Showing posts with label Mario Vargas Llosa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mario Vargas Llosa. Show all posts

Sunday

Acquisitions (98): Mario Vargas Llosa


Mario Vargas Llosa: Harsh Times (2019 / 2021)



Mario Vargas Llosa (1936- )



Mario Vargas Llosa: Harsh Times (2021)
[BookMark, Devonport - 14/8/2023]:

Mario Vargas Llosa. Harsh Times. 2019. Trans. Adrian Nathan West. London: Faber, 2021.


Mario Vargas Llosa: Tiempos recios (2019)

The City and the Dogs

They are all gone into the world of light!
And I alone sit lingering here
...

Does it feel a bit like that for Mario Vargas Llosa at times? They're all gone now, all those other miraculous writers of the Latin-American "boom" ...


José Donoso: Historia personal del boom (1972)
[l-to-r: Gabriel García Márquez, Mario Vargas Llosa, Julio Cortázar, Carlos Fuentes & José Donoso]


The expatriate Argentine Julio Cortázar went first, in 1984, at the comparatively early age of 69; then the Chilean José Donoso in 1996, at 72. After that they went thick and fast: The Mexican Carlos Fuentes in 2012, at 83; Gabo, the Colombian, at 87 in 2014.

The only one of the "big four" left now is the golden-tongued Peruvian Vargas Llosa himself, having finally achieved his goal of winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2010, four decades after his former friend and rival García Márquez. He, too, is now 87.


Antonio Ruíz: El sueño de la Malinche [Malinche's Dream] (1939)


When I was writing my Doctoral thesis on "Versions of South America in English Literature" in Edinburgh in the late 1980s, these writers were my stock in trade. I was even fortunate enough to attend a university seminar by José Donoso, as well as a public lecture by Mario Vargas Llosa. I was far too bashful to speak to either of them, mind you.

There's considerable debate over when the "Boom" actually began: who was its progenitor, so to speak:
While most critics agree that the Boom started some time in the 1960s, there is some disagreement as to which work should be considered the first Boom novel. Some (such as Alfred McAdam) would start with Julio Cortázar's Hopscotch [Rayuela] ... from 1963 while others prefer Vargas Llosa's The Time of the Hero (La ciudad y los perros [The City and the Dogs]) which won the Biblioteca Breve Award in 1962. Fernando Alegria considers Augusto Roa Bastos' Hijo de hombre [Son of Man] the inaugural work of the Boom even though, as Shaw notes, it was published in 1959. One could, however, even go as far back as Miguel Ángel Asturias's 1949 novel Men of Maize.
- Wikipedia: Latin American Boom
Once you start on that game, there's no real end to it. Alejo Carpentier's proto-magic realist novel El reino de este mundo [The Kingdom of this World] (1949) is a very important precursor, as is Juan Rulfo's Pedro Páramo (1955).

Is it even possible to exclude the great-grand-daddy of them all, Jorge Luis Borges, from the equation? True, he never wrote a novel but, as French critic André Maurois puts it:
Borges is a great writer who has composed only little essays or short narratives. Yet they suffice for us to call him great because of their wonderful intelligence, their wealth of invention, and their tight, almost mathematical style.
Better to be safe than sorry, I think, so I've decided to include all of the above (along with maverick pop-culture enthusiasts Guillermo Cabrera Infante and Manuel Puig) in the list of bibliographies at the foot of this post. There are twelve of these in all, made up to a baker's dozen by a very selective list of anthologies and critical works on the subject.

I haven't, however, gone on to include any of the many, many authors associated with the (so-called) "post-boom": Argentinian Luisa Valenzuela, Chileans Isabel Allende and Roberto Bolaño, Uruguayan Cristina Peri Rossi, and so on. Nor have I included any of the Brazilian writers (Jorge Amado and Clarice Lispector prominent among them) who could be reasonably associated with the Boom era. Something for another day, perhaps.

One thing's for certain, as the list of names above will make abundantly obvious, Latin-American literature is now, in the 21st century, a far less male-dominated field. It is, perhaps, no less politicised, though in a significantly different way ...


Gabriel García Márquez: Cien años de soledad (1967)


In any case, whenever (and wherever) it started, Mario Vargas Llosa has been at the centre of this movement from the beginning, both as a writer and a critic. His 1971 Doctoral-thesis-turned-critical-book García Márquez: historia de un deicidio [García Márquez: The Story of a God-killer] played a major part in the canonisation of One Hundred Years of Solitude [Cien años de soledad] (1967) as the central Boom masterpiece.

Which is rather ironic, as shortly after its publication the two men fell out - first for personal, then for political reasons (their differing views of the Cuban revolution) - and Vargas Llosa has never allowed this particular book to be reprinted. And it's fair to say that it took quite some time for his own work to emerge from under the shadow of his Colombian contemporary's massive world-wide fame.


Mario Vargas Llosa: La casa verde [The Green House] (1966)


Vargas Llosa's first three novels are fantastically dense, almost Faulknerian studies of the lifestyles - and moral compromises - of Peruvian society and politics in the 1950s. They're linguistically inventive, stylistically innovative, and powerfully structured. La ciudad y los perros (1963) makes a kind of parable out of the author's own schooldays in Lima. La casa verde - probably the most enduring of the three - centres on the doings in a certain brothel in Amazonia; whereas Conversación en la catedral (1969) records a single conversation in a bar, with an almost infinite set of ramifications branching out from each line of dialogue.

This is boom writing at its best. In fact, one could argue that Vargas Llosa has never surpassed, or even equalled, the ingenuity lavished on this early trilogy of novels. Collectively, they remain a landmark in Latin American literature.


Mario Vargas Llosa: Pantaleón y las Visitadoras [Captain Pantoja and the Special Service] (1973)


So where do you go after that? Vargas Llosa chose to reinvent himself completely. No more ponderous studies of colonial corruption and violence - instead, he decided to approach these themes through humour and linguistic absurdity. Pantaleón y las visitadoras, the first of these novels, tells the story of a "special service" of prostitutes provided to servicemen in Amazonia, poorly concealed under a cloak of bureaucratic verbiage and officialese. It's a very funny novel, which reprises the themes of La casa verde in a completely different way.

He followed it up with an even bolder leap into the unknown: La tía Julia y el escribidor [Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter] (1977) retold the events of his own early life, with the admixture of an imaginary hack serial-writer, whose multiple stories were all starting to fold in on each other in an increasingly chaotic blizzard of clichés. This remains his most famous and successful novel, having even survived a dreadfully cack-handed Hollywood adaptation with Barbara Hershey and Peter Falk. It revisits not only the world of his first novel The Time of the Hero, but also that of the early stories collected in Los jefes [The Cubs] (1959).

This incredibly fruitful period in his literary life culminated in yet another international bestseller, La guerra del fin del mundo [The War of the End of the World] (1981), which I wrote about extensively in my Doctoral thesis. There I compared it to two other versions of the same basic set of events: the classic Brazilian account Os Sertões [Rebellion in the Backlands] (1902), by sociologist Euclides da Cunha, and a more straightforward history, A Brazilian Mystic (1920), by Scottish adventurer R. B. Cunninghame Graham.


Mario Vargas Llosa: El hablador [The Storyteller] (1987)


After that Vargas Llosa's work became more difficult to characterise - let alone predict. There were political satires, such as Historia de Mayta [The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta] (1984) and Los cuadernos de don Rigoberto [The Notebooks of Don Rigoberto] (1997). There were detective novels, such as ¿Quién mató a Palomino Molero? [Who Killed Palomino Molero?] (1986) and its sequel Lituma en los Andes [Death in the Andes] (1993). There were risqué sex comedies, such as Elogio de la madrastra [In Praise of the Stepmother] (1988), and Travesuras de la niña mala [The Bad Girl] (2006).

There are certainly some highpoints amongst all these middle-period novels. Death in the Andes is a powerful read, as is El hablador, pictured above. Even the latter is more of a great idea for a novel than a great novel, though. Interestingly enough, much the same approach, interspersing Indian folktales with the contemporary story of despoliation of the Amazon, was taken by British playwright Christopher Hampton in his at-least-equally-accomplished 1970s play Savages.


Christopher Hampton: Savages (1974)


Perhaps Vargas Llosa's multifaceted life as politician, cultural commentator, and general pundit had begun to distract him from his central calling as a novelist. His work in the theatre, though certainly very successful at times, cannot really be said to be on the same level. In fact, it wasn't until 2000, and the appearance of his dictator novel La fiesta del chivo [The Feast of the Goat], that he could really be said to have added another bona fide masterpiece to those first two trilogies.


Mario Vargas Llosa: La fiesta del chivo [The Feast of the Goat] (2001)


I made some remarks about this book in a 2018 post on "Novelists in their 80s." Suffice it to say here that it's a terrifyingly visceral piece of work, fully comparable to such early works as La casa verde or Conversación en la catedral. More to the point, it's a major contribution to that strange literary subgenre called the Latin American dictator novel.

Major works in this tradition, which could be said to have culminated in Vargas Llosa's novel, include:



  1. Miguel Ángel Asturias: El Señor Presidente [The President] (1946)



  2. Alejo Carpentier: El recurso del método [Reasons of State] (1974)



  3. Augusto Roa Bastos: Yo el Supremo [I the Supreme] (1974)



  4. Gabriel García Márquez: El otoño del patriarca [Autumn of the Patriarch] (1975)



  5. Luisa Valenzuela: Cola de lagartija [The Lizard's Tail] (1983)



  6. Tomás Eloy Martínez: La novela de Perón [The Perón Novel] (1985)


I'd recommend all of the above for further reading (particularly I the Supreme, which I myself consider one of the great novels of the twentieth century). What's striking about them collectively, though, is how very diverse they are. Not one of them simply repeats a formula, or relies on few "dictator" clichés to keep them going.

The subject of Latin American dictatorships is, apparently, almost as inexhaustible as the long succession of human freaks who have inhabited that role, from Juan Manuel de Rosas in the mid-nineteenth century to Nicolás Maduro in the present day.


