Two lives: that of Flora Tristán, who puts all her efforts into the struggle for the rights of women and workers, and that of Paul Gauguin, the man who discovers his passion for painting and abandons his bourgeois existence to travel to Tahiti in search of a world uncontaminated by conventions. Two conceptions of sex: that of Flora, who only sees in it an instrument of male dominance, and that of Gauguin, who considers it an essential vital force placed at the service of his creativity. Vargas Llosa reveals in this novel the link between two opposing characters: to reach a paradise where happiness is possible.
Two lives: that of Flora Tristán, who puts all her efforts into the struggle for the rights of women and workers, and that of Paul Gauguin, the man who discovers his passion for painting and abandons his bourgeois existence to travel to Tahiti in search of a world uncontaminated by conventions. Two conceptions of sex: that of Flora, who only sees in it an instrument of male dominance, and that of Gauguin, who considers it an essential vital force placed at the service of his creativity. Vargas Llosa reveals in this novel the link between two opposing characters: to reach a paradise where happiness is possible.