78
subject of mysterious hablador which seemed to be important among Machiguengas, a community which Saúl had ever encountered Llosa, 1989: 93.
However, the narrator was about astonished when precisely Saúl did not show any interest when he presented the hablador subject. He was not fascinated
as he used to be when hearing about natives‘ story. Saúl, on the other hand,
thought that the hablador subject was only created by the whites doing research in Machiguengas settlements. ‗Well don‘t let your imagination runaway with you.
I‘ll bet it‘s those gringos who told you that story about storytellers,‘ Llosa, 1989: 94.
Up to this point, the conflicts were still on the subject of the natives. Two important things happened in these conflicts. The first one was that the narrator
contemplated differently about the things he saw from the natives. He precisely still insisted on arguing that development was needed for the Peruvian. The
second one was when he had all the things he wanted to discuss with Saúl especially related to hablador subject, apparently Saúl‘s did not show his
fascination as he used to be. This was led him to have other questions related to Saúl‘s response.
3. The Conflicts Related to the Subject of Hablador
The series of conflicts in this part do not involve Saúl Zuratas anymore. Saúl‘s figure only appeared in the narrator‘s mind and his discussion with other
characters. Thus, the conflicts are about the narrator‘s conflicts with his questions
and arguments that had never been satisfied.
79
The conflicts of hablador subject appeared because the narrator thought this did not attract Saúl although it had relation with Machiguenga. It made the
narrator became more curious. He did not believe that the hablador story was only created by the Schneils. He precisely suspected that Saúl hid something about the
story of this figure. He revealed his suspicion in this way. But the memory that remained etched on my mind was, rather, his evasive
answer and his incomprehensible lack of interest in a subject−the Machiguengas storytellers−which I‘d thought that he‘d be all excited
about. Was it really lack of interest? Of course not. I know now that he pretended not to be interested and lied to me when, on being backed into a
corner by my questions, he assured me that he‘d never heard a word about any such storytellers Llosa, 1989: 94-95.
The subject of hablador kept coming in t he narrator‘s mind especially
because Saúl did not seem to be interested in that mysterious figure. As he moved to Spain for postgraduate degree he still thought about hablador and even made a
little research about it. When he found it difficult to get information about this figure, he expected to Saúl to help him but apparently his best friend seem to be
disappear. None of his letters to him was replied Llosa, 1989: 103-106. I must have sent him the third one a year or so later, since by then I was in
Paris. I took him to task for his stubborn silence and confessed that I‘d
given up the idea of writing about habladores. I filled any numbers of composition books with my scribbling and spent many hours in the Place
du Trocadéro, in the library of the Musée de l‘Homme and in front of its
display cases, trying in vain to understand the storytellers, to intuit what they were like. The voices of the ones that I‘d contrived sounded all
wrong. So I had resigned myself to writing other stories. But what was he doing? How was he getting on? What had he been doing all this time, and
what were his plans? Llosa, 1989: 106.
In his confusion finding about hablador and his best friend‘s news, the narrator unexpectedly got news about Saúl. He was told that Saúl moved to Israel
together with his father for a devotion to his father who wanted to die there. But
80
once again, the narrator certainly did not believe the news for he knew that Saúl‘s bringing peaceful spirit he learned from the Indians would not let him easily
moving to a place where war was like daily activity. Instead, he let his presumption hanging on his mind. It is explained in this way.
Unlike Matos Mar, I didn‘t think Saúl would have found Alyah easy going. Because he was, viscerally, a part of Peru, too torn and revolted by
Peruvian affairs−one of them at least−to cast everything aside overnight, the way one changes shirts. I often tried to imagine him in the Middle
East. Knowing him, I could readily foresee that in his new country the Palestine question and the occupied territories would confront Saúl
Zuratas, the Israeli citizen, with all sorts of moral dilemmas. My mind wandered, trying to see him in his new surroundings, jabbering away in his
new language, going about his new job−what was it?−and I prayed to Tasurinchi that no bullet might have come Mascarita‘s way in the wars
and border incidents in Israel since he‘d arrived there Llosa, 1989: 108. Up to this point, the conflicts are revealed quite clear. For whatever
subject related to Indians that the narrator got, he always feel haunted by Saúl‘s
figure. He always felt that Saúl deserved to know and to give his response related to Indians‘ issues he presented. However, it seems that his thirst of having a
debate with Saúl got stuck when he told about mysterious Machiguenga storyteller called hablador. He felt that for this quite amazing subject, Saúl
precisely showed no fascination and even judge that it was only a fake story. It made him become more curious and when he was told that Saúl had moved to
Israel, he easily refused to believe. Thus, the conflicts presented explained the narrator‘s curiosity of Saúl‘s figure.
The question of figure of hablador and where Saúl belonged was seemed to be revealed when in 1981, he worked six months in a television channel and
was in charge of a program called Tower of Babel. He and some friends were