Mario Vargas Llosa: El sueño del celta [The Dream of the Celt] (2010)


After two rather odd, though certainly very readable historical novels, El paraíso en la otra esquina [The Way to Paradise] (2003) and The Dream of the Celt, Vargas Llosa published two rather tepid social novels, El héroe discreto [The Discreet Hero] (2013) and Cinco esquinas [The Neighborhood] (2016) before his latest, the one I've highlighted at the head of this post, Tiempos recios [Harsh Times] (2019).

While it occupies fictional territory adjacent - or should one say peripheral? - to The Feast of the Goat, Harsh Times lacks the fierce passion of its predecessor. Nothing Vargas Llosa writes can be without interest, but after so illustrious a career, it's hard to see this book as any great adjunct to his diadem.

It's a shame, as it would have been great to see the old man go out on some Goya-like shriek from the abyss. Who knows, though? He's not dead yet - that transcendent last novel, or even set of novels, may be yet to come! I for one will be watching. In the meantime, though, his back catalogue provides enough entertainment - if not, exactly, edification - for more than a month of Sundays.

And if you've somehow skipped the highpoints of Latin American fiction to date, or - what amounts to the same thing - have confined your reading to one or two of the works of Gabriel García Márquez, I'd definitely recommend some (or all) of the authors listed below to your attention:


Evangeline Gallagher: Illustration for Harsh Times (2021)





Latin American Boom (2016)

Latin American Boom Writers

For a while at the height of the Boom, during the 1960s and 70s, it seemed as if every country in Latin America had to have its own great writer and its own great canonical novel. As you'll see from the listings below, this is somewhat of an over-simplification.

That row of huge, simultaneously magic-realist, modernist and politically progressive masterpieces - ranging from One Hundred Years of Solitude to Hopscotch to The Time of the Hero to The Death of Artemio Cruz - remains a somewhat daunting challenge to contemporary writers in the region, however.

It's not so much that they can't be surpassed, one suspects, as that it's become increasingly difficult to maintain the focus of the global reading public on this one region of world culture. Here they all are, in any case, the stars of this golden age of Latin-American fiction:
  1. Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986)
  2. Miguel Ángel Asturias (1899-1974)
  3. Alejo Carpentier (1904-1980)
  4. Julio Cortázar (1914-1984)
  5. Juan Rulfo (1917-1986)
  6. Augusto Roa Bastos (1917-2005)
  7. José Donoso (1924-1996)
  8. Gabriel García Márquez (1927-2014)
  9. Carlos Fuentes (1928-2012)
  10. Guillermo Cabrera Infante (1929-2005)
  11. Manuel Puig (1932-1990)
  12. Mario Vargas Llosa (1936- )
  13. Anthologies & Secondary Literature
Books I own are marked in bold:

Julio Cortázar, Carlos Fuentes, Gabriel García Márquez, Mario Vargas Llosa: Las cartas del Boom (2023)





Grete Stern: Jorge Luis Borges (1951)



ARGENTINA (1)
Jorge Luis Borges has been called the greatest Latin American writer never to receive the Nobel prize. He never wrote a novel, preferring to work in the shorter forms of essays, poems and short stories. Probably his most influential book - in the English-speaking world, at any rate - is the 1964 collection Labyrinths.

    Poetry:

  1. Fervor de Buenos Aires (1923)
  2. Luna de Enfrente (1925)
  3. Cuaderno San Martín (1929)
  4. Poemas: 1922-1943 (1943)
  5. Poemas: 1923-1953 (1954)
  6. Para las seis cuerdas (1965)
  7. Museo (1969)
  8. Elogio de la Sombra (1969)
  9. El otro, el mismo (1969)
  10. Selected Poems 1923-1967: A Bilingual Edition. Ed. Norman Thomas di Giovanni (1972)
    • Selected Poems 1923-1967: A Bilingual Edition. Ed. Norman Thomas di Giovanni. 1972. A Delta Book. New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc, 1979.
  11. El oro de los tigres (1972)
  12. La Rosa Profunda (1975)
  13. La moneda de hierro (1976)
  14. Historia de la noche (1977)
  15. Poesía Juvenil de J. L. Borges, 1919-1922. Ed. Carlos Meneses (1978)
  16. La cifra (1981)
  17. Los conjurados (1985)
  18. Selected Poems. Ed. Alexander Coleman (1999)
    • Selected Poems. Ed. Alexander Coleman. London: Allen Lane The Penguin Press, 1999.
  19. Poems of the Night. Ed. Efrain Kristal (2010)
    • Poems of the Night: A Dual-Language Edition with Parallel Text. Ed. Efrain Kristal. General Editor Suzanne Jill Levine. Penguin Classics. London: Penguin, 2010.
  20. The Sonnets. Ed. Stephen Kessler (2010)
    • The Sonnets: A Dual-Language Edition with Parallel Text. Ed. Stephen Kessler. General Editor Suzanne Jill Levine. Penguin Classics. London: Penguin, 2010.

  21. Fiction:

  22. El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan (1941)
  23. [with Adolfo Bioy Casares; as 'H. Bustos Domecq'] Seis problemas para don Isidro Parodi (1942)
    • [with Adolfo Bioy-Casares] Six Problems for Don Isidro Parodí. 1942. Trans. Norman Thomas di Giovanni. Allen Lane. London: Penguin Books Ltd., 1981.
  24. Ficciones (1944)
    • Ficciones: El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan / Artificios. 1941, 1944 & 1956. El libro de Bolsillo. 1981. Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1987.
    • Fictions. 1944. Ed. Anthony Kerrigan. 1962. A Jupiter Book. London: John Calder (Publishers) Ltd., 1965.
  25. [with Adolfo Bioy Casares; as 'B. Suarez Lynch'] Un modelo para la muerte (1946)
  26. [with Adolfo Bioy Casares] Dos fantasías memorables (1946)
  27. El Aleph (1949)
    • The Aleph and Other Stories, 1933-1969: Together with Commentaries and an Autobiographical Essay. 1967. Ed. & trans. Norman Thomas di Giovanni in collaboration with the author. 1970. A Dutton Paperback. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1978.
  28. La muerte y la brújula [selected short stories] (1951)
  29. [with Luisa Mercedes Levinson] La hermana de Eloísa (1955)
  30. El Hacedor (1960)
    • Dreamtigers: Translated from El Hacedor (The Maker). 1960. Trans. Mildred Boyer & Harold Morland. Introduction by Miguel Enguídanos. Woodcuts by Antonio Frasconi. 1964. Austin & London: University Of Texas Press, 1978.
  31. Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings. Ed. Donald A. Yates & James E. Irby (1964)
    • Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings. Ed. Donald A. Yates & James E. Irby. Preface by André Maurois. 1964. Penguin Modern Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1979.
    • Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings. Ed. Donald A. Yates & James E. Irby. Preface by André Maurois. 1964. Penguin Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2000.
  32. [with Adolfo Bioy Casares] Crónicas de Bustos Domecq (1967)
    • [with Adolfo Bioy-Casares] Chronicles of Bustos Domecq. 1967. Trans. Norman Thomas di Giovanni. 1979. Allen Lane. London: Penguin Books Ltd., 1982.
  33. El informe de Brodie (1970)
    • Doctor Brodie’s Report. 1970. Trans. Norman Thomas di Giovanni in collaboration with the author. 1972. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1976.
  34. El congreso (1971)
  35. [with Adolfo Bioy Casares] Nuevos Cuentos de Bustos Domecq (1972)
  36. El libro de arena (1975)
    • The Book of Sand / The Gold of the Tigers: Selected Later Poems. 1972 & 1975. Trans. Norman Thomas di Giovanni / Alastair Reid. 1977. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1980.
  37. Rosa y Azul: La rosa de Paracelso; Tigres azules (1977)
  38. Veinticinco de Agosto de 1983 y otros cuentos [aka 'La memoria de Shakespeare'] (1983)
  39. [with María Kodama] Atlas (1984)
  40. La Intrusa y otros cuentos. Ed. Elisabeth Bezault & Annie Chambuat (1989)
    • La Intrusa y otros cuentos. Ed. Elisabeth Bezault & Annie Chambuat. Lire en espagnol. Paris: Le Livre de Poche, 1989.

