The War Of The End Of The World - Opening

The man was tall and so thin he seemed to be always in profile. He was dark-skinned and rawboned, and his eyes burned with perpetual fire. He wore shepherd's sandals and the dark purple tunic draped over his body called to mind the cassocks of those missionaries who every so often visited the villages of the backlands, baptizing hordes of children and marrying men and women who were cohabiting.

To EUCLIDES DA CUNHA
in the other world;
and, in this world,
to NELDA PINON

First published in the United States of America
by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Inc. 1984
Published in Penguin Books 1997

Originally published in Spanish as La Guerra del fin del mundo
by Editorial Seix Barral, S.A., Spain

Printed in the United States of America
Set in Aldus
Designed by Cynthia Krupat