Still fathoming Terra Nostra by Fuentes.

I am at 695 pages still at sea with this thing. It’s harder than hell to tell just what he is up to here. It seems to be some kind of historical monograph on the conquest and Spain’s failure to take the better of many roads when it came into European ascendancy in the 16th century. AND that Spain’s great writers – Cervantes, Fernando de Rojas – and artists had some idea of the correct road to take.

Thus the blending of fictional and historical characters. Even so, the thing is striking me as monstrous and self-indulgent to a degree not to be believed.