A Storyteller

In A Story-Teller, Braulio Munoz offers a critical appraisal of Mario Vargas Llosa's literary and political production from a sociotheoretical perspective. He engages the debate concerning the role of the writer in Latin America, the merits and shortcomings of modernist and postmodernist thought, and the differences between neoliberalism and alternative democractic positions.

Braulio Mu-oz is professor of sociology at Swarthmore College.

Against these times of post-modern relativism, