Harsh Times (novel)

Harsh Times (Spanish: Tiempos recios) is a novel by writer Mario Vargas Llosa published in 2019, which narrates the turbulent history of Guatemala in the mid-1950s.[1] The book won the ninth edition of the Francisco Umbral Book of the Year Award 2019.[1]

For the film, see Harsh Times (film).
Tiempos recios
AuthorMario Vargas Llosa
SeriesMario Vargas Llosa
Publication date
2019
Preceded byThe Neighborhood 

According to Vargas Llosa, the novel shows "the Latin America of horror, barbarism and violence; a very attractive world for literature, but not in real life, full of injustices".[2]

Title
Jacobo Árbenz with his wife Maria Cristina Vilanova, during their exile in Brazil, 1955.

The name of the novel Tiempos recios refers to an expression used by Teresa of Jesus in her autobiographical book Vida de la Madre Teresa de Jesús (chapter 33), "the times were harsh times", to describe the time she had to live, when in 1559, the Inquisition arrested the Archbishop of Toledo, Bartolomé Carranza, and was also held in Valladolid an auto de fe against the clergyman Agustín de Cazalla that ended with his execution and was published in the same city the so-called Index of General Inquisitor Fernando de Valdés, which was ordered to collect and burn suspicious books and prohibited the reading of many spiritual works of which Teresa was a faithful follower. Vargas Llosa tries to make a simile between Teresa's time with the also hard times that Guatemala lived during the fifties of the twentieth century.[3][4]

Plot

The novel portrays the ins and outs of the military coup that in 1954 ended the government of Jacobo Árbenz in Guatemala and elevated Carlos Castillo Armas to the presidency of the country. With a mixture of real and fictitious characters, it reveals the power of manipulation and its capacity to direct public opinion and turn lies into truth.[5][6]

References
  1. "Mario Vargas Llosa gana el Premio Francisco Umbral al mejor libro de 2019 por 'Tiempos recios'". El Mundo. 29 January 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  2. "'Tiempos recios', la última novela de Mario Vargas Llosa que reconstruye un oscuro capítulo de América Latina". Onda Cero. 10 October 2019. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  3. García de la Concha, Víctor; Gómez, José Luis (2014). "Notas del académico Víctor García de la Concha leídas, en su ausencia, por el también académico y director de «Cómicos de la lengua» José Luis Gómez el 31.3.2014 en el Teatro María Guerrero, con motivo de la sesión sobre Teresa de Jesús" (PDF). Retrieved 24 March 2020. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. Marcos, Juan Antonio (2015). "Hablar de Dios en "tiempos recios". Vida y lenguaje en Teresa de Jesús" (PDF). Polonia sacra (19). Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  5. "Tiempos recios, de Mario Vargas Llosa - Una novela que revela el poder de las noticias falsas". www.estandarte.com. 13 March 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  6. Docx, Edward (24 November 2021). "Harsh Times by Mario Vargas Llosa review – CIA secrets and breathtaking lies". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
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