Mario Vargas Llosa: Una vision historica del Peru

This study deals with three novels written by Mario Vargas Llosa: La ciudad y los perros, Conversacion en La Catedral y Historia de Mayta. A constant feature of this writer's novelistic production is his conception of novels based in particular personal and/or historical events. Critics have lauded these works pointing out the author's great creativity and revolutionary posture. I demonstrate that Vargas Llosa's autonomous fictional realities do not disagree with reality nor with the ideology of the time when these novels were written. This dissertation examines the respective historical periods as well as the historical moments depicted in the narrative action in order to assess the author's personal view of Peruvian history. Chronologically, the novels cover Peruvian socio-political events from 1930 to the present. Thus, Vargas Llosa's use of concrete historical settings in his three socio-historical narratives allows him to project his own views concerning present day Peru and its future.Concretely, the theoretical frame of New Historicism along with contextual analysis of these novels serves as the basis for the dissertation. The first chapter introduces the theoretical premises of New Historicism to demonstrate the rhetorical similarity between history and fiction and to establish their interrelationship. Each of the texts is then approached examining its relation to history and society. Consequently, an in-depth analysis of the socio-political and economic situation of Peru of the 50's provides an important framework for the study of these novels. In light of this analysis I demonstrate how Vargas Llosa appropriates these circumstances for an apparent critical review of Peru's socio-economic structures.The second chapter examines the personal and historical referents of La ciudad y los perros, while the third chapter, dedicated to Conversacion en La Catedral, explores the literary interpretation of Odria's dictatorial regime and Zavalita's ineffectual existentialist attempt to alter the course of history. The fourth chapter analyzes Historia de Mayta, examining the motives that propelled Vargas Llosa to write the novel. In conclusion, the inter-relationship between history and fiction is the central focus of the discussion.