  41. Non-fiction:

  42. Inquisiciones (1925)
  43. El tamaño de mi esperanza (1925)
  44. El idioma de los argentinos (1928)
  45. Evaristo Carriego (1930)
  46. Discusión (1932)
  47. Historia universal de la infamia (1935)
    • A Universal History of Infamy. 1935. Trans. Norman Thomas di Giovanni. 1972. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1975.
  48. Historia de la eternidad (1936)
  49. Aspectos de la poesía gauchesca (1950)
  50. [with Delia Ingenieros] Antiguas literaturas germánicas (1951)
  51. Otras inquisiciones 1937-1952 (1952)
    • Other Inquisitions 1937-1952. 1952. Trans. Ruth L. C. Simms. Introduction by James E. Irby. 1964. A Condor Book. London: Souvenir Press (Educational & Academic) Ltd., 1973.
  52. [with Margarita Guerrero] El "Martín Fierro" (1953)
  53. [with Betina Edelborg] Leopoldo Lugones (1955)
  54. [with Margarita Guerrero] Manual de zoología fantástica [aka 'El libro de los seres imaginarios' (1967)] (1957)
    • [with Margarita Guerrero] El libro de los Seres Imaginarios. 1967. Narradores de Hoy, 12. Bruguera Alfaguara. Barcelona: Editorial Bruguera, S. A., 1979.
    • [with Margarita Guerrero] The Book of Imaginary Beings. 1967. Revised, enlarged & trans. Norman Thomas di Giovanni in collaboration with the author. 1969. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1974.
    • [with Margarita Guerrero] The Book of Imaginary Beings. 1967. Trans. Andrew Hurley. Illustrated by Peter Sis. 2005. Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition. London: Penguin, 2006.
  55. [with Adolfo Bioy Casares] Libro del cielo y del infierno (1960)
  56. [with José Edmundo Clemente] El lenguaje de Buenos Aires (1963)
  57. [with María Esther Vázquez] Introducción a la literatura inglesa (1965)
  58. [with María Esther Vázquez] Literaturas germánicas medievales (1966)
  59. [with Esther Zemborain de Torres] Introducción a la literatura norteamericana (1967)
  60. Narraciones [selected essays] (1971)
  61. Borges on Writing (1973)
    • Borges on Writing. Ed. Norman Thomas di Giovanni, Daniel Halpern, & Frank MacShane. 1973. Allen Lane. London: Penguin Books Ltd., 1974.
  62. [with Margarita Guerrero] Que es el budismo (1976)
  63. Prólogos con un prólogo de prólogos (1977)
  64. Borges, oral (1979)
  65. Siete noches (1980)
    • Seven Nights. 1980. Trans. Eliot Weinberger. Introduction by Alastair Reid. 1984. London: Faber, 1986.
  66. Nueve ensayos dantescos (1982)
    • Nueve Ensayos Dantescos. Ed. Joaquín Arce. Introducción de Marcos Ricardo Barnatán. 1982. Espasa Bolsillo. Madrid: Editorial Espasa Calpe, S. A., 1999.
  67. Textos cautivos: 1936-1939. Ed. Enrique Sacerio-Garí & Emir Rodríguez Monegal (1986)
  68. The Total Library: Non-fiction 1922-1986. Ed. Eliot Weinberger (1999)
    • The Total Library: Non-fiction 1922-1986. Ed. Eliot Weinberger. Trans. Esther Allen, Suzanne Jill Levine & Eliot Weinberger. 1999. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2001.
  69. This Craft of Verse: Lectures 1967-1968. Ed. Călin-Andrei Mihăilescu (2000)
  70. On Argentina. Ed. Alfred Mac Adam (2010)
    • On Argentina. Ed. Alfred Mac Adam. General Editor Suzanne Jill Levine. Penguin Classics. London: Penguin, 2010.
  71. On Argentina. Ed. Maria Kodama (2010)
    • On Mysticism. Ed. Maria Kodama. General Editor Suzanne Jill Levine. Penguin Classics. London: Penguin, 2010.
  72. On Writing. Ed. Suzanne Jill Levine (2010)
    • On Writing. Ed. Suzanne Jill Levine. Penguin Classics. London: Penguin, 2010.
  73. Professor Borges: A Course on English Literature, 1966. Ed. Martín Hadis & Martin Arias (2013)

  74. Collections:

  75. Historia de la eternidad (1953)
  76. Obras completas (1953)
  77. Antología Personal (1961)
    • A Personal Anthology. 1961. Ed. Anthony Kerrigan. 1967. Picador. London: Pan Books Ltd., 1972.
  78. Nueva Antología Personal (1968)
  79. Obras completas (1974)
  80. Obras completas en coloboración (1981)
    • Obras Completas en colaboración: Con Adolfo Bioy Casares, Betina Edelberg, Margarita Guerrero, Alicia Jurado, María Kodama, María Esther Vázquez, & Esther Zemoborain de Torres Duggan. 1995. Buenos Aires: Emecé Editores, S. A., 1997.
  81. Obras completas (1984)
  82. Prosa completa (1985)
    • Prosa completa (1930-1975). 4 vols. Bruguera Libro Amigo. Barcelona: Editorial Bruguera, S. A., 1985.
      1. Evaristo Carriego / Discusión / Historia Universal de la Infamía (1930, 1932, 1935)
      2. Historia de la eternidad / Ficciones / El Aleph (1936, 1944, 1949)
      3. Otras inquisiciones / El hacedor / Elogio de la sombra (1952, 1960, 1969)
      4. El informe de Brodie / El oro de los tigres / El libro de arena (1970, 1972, 1975)
  83. Obras completas (1989)
    • [Borges, Jorge Luis. Obras Completas. 1974. 3 vols. Buenos Aires: Emecé Editores, 1990.]
      1. 1923-1949: Fervor de Buenos Aires (1923) [1: 9-52] / Luna de enfrente (1925) [1: 53-73] / Cuaderno San Martin (1929) [1: 75-96].
      2. 1952-1972: El Hacedor (1960) [2: 157-232] / El Otro, el Mismo (1964) [2: 233-327] / Para las Seis Cuerdas (1965) [2: 329-350] / Elogio de la sombra (1969) [2: 351-396] / El oro de los tigres (1972) [2: 457-518].
      3. 1975-1985: La Rosa profunda (1975) [3: 75-117] / La Moneda de hierro (1976) [3: 119-61] / Historia de la noche (1977) [3: 163-203] / Siete noches (1980) [3: 205-86] / La cifra (1981) [3: 287-340] / Nueve Ensayos Dantescos (1982) [3: 341-74] / La Memoria de Shakespeare (1983) [3: 375-99] / Atlas (1984) [3: 401-50] / Los Conjurados (1985) [3: 451-501].
  84. Textos recobrados: 1919-1929 (1997)
  85. Collected Works (1999-2000)
    • Collected Works. Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition. New York: Penguin, 1999-2000.
      1. Collected Fictions. Trans. Andrew Hurley (1998)
      2. Selected Non-Fictions. Ed. Eliot Weinberger (1999)
      3. Selected Poems. Ed. Alexander Coleman (1999)
  86. Textos recobrados: 1931-1955 (2002)

  87. Screenplays:

  88. Los orilleros; El paraíso de los creyentes [two screenplays], 1955, 2 screenplays, written with Adolfo Bioy Casares.
  89. Invasión, dir. Hugo Santiago (1968)

  90. Edited:

  91. [with A. Bioy Casares & Silvina Ocampo] Antología de la literatura fantástica (1940)
    • [with A. Bioy Casares & Silvina Ocampo] The Book of Fantasy. 1940. Introduction by Ursula K. Le Guin. 1988. A Black Swan Book. London: Transworld Publishers Ltd., 1990.
  92. [with Adolfo Bioy Casares] Los mejores cuentos policiales (1943)
  93. [with Silvina Bullrich] El compadrito: su destino, sus barrios, su música [anthology of Argentine writers] (1945)
  94. [with A. Bioy Casares & Silvina Ocampo] Cuentos breves y extraordinarios (1955)
    • [with Adolfo Bioy-Casares & Silvina Ocampo] Extraordinary Tales. 1967. Ed. & trans. Anthony Kerrigan. 1971. A Condor Book. London: Souvenir Press (Educational & Academic) Ltd., 1973.
  95. [with Adolfo Bioy Casares] Los mejores cuentos policiales; 2da serie (1962)
  96. El matrero [anthology of Argentine writers] (1970)
  97. Libro de sueños (1976)

  98. Conversations:

  99. [with Richard Burgin] Conversations with Jorge Luis Borges (1968)
    • [with Richard Burgin] Conversations with Jorge Luis Borges. 1969. A Condor Book. London: Souvenir Press (Educational & Academic) Ltd., 1973.
  100. [with Ernesto Sábato] Diálogos. Ed. Orlando Barone (1976)
  101. [with Antonio Carrizo] Borges El Memorioso (1977)

  102. Secondary:

  103. Fernandes, Marcel. Borges and Pragmatism: Jorge Luis Borges, William James and the Destruction of Philosophy (University of Otago: PhD Thesis, 2008).
  104. Fishburn, Evelyn, & Psiche Hughes. A Dictionary of Borges. Forewords by Mario Vargas Llosa & Anthony Burgess. London: Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd., 1990.
  105. Giovanni, Norman Thomas di, ed. In Memory of Borges: Jorge Luis Borges, Graham Greene, H. S. Ferns, Mario Vargas Llosa, & Alicia Jurado. Foreword by Viscount Montgomery of Alamein. London: Constable and Company Limited, in association with the Anglo-Argentine Society, 1988.
  106. Stabb, Martin S. Jorge Luis Borges. The Griffin Authors Series. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc. / St. Martin’s Press, Inc., 1970.
  107. Williamson, Edwin. Borges: A Life. 2004. New York: Penguin, 2005.



Miguel Ángel Asturias was awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 1967 - the first of three Nobel laureates in this list. His most celebrated works are probably the pioneering dictator novel El Señor Presidente and the strange masterpiece Men of Maize.

    Novels:

  1. El Señor Presidente (1946)
    • El Señor Presidente. 1946. Biblioteca clásica y contemporánea. Buenos Aires: Editorial Losada, S. A., 1971.
    • The President. 1946. Trans. Frances Partridge. 1963. Penguin Modern Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972.
  2. Hombres de maíz (1949)
    • Men of Maize. 1949. Trans. Gerald Martin. 1975. Verso. London: New Left Books, 1988.
  3. Viento fuerte (1950)
    • Cyclone. Trans. Darwin Flakoll & Claribel Alegría (1967)
    • Strong Wind. Trans. Gregory Rabassa (1968)
  4. El papa verde (1954)
    • The Green Pope. Trans. Gregory Rabassa (1971)
  5. Los ojos de los enterrados (1960)
    • The Eyes of the Interred. Trans. Gregory Rabassa (1973)
  6. El alhajadito (1961)
    • The Bejeweled Boy. Trans. Martin Shuttleworth (1971)
  7. Mulata de tal (1963)
    • The Mulatta and Mr. Fly. Trans. Gregory Rabassa (1963)
    • Mulata. 1963. Trans. Gregory Rabassa. 1967. A Seymour Lawrence Book. Delacorte Press. New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1967.
  8. Maladrón (1969)
  9. Viernes de Dolores (1972)

  10. Short Stories:

  11. Rayito de estrella (1925)
  12. Leyendas de Guatemala (1930)
  13. Week-end en Guatemala (1956)
  14. El espejo de Lida Sal (1967)
    • The Mirror of Lida Sal: Tales Based on Mayan Myths and Guatemalan Legends. Trans. Gilbert Alter-Gilbert (1997)
  15. Tres de cuatro soles (1971)
  16. Cuentos y leyendas (2000)

  17. Children's Books:

  18. La Maquinita de hablar (1971)
    • The Talking Machine. Trans. Beverly Koch (1971)
  19. El Hombre que lo Tenía Todo Todo Todo (1973)
  20. El hombre que lo tenía todo, todo, todo; La leyenda del Sombrerón; La leyenda del tesoro del Lugar Florido (1981)

