The mysteries of power in the Republic of Doumarie in Death of a Poet (1981) by Michel Del Castillo

Abstract

Michel Del Castillo's novel Death of a Poet was published in 1989, before the collapse of totalitarian systems in eastern countries. It is an autobiographical fiction. The action takes place in 1988. The narrator, Igor Védoz, relates the last events of the fall of a dictator, Marshal Carol Oussek, the "Guide" of an imaginary republic, Doumaria, a country located in the center of central Europe. It’s a reflection on absolute power. The intrigue is built on a detective plot. The investigation carried out by Igor Védoz allows us to glimpse some of the secret mysteries of power in this "Socialist, democratic and peaceful Republic of Doumaria". What does it reveal about the death of this dictator, a victim of himself, within the mysterious arcana of his own power? How is the story built on a police mystery, the discovery of multiple machinations and the secrecy of a fraud?