The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta

From the Nobel Prize-winning author. "In a way, this novel about an obscure Peruvian revolutionary is a perfect introduction to Vargas Llosa.” —Terrence Rafferty, The Nation

The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta is an astute psychological portrait of a modern revolutionary and a searching account of an old friend’s struggle to understand him. First published in English in 1986—at a turning point in Mario Vargas Llosa’s career—the novel probes the long and checkered history of radical politics in Latin America.

“With [The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta] Mario Vargas Llosa . . . has replaced Gabriel García Márquez as the South American novelist for gringos to catch up on.” —John Updike, The New Yorker

“A glittering trompe l’oeil of a novel about the revolutionary temperament—and the nature of fiction.” —The New York Times

“Mario Vargas Llosa [is] one of the master storytellers of our time.” —Denis Lynn Heyck, Chicago Tribune Book World