In the Viceroy's Body: A Spanish Chronicler in Peru in the Shadow of the Nobel Prize

Joaquín Santaella

ISBN: 978-84-129181-4-4

Year: 2025

Pages: 152

Illustrations: 6

Binding: paperback with flaps

Size: 17 x 23.5 cm

Published by: Madrid, El Viso Editions

It's a travelogue written in a classic style and with a touch of irony; a month-long journey through the cities and countryside of Peru in the company of the then-newly minted Nobel Prize winner for literature, Mario Vargas Llosa, his family, and his group of Peruvian and Spanish friends. As chance would have it, certain special events occurred during that month, such as the electoral period that culminated in the, until then, "most difficult political elections in recent years," or Vargas Llosa's own performance in a Lima theater as the lead in his own adapted version of "One Thousand and One Nights."

The life and soul of the different Peruvian social classes are reflected here, but above all, the continued validity of the tradition of entertaining the Spaniard who arrives in Lima, the capital of the most important viceroyalty of the Spanish Empire, is clearly evident.