  21. Collections:

  22. Torotumbo; La audiencia de los confines; Mensajes indios (1967)
  23. Antología de Miguel Ángel Asturias (1968)
  24. Viajes, ensayos y fantasías. Ed. Richard J. Callan (1981)
  25. El árbol de la cruz (1993)

  26. Poetry:

  27. Rayito de estrella: fantomima (1929)
  28. Emulo Lipolidón: fantomima (1935)
  29. Sonetos (1936)
  30. Alclasán: fantomima (1940)
  31. Con el rehén en los dientes: Canto a Francia (1942)
  32. Anoche, 10 de marzo de 1543 (1943)
  33. Poesía : Sien de alondra (1949)
  34. Ejercicios poéticos en forma de sonetos sobre temas de Horacio (1951)
  35. Alto es el Sur : Canto a la Argentina (1952)
  36. Bolívar: Canto al Libertador (1955)
  37. Nombre custodio e imagen pasajera (1959)
  38. Clarivigilia primaveral (1965)
  39. Sonetos de Italia (1965)
  40. Miguel Ángel Asturias, raíz y destino: Poesía inédita, 1917–1924 (1999)

  41. Theatre:

  42. Soluna: Comedia prodigiosa en dos jornadas y un final (1955)
  43. La audiencia de los confines (1957)
  44. Teatro: Chantaje, Dique seco, Soluna, La audiencia de los confines (1964)
  45. El Rey de la Altaneria (1968)

  46. Libretti:

  47. Emulo Lipolidón: fantomima (1935)
  48. Imágenes de nacimiento (1935)

  49. Essays:

  50. Sociología guatemalteca: El problema social del indio (1923)
    • Guatemalan Sociology: The Social Problem of the Indian. Trans. Maureen Ahern (1977)
  51. La arquitectura de la vida nueva (1928)
  52. Carta aérea a mis amigos de América (1952)
  53. Rumania; su nueva imagen (1964)
  54. Latinoamérica y otros ensayos (1968)
  55. Comiendo en Hungría (1969)
  56. América, fábula de fábulas y otros ensayos (1972)


Miguel Ángel Asturias: Hombres de maíz (1949)


Cuban musicologist and writer Alejo Carpentier was the first to popularise (if he did not invent) the term "lo real maravillosa" - better known in the English-speaking world as "Magic Realism." His most famous works are probably the early novels The Kingdom of This World and Explosion in a Cathedral, but mention should definitely also be made of his late dictator novel Reasons of State.

    Novels:

  1. ¡Écue-Yamba-O (1933)
    • Ecue-Yamba-O: Novela Afro-Cubana. 1933. Buenos Aires: Editorial Xanandú, 1968.
  2. El reino de este mundo (1949)
    • The Kingdom of This World. 1949. Trans. Harriet de Onís. 1957. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1967.
  3. Los pasos perdidos (1953)
    • Los pasos perdidos. 1953. Ed. Roberto González Echevarría. Letras Hispanicas. Madrid: Ediciones Cátedra, S. A., 1985.
    • The Lost Steps. 1953. Trans. Harriet de Onís. 1956. Penguin Modern Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1980.
  4. El acoso (1956)
    • Included in: Guerra del Tiempo. Tres Relatos y una Novela: El Camino de Santiago; Viaje a la Semilla; Semejante a la Noche, y El Acoso. 1958. México: Compañía General de Ediciones, S. A., 1969.
  5. El siglo de las luces (1962)
    • Explosion in a Cathedral. 1962. Trans. John Sturrock. 1963. Penguin Modern Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971.
  6. Concierto barroco (1974)
  7. El Recurso del método (1974)
    • Reasons of State. 1974. Trans. Frances Partridge. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1976.
  8. La consagración de la primavera (1978)
  9. El arpa y la sombra (1979)

  10. Short stories:

  11. Guerra del tiempo (1956)
    • Included in: Guerra del Tiempo. Tres Relatos y una Novela: El Camino de Santiago; Viaje a la Semilla; Semejante a la Noche, y El Acoso. 1958. México: Compañía General de Ediciones, S. A., 1969.
  12. Otros relatos (1984)

  13. Essays:

  14. La música en Cuba (1946)


Alejo Carpentier: The Kingdom of This World (1949 / 1957)





Julio Cortázar



ARGENTINA (2)
The game-playing trickster Julio Cortázar might be said to be more of a figure in European than Latin American writing, given his longterm exile from his native Argentina. His most celebrated work remains the extraordinarily influential Hopscotch, but it is probably his dazzling shorter fictions - "Blow-up" among them - which will ensure his enduring fame.

    Novels:

  1. Divertimento (1949 / 1986)
  2. El examen (1950 / 1985)
  3. Los premios (1960)
    • The Winners. 1960. Trans. Elaine Kerrigan. 1965. London: Allison & Busby Ltd., 1986.
  4. Rayuela (1963)
    • Rayuela. 1963. Ed. Andrés Amorós. Letras Hispánicas. Madrid: Ediciones Cátedra, S. A., 1989.
    • Hopscotch. 1963. Trans. Gregory Rabassa. 1966. The Harvill Press Ltd. London: Collins, 1967.
  5. 62/modelo para armar (1968)
  6. Libro de Manuel (1973)

  7. Short Stories:

  8. Bestiario (1951)
  9. Final del juego (1956)
  10. Las armas secretas (1959)
    • Ceremonias: Final del juego & Las armas secretas. 1966 & 1968. Nueva Narrative Hispánica. Barcelona: Editorial Seix Barral, S. A., 1979.
  11. Historias de cronopios y de famas (1962)
  12. Todos los fuegos el fuego (1966)
  13. End of the Game and Other Stories. [aka 'Blow-up and Other Stories' (1968)]. Trans. Paul Blackburn. 1967. Harper Colophon Books CN 637. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1978.
  14. Octaedro (1974)
  15. Alguien que anda por ahí (1977)
  16. Un tal Lucas (1979)
  17. A Change of Light and Other Stories. 1974 & 1978. Trans. Gregory Rabassa. 1980. An Arena Book. London: Arrow Books Limited, 1987.
  18. Queremos tanto a Glenda (1980)
    • We Love Glenda So Much and Other Tales. 1981. Trans. Gregory Rabassa. 1983. An Arena Book. London: Arrow Books Limited, 1985.
  19. Deshoras (1982)

  20. Poetry:

  21. Presencia (1938)
  22. Los reyes (1949)
  23. Salvo el crepúsculo (1997; rev. ed., 2016)
    • Save Twilight: Selected Poems. 1984. Trans. Stephen Kessler. Pocket Poets Series, 53. San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1997.

  24. Essays:

  25. La vuelta al día en ochenta mundos (1967)
    • Around the Day in Eighty Worlds. 1967, 1969, 1980. Trans. Thomas Christensen. San Francisco: North Point Press, 1986.
  26. Último round (1969)
  27. Prosa del Observatorio (1972)
  28. Territorios (1978)
  29. [with Pat Andrea] La Puñalada / El tango de la vuelta (1979)
  30. Los autonautas de la cosmopista (1983)
  31. Nicaragua tan violentamente dulce (1983)
  32. Julio Cortazar: Al Termino del Polvo y el Sudor (1987)
  33. Diario de Andrés Fava (1995)
  34. Adiós Robinson (1995)
  35. Imagen de John Keats (1996)
  36. Papeles inesperados (2009)
  37. Clases de literatura (2013)

  38. Letters:

  39. Cartas (2000 / 2012)
  40. Cartas a los Jonquières (2010)

  41. Graphic Novel:

  42. Fantomas contra los vampiros multinacionales (1975)


Julio Cortázar: Rayuela (1963)


Juan Rulfo is the Rimbaud of Latin American fiction. His one short novel, Pedro Páramo, is a masterpiece which affected everything that came after it, as did his one book of short stories, El llano en llamas. Some have compared the influence of his novel to that of The Great Gatsby on North American writers.

  1. El llano en llamas (1953)
    • Included in: Pedro Páramo y El Llano en Llamas. 1955 & 1953. Colección Popular. Barcelona: Editorial Planeta, S. A., 1982.
    • The Burning Plain. Trans. George D. Schade (1967)
    • The Plain in Flames. Trans. Ilan Stavans & Harold Augenbraum (2012)
    • El Llano in Flames. Trans. Stephen Beechinor (2019)
  2. Pedro Páramo (1955)
    • Included in: Pedro Páramo y El Llano en Llamas. 1955 & 1953. Colección Popular. Barcelona: Editorial Planeta, S. A., 1982.
    • Pedro Páramo. Trans. Lysander Kemp (1959)
    • Pedro Páramo. 1955. Foreword by Gabriel García Márquez. 1980. Trans. Margaret Sayers Peden. Afterword by Susan Sontag. 1993. Serpent's Tail. London: Profile Books Ltd., 2014.
  3. El gallo de oro (1980)
    • The Golden Cockerel & Other Writings. Trans. Douglas J. Weatherford (2017)


Juan Rulfo: Pedro Páramo (1955)





Augusto Roa Bastos

Augusto Roa Bastos
(1917-2005)


PARAGUAY
The extraordinary talent of Augusto Roa Bastos has transcended the comparative obscurity of the history and traditions of his native land. His most celebrated works are the pioneering war novel Son of Man and - possibly the greatest of all dictator novels - I the Supreme.

