The Story Archive

Conversation in the Cathedral

Mario Vargas Llosa · 1969 CE · Novel · Latin American · Contemporary

Santiago Zavala runs into his father's old chauffeur outside a Lima dog pound and, over four hours of beer in a bar called the Cathedral, tries to fix the exact moment at which Peru screwed itself. Eight years of the Odría dictatorship return as overlapping talk, two conversations decades apart spliced into one paragraph. Its opening question is the most quoted sentence in Peruvian letters.

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Attributes

Genre
PoliticalPsychological
Theme
Power & CorruptionGuilt & ConscienceClass & Inequality
Archetype (Jung / Campbell)
EverymanVillain / Tyrant
Plot structure
DialogueNonlinear / FracturedPolyphonic
Symbol / motif
The CityThe Web
Conflict
vs Society
Mode / tone
RealistIronicTragic
Culture / tradition
Latin American

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