Clipperton

Pablo Raphael (2014). Clipperton. México: Literatura Random House - Círculo Editorial Azteca, 459 pp. ISBN: 978-607-312-719-6. US$18.30; Mx$329.

Clipperton is an island that once belonged to Mexico, but nowadays is a French overseas territory. It is located in the Pacific Ocean; with regard to its natural configuration it has been classified as an atoll, and with regard to its dimensions and inhabitability, as an islet. Throughout the last four centuries, it has been given various names in maps from different eras (Isla de la Pasión, Médanos, and some lesser-known ones such as Farallón Blanco, San Pablo or San Bartolomé), but Clipperton, the name of the corsair who used the island as his hideout in the 18th century, prevailed over all the other names. Pablo Raphael chose this name, which represents both the island and the pirate, as a compelling title for his work, and with that idea he weaves the content of the book, written in ten years of painstaking research whose results were captured in many drafts before the book came out.

The novel is divided in three parts: 'Universal history of the Island', 'The Nao de China', and 'Apocalypse or The End of the Voices'. The first section is, without a doubt, the richest narratively speaking. In it, a real discourse (historic facts) is intertwined with a fictional one created by the novelist. With these elements, Raphael weaves an outstanding fabric.

In the first part, the section 'General Chronicle of those who have ruled the Realm of Clipperton' is worth noting. Concentrated here are the core moments of interest in the island's Mexican history. One of these revolves around the arrival in the early 20th century of a group of military men and their families. The detachment, led by Captain Ramón Arnaud, was sent to occupy the island and safeguard its sovereignty, but they were left on their own without provisions during the years of the Mexican Revolution. This has been highly interesting to Mexican novelists, jurists and...