Notes: Maqroll

Álvaro Mutis, the Colombian poet and novelist who created one of Latin American literature’s more memorable characters, the rambling and ruminative Maqroll, an inadvertent explorer of jungles and his own jaded soul for whom life seemed a long and futile boat ride, mostly upriver, often running aground, died on Sept. 22 in Mexico City. He was 90…

Maqroll is of indeterminate origin, nationality, age and physiognomy. He is not evidently from Latin America and does not represent anything particularly Latin American in character. Maqroll is a solitary traveler who brings a stranger’s detachment to his encounters and his lovers; he searches for meaning in a time of violence and inhumanity. 

Umm… that Maqroll fellow sounds oddly familiar - sort of like me.

Maqroll, the lookout. Adventurer, oceanlover, intense and devoted but temporary lover, entrepreneur of dubious and sometimes functional schemes - Maqroll’s wanderings take him throughout the world.

South American of indeterminate origin, entrepreneur of schemes, looking for meaning, detached from encounters and lovers…ocean lover. umm…