    Novels:

  1. Hijo de hombre (1960)
    • Son of Man. Trans. Rachel Caffyn (1965)
  2. Yo el Supremo (1974)
    • Yo el Supremo. 1974. Ed. Milagros Ezquerro. Letras Hispánicas. Madrid: Ediciones Cátedra, S. A., 1983.
    • I the Supreme. 1974. Trans. Helen Lane. 1986. London: Faber, 1987.
  3. Vigilia del Almirante (1992)
  4. El fiscal (1993)
    • The Prosecutor. Trans. Helene Carol Weldt-Basson (2018)
  5. Contravida (1994)

  6. Short Stories:

  7. El trueno entre las hojas (1953)
  8. El baldío (1966)
  9. Madera quemada (1967)
  10. Los pies sobre el agua (1967)
  11. Moriencia (1969)
  12. Cuerpo presente y otros cuentos (1971)
  13. El pollito de fuego (1974)
  14. Los Congresos (1974)
  15. El sonámbulo (1976)
  16. Lucha hasta el alba (1979)
  17. Los Juegos (1979)
  18. Contar un cuento, y otros relatos (1984)
  19. Madama Sui (1996)
  20. Metaforismos (1996)
  21. La tierra sin mal (1998)

  22. Screenplays:

  23. Thunder Among the Leaves (1958)
  24. Sabaleros (1959)
  25. The blood and the seed (1959)
  26. Shunko (1960)
  27. Alias Gardelito (1961)
  28. Thirst / Son of Man (1961)
  29. The last floor (1962)
  30. The terrorist (1962)
  31. The demon in the blood (1963)
  32. La Boda (1964)
  33. The harvest (1965)
  34. Punishment to the traitor (1965)
  35. The President (1966)
  36. The town already has a commissar (1967)
  37. Soluna (1967)
  38. La Madre María (1974)

  39. Poetry:

  40. El ruiseñor de la aurora, y otros poemas (1942)
  41. El naranjal ardiente (1960)

  42. Essays:

  43. Cándido Lopez (1976)
  44. Imagen y perspectivas de la narrativa latinoamericana actual (1979)
  45. Lucha hasta el alba (1979)
  46. Rafael Barrett y la realidad paraguaya a comienzos del siglo (1981)
  47. El tiranosaurio del Paraguay da sus últimas boqueadas (1986)
  48. Carta abierta a mi pueblo (1986)
  49. El texto cautivo: el escritor y su obra (1990)
  50. Mis reflexiones sobre el guión de "Hijo de hombre" (1993)

  51. Collections:

  52. Antología personal (1980)


Augusto Roa Bastos: Hijo de Hombre (1960)


José Donoso is famous, mostly, for his early "Boom" novel The Obscene Bird of Night and his later Post-Boom political parable A House in the Country. His 1972 memoir Historia personal del "boom" has had the - possibly intentional - effect of inscribing him alongside the (so-called) "Big Four": Cortázar of Argentina, Fuentes of Mexico, García Márquez of Colombia, and Vargas Llosa of Peru.

    Novels:

  1. Coronación (1957)
    • Coronation. Trans. Jocasta Goodwin (1965)
  2. Este domingo (1966)
    • This Sunday. Trans. Lorraine O'Grady Freeman (1967)
  3. El lugar sin límites (1966)
    • Hell Has No Limits. Trans. Suzanne Jill Levine (1972 / 1995).
  4. El obsceno pájaro de la noche (1970)
    • El obsceno pájaro de la noche. 1970. Alfaguara. 1997. Santiago de Chile: Aguilar Chilena de Ediciones, Ltda., 1998.
    • The Obscene Bird of Night. 1970. Trans. Hardie St. Martin & Leonard Mades. 1973. London: Jonathan Cape Ltd., 1974.
  5. Casa de campo (1978)
    • Casa de Campo. 1978. Biblioteca Breve. Barcelona: Editorial Seix Barral S. A., 1983.
    • A House in the Country. 1978. Trans. David Pritchard with Suzanne Jill Levine. 1983. King Penguin. Harmondsworth: Penguin., 1985.
  6. La misteriosa desaparición de la marquesita de Loria (1981)
  7. El jardín de al lado (1981)
    • The Garden Next Door. Trans. Hardie St. Martin (1992)
  8. La desesperanza (1986)
    • Curfew. 1986. Trans. Alfred MacAdam. 1988. Picador. London: Pan Books Ltd., 1990.
  9. Donde van a morir los elefantes (1995)
  10. El mocho (1997)
  11. Lagartija sin cola. Ed. Julio Ortega (2007)
    • The Lizard's Tale. Trans. Suzanne Jill Levine (2011)

  12. Novellas:

  13. Tres novelitas burguesas (1973)
    1. Chatanooga choochoo (Chattanooga Choo-Choo)
    2. Átomo verde número cinco
    3. Gaspard de la Nuit
    • Sacred Families: Three Novellas. Trans. Andrée Conrad (1977)
  14. Cuatro para Delfina (1982)
    1. Sueños de mala muerte
    2. Los habitantes de una ruina inconclusa
    3. El tiempo perdido
    4. Jolie Madame
  15. Taratuta y Naturaleza muerta con cachimba (1990)
    • Taratuta and Still Life with Pipe. Trans. Gregory Rabassa (1993)
  16. Nueve novelas breves (1996)
    1. Tres novelitas burguesas
    2. Cuatro para Delfina
    3. Taratuta y Naturaleza muerta con cachimba

  17. Short Stories:

  18. Veraneo y otros cuentos (1955 / 1985)
    1. Veraneo
    2. Tocayos
    3. El Güero
    4. Una señora
    5. Fiesta en grande
    6. Dos cartas
    7. Dinamarquero
    8. Paseo
    9. El hombrecito
    10. Santelices
  19. El charleston (1960)
    1. El charleston
    2. La puerta cerrada
    3. Ana María
    4. Paseo
    5. El hombrecito
  20. Los mejores cuentos de José Donoso [aka 'Cuentos' (1973)]. Ed. Luis Domínguez (1966)
    1. Veraneo
    2. Tocayos
    3. El Güero
    4. Una señora
    5. Fiesta en grande
    6. Dos cartas
    7. Dinamarquero
    8. El charleston
    9. La puerta cerrada
    10. Ana María
    11. Paseo
    12. El hombrecito
    13. China
    14. Santelices
  21. Charleston and Other Stories. Trans. Andrée Conrad (1977)
    1. Ana María
    2. Summertime
    3. The Güero
    4. A Lady
    5. The Walk
    6. The Closed Door
    7. The Dane's Place
    8. Charleston
    9. Santelices

  22. Poetry:

  23. Poemas de un novelista (1981)

  24. Essays:

  25. Historia personal del "boom" (1972)
    • The Boom in Spanish American Literature: A Personal History. Trans. Gregory Kolovakos (1977)
  26. Artículos de incierta necesidad. Ed. Cecilia García-Huidobro (1998)
  27. Conjeturas sobre la memoria de mi tribu (1996)
  28. Diarios tempranos. Donoso in progress, 1950-1965 (2016)


José Donoso: El obsceno pájaro de la noche (1970)


Gabriel García Márquez was awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 1982 - the second of three Nobel laureates in this list. He is undoubtedly the most famous Latin American writer of all time, and his novel One Hundred Years of Solitude has been mentioned in the same breath as Homer, Shakespeare or Tolstoy. It's doubtful if any of his other works have attained that dizzying stature, but his two dictator novels Autumn of the Patriarch and The General in His Labyrinth are both very accomplished in their different ways.

    Novels:

  1. La hojarasca (1955)
    • Included in: Leaf Storm and Other Stories. 1947 & 1955. Trans. Gregory Rabassa. 1972. Harper Colophon Books. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., 1979.
    • Included in: Collected Novellas: Leaf Storm, No One Writes to the Colonel, and Chronicle of a Death Foretold. 1955, 1961 & 1981. Trans. Gregory Rabassa & J. S. Bernstein. 1972, 1961 & 1982. Perennial Classics. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1999.
  2. El coronel no tiene quien le escriba (1961)
    • Included in: No One Writes to the Colonel and Other Stories. 1961 & 1962. Trans. J. S. Bernstein. 1968. Harper Colophon Books. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., 1979.
    • Included in: Collected Novellas: Leaf Storm, No One Writes to the Colonel, and Chronicle of a Death Foretold. 1955, 1961 & 1981. Trans. Gregory Rabassa & J. S. Bernstein. 1972, 1961 & 1982. Perennial Classics. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1999.
  3. La mala hora (1962)
    • La mala hora. 1962. Bruguera Libro Amigo. Barcelona: Editorial Bruguera, S. A., 1985.
    • In Evil Hour. 1962. Trans. Gregory Rabassa. 1979. Picador. London: Pan Books Ltd., 1982.
  4. Cien años de soledad (1967)
    • Cien años de soledad. 1967. Ed. Joaquín Marco. Selecciones Austral. 1982. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1985.
    • Cien años de soledad. 1967. Ed. Jacques Joset. Letras Hispánicas. Madrid: Ediciones Cátedra, S. A., 2000.
    • One Hundred Years of Solitude. 1967. Trans. Gregory Rabassa. 1970. Picador. London: Pan Books Ltd., 1980.
  5. El otoño del patriarca (1975)
    • Autumn of the Patriarch. 1975. Trans. Gregory Rabassa. 1976. Picador. London: Pan Books Ltd., 1978.
  6. Crónica de una muerte anunciada (1981)
    • Chronicle of a Death Foretold. 1981. Trans. Gregory Rabassa. London: Jonathan Cape Ltd., 1982.
    • Included in: Collected Novellas: Leaf Storm, No One Writes to the Colonel, and Chronicle of a Death Foretold. 1955, 1961 & 1981. Trans. Gregory Rabassa & J. S. Bernstein. 1972, 1961 & 1982. Perennial Classics. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1999.
  7. El amor en los tiempos del cólera (1985)
    • Love in the Time of Cholera. 1985. Trans. Edith Grossman. London: Jonathan Cape Ltd., 1988.
  8. El general en su laberinto (1989)
    • El General en su Laberinto. 1989. Narrativa Mondadori. Madrid: Mondadori España, S. A., 1989.
    • The General in His Labyrinth. 1989. Trans. Edith Grossman. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990.
    • The General in His Labyrinth. 1989. Trans. Edith Grossman. 1990. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1991.
  9. Del amor y otros demonios (1994)
    • Of Love and Other Demons. 1994. Trans. Edith Grossman. Jonathan Cape. London: Random House UK Limited, 1995.
  10. Memoria de mis putas tristes (2004)
    • Memories of my Melancholy Whores. 2004. Trans. Edith Grossman. London: Jonathan Cape Ltd., 2005.
  11. En agosto nos vemos (2024)

