The Concepts of Novel and History in "El Paraíso en la otra esquina" (with a coda about "El sueño del celta")

Abstract

This article analyzes the novel El Paraíso en la otra esquina (2003) by discussing the dichotomy of the terms “novel” and “history”. These concepts are essential to the novelistic theory forged by Mario Vargas Llosa. Moreover, these pivotal ideas determine the characterization of the novel’s two protagonists: Flora Tristán and Paul Gauguin. Their paths seem to be totally opposite, just like “novel and “history” do in Vargas Llosa’s theoretical framework. The fluctuations between true/lie and history/novel are figured as crossroads, just like Tristán’s and Gauguin’s opinions and goals. Beyond the characters’ construction in El Paraíso en la otra esquina, the protagonist of Vargas Llosa’s new work El sueño del celta, Roger Casement, appears to be the fusion of both vital vocations represented by Flora Tristán and Paul Gauguin.