Historia de un Malentendido: 5 (University of Texas Studies in Contemporary Spanish-American Fiction) - Tapa dura

All too often critics jump on to the latest critical bandwagon, slavishly to follow the precepts of fashionable masters, and sometimes only to dress up the blindingly obvious in pretentious jargon. Bernucci cites several such luminaries, especially Genette, but it is a relief to report that he uses them intelligently, has plenty of his own to say, and on the whole says it in a straightforward manner. ...The second half of this study is the most interesting, the whole of it is solid, detailed and businesslike, and the wide range of material an the critical influences are reined in by close attention to the one novel. (Peter Standish, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies) La cantidad de criticos que se han referido a la filiacion entre la novela de Vargas Llosa y el libro que lo inspiro es considerable. Pero el trabajo mas completo y riguroso sobre el tema hasta la fecha es el de Leopoldo M. Bernucci... (Efrain Kristal, Revista de Estudios Hispanicos) Bernucci's book is a welcome addition to the growing body of critical studies on Vargas Llosa's very complex oeuvre. Above all it provides a method and a guide to enter the labyrinthine pathways of the source of 'La casa verde' or 'El hablador', to cite just two novels in need of similar readings. (Sara Castro-Klaren) Bernucci offers an inriguing interpretation of 'La guerra del fin del mundo' in a scholarly work that makes a significant contribution to the study of Vargas Llosa's poetics of fiction. (Judith A. Payne, Romance Quarterly)

This book is written in Spanish. Historia de un melentendido stands alone as the most comprehensive investigation on Mario Vargas Llosa's ambitious novel The War of the End of the World. This rigorous study successfully combines careful reconstruction of the many historiographical sources with insightful literary commentary. Among the topics treated by Leopoldo M. Bernucci are the recreation of characters, biblical figurae, messianism and millenniarism, and the influence of Rebellion in the Backlands. Given the depth and breadth of critical inquiry, Historia de un malentendido will serve as an invaluable companion in the complex reading of The war of the End of the World.