  12. Short Stories:

  13. Los funerales de la Mamá Grande (1962) [F]
    • Included in: No One Writes to the Colonel and Other Stories. 1961 & 1962. Trans. J. S. Bernstein. 1968. Harper Colophon Books. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., 1979. [N]
    • Included in: Collected Stories. 1947, 1955 & 1972. Trans. Gregory Rabassa & J. S. Bernstein. 1968, 1972, 1978 & 1984. Perennial Classics. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1999. [C]
  14. La increíble y triste historia de la cándida Eréndira y de su abuela desalmada (1972) [E]
    • Innocent Eréndira and Other Stories. 1972. Trans. Gregory Rabassa. 1978. Picador. London: Pan Books Ltd., 1981. [I]
    • Included in: Collected Stories. 1947, 1955 & 1972. Trans. Gregory Rabassa & J. S. Bernstein. 1968, 1972, 1978 & 1984. Perennial Classics. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1999. [C]
  15. Ojos de perro azul: Cuentos 1947-1955 (1972) [O]
    • Included in: Leaf Storm and Other Stories. 1947 & 1955. Trans. Gregory Rabassa. 1972. Harper Colophon Books. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., 1979. [L]
    • Included in: Collected Stories. 1947, 1955 & 1972. Trans. Gregory Rabassa & J. S. Bernstein. 1968, 1972, 1978 & 1984. Perennial Classics. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1999. [C]
  16. Doce cuentos peregrinos (1992) [D]
    • Doce Cuentos Peregrinos. Bogotá: Editorial Oveja Negra Ltda., 1992.
    • Strange Pilgrims: Twelve Stories. 1992. Trans. Edith Grossman. 1993. London: Penguin, 2007. [S]
    • Seventeen Poisoned Englishmen. 1954 & 1992. Trans. J. S. Bernstein & Edith Grossman. 1968 & 1993. Pocket Penguin 50. London: Penguin, 2005. [17]

  17. Stories:

    1. La tercera resignación (1947) [O] [I] [C]
    2. Eva está dentro de su gato (1947) [O] [I] [C]
    3. La otra costilla de la muerte (1948) [O] [I] [C]
    4. Amargura para tres sonámbulos (1949) [O] [I] [C]
    5. Diálogo del espejo (1949 ) [O] [I] [C]
    6. Ojos de perro azul (1950) [O] [I] [C]
    7. La mujer que llegaba a las seis (1950) [O] [I] [C]
    8. Nabo, el negro que hizo esperar a los ángeles (1951) [O] [L] [C]
    9. Alguien desordena estas rosas (1952) [O] [I] [C]
    10. La noche de los alcaravanes (1953) [O] [I] [C]
    11. Monólogo de Isabel viendo llover en Macondo (1955) [O] [L] [C]
    12. El mar del tiempo perdido (1961) [O] [I] [C]
    13. La siesta del martes (1962) [F] [N] [C]
    14. Un día de éstos (1962) [F] [N] [C]
    15. En este pueblo no hay ladrones (1962) [F] [N] [C]
    16. La prodigiosa tarde de Baltazar (1962) [F] [N] [C]
    17. La viuda de Montiel (1962) [F] [N] [C]
    18. Un día después del sábado (1962) [F] [N] [C]
    19. Rosas artificiales (1962) [F] [N] [C]
    20. Los funerales de la Mamá Grande (1962) [F] [N] [C]
    21. Un señor muy viejo con unas alas enormes (1968) [E] [L] [C]
    22. El ahogado más hermoso del mundo (1968) [E] [L] [C]
    23. El último viaje del buque fantasma (1968) [E] [L] [C]
    24. Blacamán el bueno vendedor de milagros (1968) [E] [L] [C]
    25. Muerte constante más allá del amor (1970) [E] [I] [C]
    26. La increíble y triste historia de la cándida Eréndira y de su abuela desalmada (1972) [E] [I] [C]
    27. El rastro de tu sangre en la nieve (1976) [D] [S]
    28. El verano feliz de la señora Forbes (1976) [D] [S]
    29. Sólo vine a hablar por teléfono (1978) [D] [S]
    30. La luz es como el agua (1978) [D] [S]
    31. María dos Prazeres (1979) [D] [S]
    32. Buen viaje, señor presidente (1979) [D] [S]
    33. Me alquilo para soñar (1980) [D] [S]
    34. Diecisiete ingleses envenenados (1980) [D] [S] [17]
    35. Espantos de agosto (1980) [D] [S]
    36. La santa (1981) [D] [S]
    37. Tramontana (1982) [D] [S]
    38. El avión de la bella durmiente (1982) [D] [S]

    Non-fiction Narratives:

  18. Relato de un náufrago (1970)
    • Relato de un naufrago que estuvo diez días a la deriva en un balsa sin comer ni beber, que fue proclamado héroe de la patria, besado por las reinas de la belleza y hecho rico por la publicidad, y luego aborrecido por el gobierno y olvidado para siempre. 1970. Cuadernos Marginales, 8. Barcelona: Tusquets Editores, S. A., 1989.
    • The Story of a Shipwrecked sailor: who drifted on a life raft for ten days without food or water, was proclaimed a national hero. kissed by beauty queens, made rich through publicity, and then spurned by the government and forgotten for all time. 1991. Trans. Randolph Hogan. 1986. London: Penguin., 2007.
  19. La aventura de Miguel Littín clandestino en Chile (1986)
    • Clandestine in Chile: The Adventures of Miguel Littín. 1985. Trans. Asa Zatz. 1987. Cambridge: Granta Books / Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1990.
  20. Noticia de un secuestro (1996)
    • News of a Kidnapping. 1996. Trans. Edith Grossman. 1996. London: Penguin, 2007.

  21. Essays:

  22. Cuando era feliz e indocumentado (1973)
  23. Chile, el golpe y los gringos (1974)
  24. Crónicas y reportajes (1976)
  25. De viaje por los países socialistas [aka 'De viaje por Europa del Este' (2015)] (1978)
  26. Periodismo militante (1978)
  27. Obra periodística 1. Textos costeños (1948-1952) (1981)
  28. Obra periodística 2. Entre cachacos (1954-1955) (1982)
  29. Obra periodística 3. De Europa y América (1955-1960) (1983)
  30. La soledad de América Latina: Escritos sobre arte y literatura 1948-1984 (1990)
  31. Primeros reportajes (1990)
  32. Obra periodística 5. Notas de prensa (1961-1984) (1991)
  33. Obra periodística 4. Por la libre (1974-1995) (1999)
  34. El amante inconcluso y otros textos de prensa (2000)
  35. Gabo periodista (2013)
  36. Gabo. La nostalgia de las almendras amargas (2014)
  37. Gabo contesta (2015)
  38. El escándalo del siglo. Ed. Cristóbal Pera. Prólogo de Jon Lee Anderson (2018)
    • The Scandal of the Century: Selected Journalistic Writings, 1950–1984. Ed. Cristóbal Pera. Trans. Anne McLean. Foreword by Jon Lee Anderson. 2019. Penguin Random House UK. London: Penguin, 2020.

  39. Memoir:

  40. Vivir para contarla (2002)
    • Living to Tell the Tale. 2002. Trans. Edith Grossman. London: Jonathan Cape Ltd., 2003.

  41. Theatre:

  42. Diatriba de amor contra un hombre sentado (1994)

  43. Speeches:

  44. Nuestro primer premio Nobel (1983)
  45. La soledad de América Latina / Brindis por la poesía (1983)
    • The Solitude of Latin America (1982)
  46. El cataclismo de Damocles (1986)
  47. [with David Deutschmann] Changing the History of Africa: Angola and Namibia (1991)
  48. Un manual para ser niño (1995)
  49. Por un país al alcance de los niños (1996)
    • A Country for Children (1998)
  50. [with Carlos Fuentes] Cien años de soledad y un homenaje (2007)
  51. Yo no vengo a decir un discurso (2010)

  52. Screenplays:

  53. Viva Sandino [aka 'El asalto' (1983) & 'El secuestro' (1984] (1982)
  54. Cómo se cuenta un cuento (1995)
  55. Me alquilo para soñar (1995)
  56. La bendita manía de contar (1998)

  57. Conversations:

  58. [with Mario Vargas Llosa] La novela en América Latina: Diálogo (1968)
  59. García Márquez habla de García Márquez en 33 grandes reportajes. Ed. Alfonso Rentería Mantilla (1979)
  60. [with Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza] El olor de la guayaba (1982)
    • [with Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza] The Fragrance of Guava: Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza in Conversation with Gabriel García Márquez. 1982. Trans. Ann Wright. London: Verso Editions, 1983.
  61. [with Emmanuel Carballo] Protagonistas de la literatura hispanoamericana (1985)
  62. [with Yves Billon & Mauricio Martínez Cavard] Textos anexos a Gabriel García Márquez: La escritura embrujada (1998 / 2005)
  63. [with Fernando Jaramillo] Para que no se las lleve el viento (2011)
  64. [with Silvia Lemus] Tratos y retratos (2013)

  65. Letters:

  66. [with Julio Cortázar, Carlos Fuentes & Mario Vargas Llosa] Las cartas del Boom (2023)

  67. Secondary:

  68. Martin, Gerald. Gabriel García Márquez: A Life. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., 2008.
  69. Minta, Stephen. Gabriel García Márquez: Writer of Colombia. London: Jonathan Cape Ltd., 1987.


Gabriel García Márquez: Cien años de soledad (1967)





Carlos Fuentes



MEXICO (2)
Carlos Fuentes was a bewilderingly prolific and eloquent writer and man of letters. So vast is his oeuvre that it is, at times, hard to make sense of it all. It's perhaps for this reason that early works such as Where the Air Is Clear and The Death of Artemio Cruz remain foremost in most readers' judgement of his work.

