The_War_of_the_End_of_the_World Knowpia

The War of the End of the World
	First Spanish edition (publ. Seix Barral)
Author	Mario Vargas Llosa
Original title	La guerra del fin del mundo
Translators	Helen R. Lane
Genre	Historical fiction
Publisher	Seix Barral
Publication date	October 1, 1981
Award	PEN Translation Prize for Prose; Nobel Prize in Literature (2010);

The War of the End of the World (Spanish: La guerra del fin del mundo) is a 1981 novel written by Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa, who won the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature.^[1] It is a fictionalized account of the War of Canudos conflict in late 19th-century Brazil.

Plot summary edit

In the midst of the economic decline — following drought and the end of slavery — in the province of Bahia in Northeastern Brazil, the poor of the backlands are attracted by the charismatic figure and simple religious teachings of Antonio Conselheiro, called "The Counselor", who preaches that the end of the world is imminent and that the political chaos that surrounds the collapse of the Empire of Brazil and its replacement by a republic is the work of the devil.

Seizing a fazenda in an area blighted by economic decline at Canudos the Counselor's followers build a large town and repeatedly defeat growing military expeditions designed to remove them. As the state's violence against them increases, they too turn increasingly violent, even seizing the modern weapons deployed against them. In an epic final clash, a whole army is sent to extirpate Canudos and instigates a terrible and brutal battle with the poor while politicians of the old order see their world destroyed in the conflagration.

Analysis edit

It is generally believed that Vargas Llosa's three milestone novels are La Ciudad y Los Perros (The Time of the Hero), La Casa Verde (The Green House) and Conversación en la Catedral (Conversation in the Cathedral)^{[citation needed]}, though many critics agree that The War of the End of the World should also be included among these three. The author is famously known for considering this his most accomplished novel^[2] — an opinion shared by the Chilean novelist Roberto Bolaño ^{[citation needed]}, as well as the American critic Harold Bloom, who includes the novel in what he calls the "Western canon".

As he did later on with La Fiesta Del Chivo (The Feast of the Goat), Vargas Llosa tackles a huge number of characters and stories caught during a time of strife, interweaving these in way that gives us a picture of what it was to live in those times.^[3]

Characters edit

Antônio Conselheiro
The Little Blessed One
The Lion of Natuba: the counselor’s personal scribe. Deformed individual with hair that resembles a lion’s mane.
João Abade (Abbot João)
The Dwarf
Father Joaquim
Baron de Canabrava
Pajeú
Rufino: husband of Jurema.
Galileo Gall
Maria Quadrado
Colonel Moreira César: fierce Republican loyalist. Anti-monarchist. Commander of the 7th Regiment.
Jurema: wife of Rufino
The Near-Sighted Journalist
João Grande (Big João)
Pires Ferreira
Antônio Vilanova
Antônio o Fogueteiro

Awards edit

Awards for *The War of the End of the World*
Year	Award	Result	Ref.
1985	PEN Translation Prize for Prose for Helen R. Lane	Winner	^[4]
2010	Nobel Prize in Literature	Winner	^[5]^[1]

References edit

^ ^a ^b "The Nobel Prize in Literature 2010". NobelPrize.org. Archived from the original on 2023-02-11. Retrieved 2023-02-28.
^ Hunnewell, Susannah; Setti, Ricardo Augusto (Fall 1990). "Mario Vargas Llosa, The Art of Fiction No. 120". The Paris Review. Archived from the original on 2015-09-06. Retrieved 2015-08-11.
^ Smiley, Jane (9 October 2010). "Noble Nobel Prize Winner Mario Vargas Llosa". TheHuffingtonPost. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
^ "PEN Translation Prize". PEN America. 2020-06-10. Archived from the original on 2023-02-25. Retrieved 2023-02-27.
^ "The War of the End of the World". Macmillan. Archived from the original on 2023-02-28. Retrieved 2023-02-28.