Synopsis

The Parade of Love —at once a historical fresco, a gripping detective investigation, and a hilarious comedy of errors—confirms Sergio Pitol as one of the most remarkable and distinctive Latin American writers. Mexico, 1942: this country has just declared war on Germany, and its capital has recently been invaded by the most unusual and colorful characters: German communists, Spanish republicans, Trotsky and his disciples, Mimí the milliner, Balkan kings, agents from all sorts of secret services, and wealthy Jewish financiers.

Many years later, after the chance discovery of some documents, a historian intrigued by this fascinating context attempts to solve a perplexing murder committed when he was ten years old. The narrative—which traverses the eccentric poles of Mexican society, the corridors of high politics, the established intelligentsia , and their most extravagant offshoots—allows Sergio Pitol not only to paint a rich and varied gallery of characters but also to reflect on the impossibility of attaining truth. As in a Tirso de Molina comedy, no one knows for sure who is who, confusions abound, and the result is this delightful parade, which aptly bears the name of one of Lubitsch's most famous comedies.

The parade of love won the Herralde Novel Prize in its second edition, in 1984, awarded unanimously by the following jury: Salvador Clotas, Juan Cueto, Luis Goytisolo, Esther Tusquets and the editor Jorge Herralde.