The Time of the Hero.

VARGAS LLOSA, Mario.

Item Number: 81161

London: Jonathan Cape, 1967.

First British edition of Vargas Llosa’s first novel. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page, “For Stephen, with friendship Mario Vargas Llosa.” The recipient Sir Stephen Spender was an English poet, novelist, and essayist who concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle in his work. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the United States Library of Congress in 1965. Near fine in a fine dust jacket with just a touch of wear. Jacket design by M. Mohan. Translated from the Spanish by Lysander Kemp. A nice association.

When The Time of the Hero was first published in Peru in 1962, it was considered so scandalous that a thousand copies were burned in an official ceremony at the Leoncio Prado Military Academy. That same year, the book received the Biblioteca Breve Prize, an award given to the best work of fiction in the Spanish language. It was later filmed by Peruvian director Francisco Lombardi.