    Novels:

  1. La región más transparente (1958)
    • Where the Air is Clear. 1960. Trans. Sam Hileman. London: André Deutsch Limited, 1986.
  2. Las buenas conciencias (1961)
    • The Good Conscience. 1961. Trans. Sam Hileman. London: André Deutsch Limited, 1986.
  3. Aura (1962)
  4. La muerte de Artemio Cruz (1962)
    • The Death of Artemio Cruz. 1962. Trans. Sam Hileman. 1964. King Penguin. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1984.
  5. Cambio de piel (1967)
    • A Change of Skin. 1967. Trans. Sam Hileman. 1968. London: André Deutsch Limited, 1987.
  6. Zona sagrada (1967)
  7. Cumpleaños (1969)
  8. Terra Nostra (1975)
    • Terra Nostra. 1975. Trans. Margaret Sayers Peden. 1976. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1978.
  9. La cabeza de la hidra (1978)
  10. Una familia lejana (1980)
    • Distant Relations. 1980. Trans. Margaret Sayers Peden. 1982. Abacus. London: Sphere Books Ltd., 1984.
  11. Gringo viejo (1985)
    • The Old Gringo. 1985. Trans. Margaret Sayers Peden and the Author. 1985. Picador. London: Pan Books Ltd., 1987.
  12. Cristóbal Nonato (1987)
    • Christopher Unborn. 1987. Trans. Alfred MacAdam and the Author. London: André Deutsch Limited, 1989.
  13. Ceremonias del alba (1991)
  14. La campaña (1992)
    • The Campaign. 1990. Trans. Alfred MacAdam. 1991. Picador. London: Pan Books Ltd., 1992.
  15. Diana o la cazadora solitaria (1995)
  16. La frontera de cristal (1996)
  17. Los años con Laura Díaz (1999)
  18. Instinto de Inez (2001)
  19. La silla del águila (2002)
  20. Todas las familias felices (2006)
  21. La voluntad y la fortuna (2008)
  22. Adán en Edén (2009)
  23. Vlad (2010)
  24. Federico en su Balcón (2012)
  25. Aquiles o el guerrillero y el asesino (2016)

  26. Short stories:

  27. Los días enmascarados (1954)
  28. Cantar de ciegos (1964)
    • Cantar de ciegos. 1964. Serie del volador. México: Editorial Joaquin Mortiz, S. A., 1966.
  29. Chac Mool y otros cuentos (1973)
  30. Agua quemada (1983)
  31. Constancia and other Stories For Virgins (1990)
    • Constancia and Other Stories for Virgins. 1989. Trans. Thomas Christensen. 1990. Picador. London: Pan Books Ltd., 1993.
  32. Dos educaciones (1991)
  33. El naranjo (1994)
  34. Inquieta compañía (2004)

  35. Essays:

  36. La nueva novela hispanoamericana (1969)
  37. El mundo de José Luis Cuevas (1969)
  38. Casa con dos puertas (1970)
  39. Tiempo mexicano (1971)
  40. Gabriel García Márquez and the Invention of America (1987)
    • Gabriel García Márquez and the Invention of America. E. Allison Peers Lectures, 2. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1987.
  41. Miguel de Cervantes o la crítica de la lectura (1976)
  42. Tres discursos para dos aldeas (1987)
  43. Myself With Others (1988)
    • Myself with Others: Selected Essays. 1988. Picador. London: Pan Books Ltd., 1989.
  44. El Espejo Enterrado (1992)
    • The Buried Mirror: Reflections on Spain and the New World. 1992. A Mariner Book. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999.
  45. Geografía de la novela (1993)
  46. Nuevo tiempo mexicano (1995)
  47. Retratos en el tiempo, with Carlos Fuentes Lemus (2000)
  48. Los cinco soles de México: memoria de un milenio (2000)
  49. En esto creo (2002)
  50. Contra Bush (2004)
  51. Los 68 (2005)
  52. Personas (2012)

  53. Theatre:

  54. Todos los gatos son pardos (1970)
  55. El tuerto es rey (1970)
  56. Los reinos originarios: teatro hispano-mexicano (1971)
  57. Orquídeas a la luz de la luna: comedia mexicana. (1982)
  58. Ceremonias del alba (1990)

  59. Screenplays:

  60. ¿No oyes ladrar los perros? (1974)
  61. Pedro Páramo (1967)
  62. Los caifanes (1966)
  63. Un alma pura (1965)
  64. [with Gabriel García Márquez] Tiempo de morir (1965)
  65. Las dos Elenas (1964)
  66. [with Gabriel García Márquez & Roberto Gavaldón] El gallo de oro (1964)


Carlos Fuentes: The Death of Artemio Cruz (1962 / 1964)


Guillermo Cabrera Infante, bilingual in English and Spanish, is probably most famous for his early novels Three Trapped Tigers and View of Dawn in the Tropics. His pioneering work as an essayist and film critic should also be mentioned here, though. To date, his writing hasn't really received the attention it deserves.

    Novels:

  1. Tres tristes tigres (1967)
    • Three Trapped Tigers. 1965. Trans. Donald Gardner & Suzanne Jill Levine in collaboration with the Author. Picador. London: Pan Books Ltd., 1980.
    • Ella Cantaba Boleros [two novellas] (1996)
  2. Vista del amanecer en el trópico (1974)
    • View of Dawn in the Tropics. 1974. Trans. Suzanne Jill Levine. Revised by the Author. 1988. London: Faber, 1990.
  3. La Habana para un Infante Difunto (1979)
    • Infante’s Inferno. 1979. Trans. Suzanne Jill Levine with the Author. 1984. London: Faber, 1985.
  4. La ninfa inconstante (2008)
  5. Cuerpos divinos (2010)
  6. Mapa dibujado por un espía (2013)

  7. Stories:

  8. Así en la paz como en la guerra (1960)
  9. O (1975)
  10. Exorcismos de esti(l)o (1976)
  11. Delito por bailar el chachachá (1995)
  12. Todo está hecho con espejos: Cuentos casi completos (1999)

  13. Essays:

  14. Un oficio del siglo XX (1963)
    • A Twentieth Century Job. 1963. Trans. Kenneth Hall & the Author. London: Faber, 1991.
  15. Holy Smoke [aka Puro Humo] (1985)
    • Holy Smoke. London: Faber, 1985.
  16. Mea Cuba (1991)
    • Mea Cuba. Trans. Kenneth Hall with the Author. 1994. London: Faber, 1995.
  17. Arcadia todas las noches (1995)
  18. Cine o sardina (1997)
  19. Vidas para leerlas (1998)

  20. Collection:

  21. El Libro de las Ciudades (1999)
  22. Infantería (2000)


Guillermo Cabrera Infante: Three Trapped Tigers (1965 / 1980)





Manuel Puig



ARGENTINA (3)
Manuel Puig remains a bit of an outsider in this list. His pop-culture and tele-novela influences have obscured the technical mastery of - in particular - his first four novels. Kiss of the Spider Woman is certainly the most celebrated of these, but La traición de Rita Hayworth may be an even more poignant reflection of his talent.

    Novels:

  1. La traición de Rita Hayworth (1968)
    • Betrayed by Rita Hayworth. 1968. Trans. Suzanne Jill Levine. 1971. An Arena Book. London: Arrow Books Limited, 1987.
  2. Boquitas pintadas (1969)
    • Heartbreak Tango: A Serial. 1969. Trans. Suzanne Jill Levine. 1973. An Arena Book. London: Arrow Books Limited, 1987.
  3. The Buenos Aires Affair (1973)
    • The Buenos Aires Affair: A Detective Novel. 1973. Trans. Suzanne Jill Levine. 1976. London: Faber, 1989.
  4. El beso de la mujer araña (1976)
    • El beso de la mujer araña. 1976. Biblioteca de Bolsillo. Barcelona: Editorial Seix Barral S. A., 1986.
    • Kiss of the Spider Woman. 1976. Trans. Thomas Colchie. 1979. An Arena Book. London: Arrow Books Limited, 1986.
  5. Pubis angelical (1979)
    • Pubis Angelical. 1979. Trans. Elena Brunet. 1986. London: Faber, 1987.
  6. Maldición eterna a quien lea estas páginas (1980)
    • Eternal Curse on the Reader of These Pages. 1980. An Arena Book. London: Arrow Books Limited, 1985.
  7. Sangre de amor correspondido (1982)
    • Blood of Requited Love. 1982. Trans. Jan L. Grayson. 1984. London: Faber, 1989.
  8. Cae la noche tropical (1988)
    • Cae la noche tropical. 1988. Biblioteca Breve. Barcelona: Editorial Seix Barral, S. A., 1988.

  9. Plays and screenplays:

  10. Bajo un manto de estrellas (1983)
    • Under a Mantle of Stars: A Play in Two Acts. 1983. Trans. Ronald Christ. 1984. New York: Lumen Books, 1985.
  11. El beso de la mujer araña (1983)
  12. La cara del villano (1985)
  13. Recuerdo de Tijuana (1985)
  14. Vivaldi: A Screenplay (in Review of Contemporary Fiction No.3)
  15. El misterio del ramo de rosas (1987)
  16. La tajada; Gardel, uma lembranca (1997)

  17. Secondary:

  18. Levine, Suzanne Jill. Manuel Puig and the Spider Woman: His Life and Fictions. London: Faber, 2000.


Manuel Puig: El beso de la mujer araña (1976)


Mario Vargas Llosa was awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 2010 - the third of the three Nobel laureates in this list. His most celebrated works are probably the postmodern, semi-autobiographical tour de force Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, along with The War of the End of the World and his late dictator novel The Feast of the Goat. His early trilogy of books about Peru in the 1950s should also be highlighted here, however.

