Hallucinations

In the brilliant tradition of <i>Don Quixote</i> and <i>Candide</i> this passionate novel by the author of <i>Before Night Falls</i> is a modern masterpiece of Latin American fiction. Fray Servando--priest blasphemer dueler of monsters irresistible lover misunderstood prophet prisoner and consummate escape artist--wanders among the vice-ridden populations of eighteenth-century Europe and the Americas fleeing dungeons a marriage-minded woman a slave ship captain and the Inquisition. Whether by burro by boat or by the back of a whale Fray Servando's journey is at once funny and romantic melancholy and profound--a tale rooted in history yet outrageously hallucinatory. <p/> An impenitent amalgam of truth and invention historical fact and outrageous make-believe . . . a philosophical black comedy.--<i>The New York Times</i>