Review by Frank Plowright
Anyone coming across The Gold of Peru as a single volume will read a superbly drawn selection of stories about a Spanish adventurer in 17th century South America, featuring whimsy, spiritual contemplation and respect for local people. However, readers of the previous three collections may feel writer Carlos Trillo by late 1981 was retreading old ground.
We again have Alvar Mayor on a treasure hunt with a glamorous woman, again accompanied by companions others would shun, but toward whom he’s tolerantly indulgent, and again by a learned man combating his weaknesses. There are more stories of dream encounters and the corrupt elite, although here Trillo works in different themes, but there’s no escaping the déjà vu over the first half.
For the second half Trillo locates his inspiration again. The regular themes of lost love, treasure and spirituality engage with greater emotion, fused with moments where madness or romanticism prevails. As good as this is, the instant attraction is formed with Enrique Breccia’s art. Few artists contrast black with white so starkly, and few make such ambitious use of white space. Breccia will supply large panels with minimal strokes of black ink indicating a bird in the distance or a slashing sword, yet the composition is such that they’re striking. Elsewhere he’ll lovingly detail an open window and its shadow or a parade of unlikely warriors, and his splash pages end stories rather than begin them. Because Trillo deals so much in archetypes, women are almost all beautiful, but Brecchia’s characterisation of men avoids heroic looking figures, and many exercising power are deliberately corpulent and ugly. Mayor has a distinctive hooked nose and deep set eyes, usually hidden in the shadow of his hat, but for once revealed in a tale about a barber. Page after page here is a matter of awe.
Three of these stories were previously available in paperback as Death and Silver (also including one from The Three Deaths of Alvar Mayor), where muddy reproduction impaired the enjoyment of Breccia’s art in places. The same film seems to have been used here. Comparing ‘Decks and Destinies’ and ‘The Amulet’ with earlier stories, the difference is very apparent. Comparing the translation with the 1989 book also reveals a lack of nuance here.
Trillo and Beccia conclude with two tales of Mayor’s father, weaving historical fact into the fiction. It’s the only time where Breccia drops the stark contrast of his art, and it doesn’t have the same impact, especially the first story, which seems rushed. The second is more refined, with stronger portraits, but neither ranks among the book’s best content.
Excellent in places, in others The Gold of Peru indicates Trillo coasting and perhaps losing interest, and be warned that one story features a rape scene accompanied by some moral ambivalence on Mayor’s part. It may be true to the 17th century, but reads badly now.
All four volumes of Alvar Mayor are available in a slipcased box set Masterwork Edition.
