Today is November 11. San Martin. And you already know: this day comes to every pig. Also in literature. I take a look at these 6 books where pigs are the protagonists directly or indirectly, or in an allegorical or real way. They are stories of such diverse tones and authors Bioy Casares, Tusset or George Orwell and his Napoleon, without a doubt the most famous pig in literature.
The pig. Story of a badly loved cousin - Michel Pastoureau
Michel Pastoreau is a prestigious French historian best known for his books and monographs on the colors, animal symbols or heraldry. In this book neither more nor less dares to tell us the history of pigs, called in a thousand ways. We have them so close and at the same time we are quite unaware of them, so Pastoreau claims them here.
Always relegated to his worst image as symbols of dirt and gluttony, seemed unworthy of attention for the story. But not anymore. In fact, all animals can be protagonists and the story of the pig in the end turns out to be the meeting point of many disciplines and paths. Therefore, this book is quite curious and entertaining and it's worth a look.
Daisy among the pigs - Pedro Badran
Published in 2017, this book tells nine detective and black stories written by the Colombian writer Pedro Badrán. Its protagonist is the detective Ulysses Lopera, marginal and civil servant of a corrupt prosecutor's office. But he is not the typical detective, almost like a hero, who reasons and calculates his movements well, but rather a contradictory man who is at the mercy of evil and also falls into it. And that also arouses both sympathy and empathy from readers.
In the name of the pig - Pablo Tusset
Tusset became a best seller with The best thing that can happen to a croissant. This novel stars her Commissioner Pujol, who is about to retire, has to investigate the death of a woman slaughtered and butchered as in the slaughterhouse. A piece of paper has been found in his mouth some words in capital letters: IN THE NAME OF THE PIG. The mystery and also irony they are mixed in an impressive narrative that seeks to capture the reader both for the well-constructed plot and for that way of narrating.
The Super Fantastic Adventures of Yo Pig - Emer Stamp
Emer Stamp lives in London and is writer and illustrator. She is the author of these illustrated books that also includes Pig's incredible top secret diary. Ideal for childish or not so childish audience. In this story Pig asks us for help because he considers himself the dumbest in the world and his friends, Duck, Cow and Sheep, they are lost in a very strange place that they don't like. He also asks us not to tell anyone what we are reading because it is full of his most unspeakable secrets.
Pig War Diary - Adolfo Bioy Casares
Bioy Casares was one of the great Argentine writers contemporaries. Close friend of Jorge Luis Borges, among his books we have several novels such as The invention of Morel o Escape plan, to which are added stories, essays and crime books written with Borges.
In this title we have the retiree Isidore Vidal that one day he discovers that there is violent youth gangs threatening the elderly without apparent or understandable reasons. A struggle between generations in the form of pessimistic fantasy but with a touch of daily life and manners.
Rebelion on the farm - George Orwell
And I end up with possibly the most famous pig in literature, Napoleon, the protagonist of this satire of the Russian Revolution and the triumph of Stalinism, written by George Orwell in 1945. Landmark of contemporary culture, it is one of the most scathing books of all time.
The manor farm animal rebellion is all a tReported how the seeds of totalitarianism seep in his apparently ideal organization that leads the party of the pigs with its charismatic leader Napoleon at the head and also with his other side of the most cruel oppressor. His reading is always recommended, and it is much more so in these times that we live in.