Boulevard of Heroes

Although esteemed translator Rabassa calls the Colombian Garcia Aguilar a member of the second wave of the Latin American Boom, the writing in this novel seems disjointed, and the author's ``magic realism'' results merely in a confusing chronology and abrupt, unexplained transitions. Petronio ``Crazy'' Rincon, an idealistic revolutionary, follows a path from the Andes to Paris to a surreal land. The various episodes in his life carry charming if somewhat heavy symbolism: while living in exile in Paris he works as caretaker for a circus elephant who appears to long for Africa and has trouble adjusting to city life. Eventually Petronio enters ``the zone of forgetfulness,'' the province of those who seek utopia, where the Republic of Libertilandia is established and illogic appears to reign supreme. The most interesting points here are not about politics but about life in exile, as when Garcia Aguilar notes that the farther Petronio was from his homeland ``the greater was the excitation of his spirit.'' The translation is often too literal, resulting in phrases such as ``he . . . became a typical little lawyer of the cold earth.'' (Dec.)