Peru - Lonely Planet Publications [29]
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Mario Vargas Llosa’s reigning literary masterpiece is The War of the End of the World (1981), which examines the disaffected sides of a bloody uprising in Brazil in rich, psychological detail.
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Demonstrating a distinct Peruvian penchant for dark humor is Julio Ramón Ribeyro (1929–94). Though never a bestselling author, he is critically acclaimed for his insightful stories and essays, which focus on the vagaries of lower-middle-class life. His work is available in English in Marginal Voices: Selected Stories (1993). If you are just learning to read Spanish, his concisely written pieces are an ideal place to start exploring Peruvian literature.
Also significant is rising literary star Daniel Alarcón (b 1977), a Peruvian-American writer whose award-winning short stories have appeared in the New Yorker magazine. His debut novel, Lost City Radio, about a country recovering from civil war, was published to wide acclaim in 2007.
Two Peruvian writers are noted for their portrayals of indigenous reality. José María Arguedas (1911–69), who was born in the Andes, introduced a Quechua syntax to Spanish fiction in novels such as Los ríos profundos (Deep Rivers) and Yawar fiesta, among others. Ciro Alegría (1909–67) covered the repression of Andean communities in El mundo es ancho y ajeno (Broad and Alien is the World). For a worthwhile compilation of women writers, pick up Fire From the Andes: Short Fiction by Women from Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru (1998), which includes stories by Peruvian authors such as Catalina Lohmann and Pilar Dughi.
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César Vallejo’s complete works – in English and Spanish – are now available in a single volume, The Complete Poetry of César Vallejo: A Bilingual Edition, with translations by Clayton Eshleman.
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If Vargas Llosa is the country’s greatest novelist, then César Vallejo (1892–1938) is its greatest poet. A protégé of renowned Peruvian essayist Abraham Valdelomar (1888–1919), he published only three slim books – Los heraldos negros (The Black Heralds), Trilce and Poemas humanos (Human Poems) – but has long been regarded as one of the most innovative Latin American poets of the 20th century. Vallejo frequently touched on existential themes and was known for pushing the language to its limits, inventing words when real ones no longer suited him.
Cinema & Television
Once in a state of perpetual anemia, Peruvian cinema has rebounded in recent years. In 2008, historically underfunded CONACINE, the government institute devoted to film production, invested US$500,000 in four projects by young Peruvian filmmakers. These include Tarata (2009) by Fabrizio Aguilar, about the Sendero Luminoso bombing of a Miraflores street in 1992.
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Prominent German film director Werner Herzog has had a long-running love–hate affair with the Peruvian Amazon, best appreciated in his movies Aguirre, the Wrath of God and Fitzcarraldo.
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Claudia Llosa is perhaps the most noteworthy contemporary director of the moment: in 2009, she received a Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival for La teta asustada (The Milk of Sorrow), a drama about the fears plaguing an abused woman. Also very well known is Francisco Lombardi, who produced a film version of Vargas Llosa’s La ciudad y los perros (The Time of the Hero) in 1985, as well as the prize-winning Caídos del Cielo (Fallen From Heaven), based on a story by Ribeyro. He has overseen almost a dozen other productions.
Peruvian TV can’t be said to be doing quite as well. Entire networks are controlled by the government, and the bulk of programming consists largely of telenovelas (Spanish-language soaps) and low-budget talk and news shows (the most intriguing of which is hosted by journalist Jaime Bayly). The medium is regaining some credibility after it was revealed in 2001 that executives from the major networks took money from Fujimori’s intelligence-agency chief Vladimiro Montesinos in exchange for positive coverage.