando a las parejas amancebadas. Era imposible saber su edad, su procedencia, su historia, pero algo había en su facha tranquila, en sus costumbres frugales, en su imperturbable seriedad que, aun antes de que diera consejos, atraía a las gentes.
Hablaba de cosas sencillas e importantes, sin mirar a nadie en especial de la gente que le rodeaba, o más bien, mirando, con sus ojos incandescentes, a través del corro de viejos,mujeres, hombres y niños, algo o alguien que sólo él podía ver. Cosas que se entendían porque eran oscuramente sabidas desde tiempos inmemoriales y que uno aprendía con la leche que mamaba.
A todos parecían buenos consejos y por eso, al principio en uno y luego en otro y al final en todos los pueblos del Norte, al hombre que los daba, aunque su nombre era Antonio Vicente y su apellido Mendes Maciel, comenzaron a llamarlo el Consejero.)
Pablo Marco – Associate Vice Dean, IE School of Politics, Economics & Global Affairs.
Reading:
The war of The End of the World (La guerra del fin del mundo) (excerpt) by Mario Vargas Llosa (1981).
The man was tall and so thin he seemed to be always in profile. He was dark-skinned and rawboned, and his eyes burned with perpetual fire. He wore shepherd’s sandals and the dark purple tunic draped over his body called to mind the cassocks of those missionaries who every so often visited the villages of the backlands, baptizing hordes of children and marrying men and women who were cohabiting. It was impossible to learn what his age, his background, his life story were, but there was something about his quiet manner, his frugal habits, his imperturbable gravity that attracted people even before he offered counsel.
He spoke of simple and important things, not looking at any person in particular among those who surrounded him, or rather looking with his incandescent eyes beyond the circle of oldsters, men and women, children, at something or someone only he could see. Things that were understandable because they had been vaguely known since time immemorial, things taken in along with the milk of one’s mother’s breast.
In the eyes of everyone, his teachings appeared to be good ones and therefore, first in one and then in another and finally in all the towns of the North, the man who gave such counsel began to be known as the Counselor, despite the fact that his Christian name was Antônio Vicente and his last name Mendes Maciel.
—
El hombre era alto y tan flaco que parecía siempre de perfil. Su piel era oscura, sus huesos prominentes y sus ojos ardían con fuego perpetuo. Calzaba sandalias de pastor y la túnica morada que le caía sobre el cuerpo recordaba el hábito de esos misioneros que, de cuando en cuando, visitaban los pueblos del sertón bautizando muchedumbres de niños y casando a las parejas amancebadas. Era imposible saber su edad, su procedencia, su historia, pero algo había en su facha tranquila, en sus costumbres frugales, en su imperturbable seriedad que, aun antes de que diera consejos, atraía a las gentes.
Hablaba de cosas sencillas e importantes, sin mirar a nadie en especial de la gente que le rodeaba, o más bien, mirando, con sus ojos incandescentes, a través del corro de viejos,mujeres, hombres y niños, algo o alguien que sólo él podía ver. Cosas que se entendían porque eran oscuramente sabidas desde tiempos inmemoriales y que uno aprendía con la leche que mamaba.
A todos parecían buenos consejos y por eso, al principio en uno y luego en otro y al final en todos los pueblos del Norte, al hombre que los daba, aunque su nombre era Antonio Vicente y su apellido Mendes Maciel, comenzaron a llamarlo el Consejero.