    Fiction:

  1. Los jefes (1959)
    • Los jefes / Los cachorros. 1959 & 1967. Biblioteca Breve. Barcelona: Editorial Seix Barral, S. A., 1988.
    • [The Cubs and Other Stories. 1965 & 1967. Trans. Gregory Kolovakos & Ronald Christ. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., 1979. 2 vols.]
    • The Cubs and Other Stories. 1965 & 1967. Trans. Gregory Kolovakos & Ronald Christ. 1979. London: Faber, 1991.
  2. La ciudad y los perros (1963)
    • La ciudad y los perros. 1962. Biblioteca de Bolsillo. Barcelona: Editorial Seix Barral, S. A., 1988.
    • The Time of the Hero. 1962. Trans. Lysander Kemp. 1966. Picador. London: Pan Books Ltd., 1986.
  3. La casa verde (1966)
    • La casa verde. 1965. Biblioteca Breve. Barcelona: Editorial Seix Barral, S. A., 1983.
    • The Green House. 1965. Trans. Gregory Rabassa. 1968. Picador. London: Pan Books Ltd., 1986.
  4. Conversación en la catedral (1969)
    • Conversación en La Catedral. 1969. Nueva Narrativa Hispánica. Barcelona: Editorial Seix Barral, S. A., 1979.
    • Conversation in the Cathedral. 1969. Trans. Gregory Rabassa. 1975. London: Faber, 1993.
  5. Pantaleón y las visitadoras (1973)
    • Pantaleón y las visitadoras. 1973. Biblioteca de Bolsillo. Barcelona: Editorial Seix Barral, S. A., 1989.
    • Captain Pantoja and the Special Service. 1973. Trans. Gregory Kolovakos & Ronald Christ. 1978. London: Faber, 1987.
  6. La tía Julia y el escribidor (1977)
    • La tía Julia y el escribidor. 1977. Biblioteca de Bolsillo. Barcelona: Editorial Seix Barral, S. A., 1986.
    • Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter. 1977. Trans. Helen R. Lane. 1982. Picador. London: Pan Books Ltd., 1984.
  7. La guerra del fin del mundo (1981)
    • La guerra del fin del mundo. Biblioteca Breve. Barcelona: Editorial Seix Barral, S. A., 1981.
    • The War of the End of the World. 1981. Trans. Helen R. Lane. 1984. London: Faber, 1986.
  8. Historia de Mayta (1984)
    • The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta. 1984. Trans. Alfred MacAdam. 1986. London: Faber, 1987.
  9. ¿Quién mató a Palomino Molero? (1986)
    • ¿Quién mató a Palomino Molero? 1986. Biblioteca Breve. Barcelona: Editorial Seix Barral, S. A., 1988.
    • Who Killed Palomino Molero? 1986. Trans. Alfred MacAdam. 1987. London: Faber, 1989.
  10. El hablador (1987)
    • El hablador. Biblioteca Breve. Barcelona: Editorial Seix Barral, S. A., 1987.
    • The Storyteller. 1987. Trans. Helen Lane. 1989. London: Faber, 1990.
  11. Elogio de la madrastra (1988)
    • Elogio de la madrastra. La sonrisa vertical: Colección de Erotica dirigada por Luis G. Berlanga. Barcelona: Tusquet Editores, S. A., 1988. 2 vols.]
    • In Praise of the Stepmother. 1988. Trans. Helen Lane. 1990. London: Faber, 1992.
  12. Lituma en los Andes (1993)
    • Death in the Andes. 1993. Trans. Edith Grossman. 1996. London: Faber, 1997.
  13. Los cuadernos de don Rigoberto (1997)
    • The Notebooks of Don Rigoberto. 1997. Trans. Edith Grossman. 1998. London: Faber, 1999.
  14. La fiesta del chivo (2000)
    • The Feast of the Goat. 2001. Trans. Edith Grossman. 2002. London: Faber, 2003.
  15. El paraíso en la otra esquina (2003)
    • The Way to Paradise. 2003. Trans. Natasha Wimmer. London: Faber, 2003.
  16. Travesuras de la niña mala (2006)
    • The Bad Girl: A Novel. 2006. Trans. Edith Grossman. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007.
  17. El sueño del celta (2010)
    • El sueño del celta. 2010. Alfaguara. México: Santillana Ediciones Generales, S. A., 2010.
    • The Dream of the Celt. 2010. Trans. Edith Grossman. London: Faber, 2012.
  18. El héroe discreto (2013)
    • The Discreet Hero. 2013. Trans. Edith Grossman. London: Faber, 2015.
  19. Cinco esquinas (2016)
    • The Neighbourhood. 2016. Trans. Edith Grossman. London: Faber, 2018.
  20. Tiempos recios (2019)
    • Harsh Times. 2019. Trans. Adrian Nathan West. London: Faber, 2021.

  21. Drama:

  22. La huida del inca (1952)
  23. La señorita de Tacna (1981)
  24. Kathie y el hipopótamo (1983)
  25. La Chunga (1986)
  26. El loco de los balcones (1993)
  27. Ojos bonitos, cuadros feos (1996)
  28. Odiseo y Penélope (2007)
  29. Al pie del Támesis (2008)
  30. Las mil y una noches (2010)
    • Las mil noches y una noche. 2008. Fotografías de Ros Riba. Alfaguara. México: Santillana Ediciones Generales, S. A. de C. V., 2009.

  31. Non-fiction:

  32. Bases para una interpretación de Rubén Darío (1958)
  33. García Márquez: historia de un deicidio (1971)
  34. La orgía perpetua: Flaubert y "Madame Bovary" (1975)
    • La orgía perpetua. 1975. Grandes Maestros. Bruguera Libro Amigo. Barcelona: Editorial Bruguera, S. A., 1985.
  35. Contra viento y marea I: 1962-1972 (1983)
    • Contra viento y marea, I (1962-1972). 1983. 2 vols. Biblioteca Breve. Barcelona: Editorial Seix Barral, S. A., 1986.
  36. Contra viento y marea II: 1972-1983 (1986)
    • Contra viento y marea, II (1972-1983). 1983. 2 vols. Biblioteca Breve. Barcelona: Editorial Seix Barral, S. A., 1986.
  37. Contra viento y marea III: 1983-1990 (1990)
    • Making Waves. Ed. John King (1996)
  38. La verdad de las mentiras: ensayos sobre la novela moderna (1990)
    • A Writer’s Reality. Introduction by Myron Lichtblau. 1990. London: Faber, 1991.
  39. El pez en el agua. Memorias (1993)
    • A Fish in the Water: A Memoir. 1993. Trans. Helen Lane. London: Faber, 1994.
  40. La utopía arcaica: José María Arguedas y las ficciones del indigenismo (1996)
  41. Cartas a un joven novelista (1997)
  42. Nationalismus als neue Bedrohung (2000)
  43. El lenguaje de la pasión (2001)
  44. La tentación de lo imposible (2004)
  45. El Pregón de Sevilla (2007)
  46. Wellsprings (2008)
  47. El viaje a la ficción: El mundo de Juan Carlos Onetti (2009)
  48. Touchstones: Essays on Literature, Art, and Politics (2011)
  49. La civilización del espectáculo (2012)
  50. In Praise of Reading and Fiction: The Nobel Lecture (2012)
  51. Mi trayectora intelectual (2014)
  52. Notes on the Death of Culture (2015)
  53. Sabers and Utopias (2018)
  54. La llamada de la tribu (2018)
  55. La mirada quieta de Pérez Galdós (2022)

  56. Secondary:

  57. Granta 36 (Summer 1991) – Vargas Llosa for President. Ed. Bill Buford. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1991.
    • Mario Vargas Llosa: "A Fish Out of Water", trans. Helen R. Lane (pp.15-75)
    • Alvaro Vargas Llosa: "The Press Officer", trans. Shaun Whiteside (pp.77-85)
    • Mark Malloch Brown: "The Consultant" (pp.87-95)
    • Sergio Lorrain: "In the Andes" (pp.97-108)


Mario Vargas Llosa: The War of the End of the World (1981 / 1984)



  1. Bacarisse, Salvador, ed. Contemporary Latin-American Fiction: Carpentier, Sabato, Onetti, Roa, Donoso, Fuentes, García Márquez. Seven Essays. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press Ltd., 1980.
  2. Caistor, Nick, ed. The Faber Book of Contemporary Latin American Short Stories. London: Faber, 1989.
  3. Casas, Manuel, & Christine Michel, ed. Cuentos fantásticos de América. Lire en espagnol. Ed. Henri Yvinec. Le Livre de Poche. Paris: Librairie Générale Française, 1990.
  4. Cohen, J. M., ed. Latin American Writing Today. Penguin Book 2490. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1967.
  5. Franco, Jean. Spanish American Literature since Independence. A Literary History of Spain, 7. General Editor R. O. Jones. London: Ernest Benn Limited / New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 1973.
  6. Franco, Jean. The Modern Culture of Latin America: Society and the Artist. 1967. A Pelican Book. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1970.
  7. Howes, Barbara, ed. The Eye of the Heart: Short Stories from Latin America. 1973. An Allison & Busby Book. London: W. H. Allen & Co. Plc, 1988.
  8. King, John, ed. Modern Latin American Fiction: A Survey. London: Faber, 1987.
  9. Klein, Leonard S., ed. Latin American Literature in the 20th Century: A Guide. 1986. The Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century: Revised Edition. Ed. Rita Stein & Edith Friedlander. 5 vols. 1981-1984. Harpenden, Herts: Oldcastle Books Ltd., 1988.
  10. Manguel, Alberto, ed. Other Fires: Stories from the Women of Latin America. Picador. London: Pan Books Ltd., 1986.
  11. Martin, Gerald. Journeys through the Labyrinth: Latin American Fiction in the Twentieth Century. A Guide. Verso. London: New Left Books, 1989.
  12. Nunca Más (Never Again): A Report by Argentina’s National Commission on Disappeared People. Foreword by Nick Caistor. Introduction by Ernesto Sábato. 1984. London: Faber / Index on Censorship, 1986.
  13. Torres-Rioseco, Arturo. The Epic of Latin American Literature. 1942. Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1967.
  14. Varona-Lacey, Gladys M., ed. Introducción a la literatura Hispano-Americana: De la conquisto al siglo XX. National Textbook Company. Lincolnwood, Illinois: NTC / Contemporary Publishing Company, 1997.
  15. Wilson, Jason. An A to Z of Modern Latin American Literature in English Translation. London: The Institute of Latin American Studies, 1989.

Diego Rivera: La Gran Tenochtitlan (1945)




  • category - Spanish & Latin-American Literature: Alphabetical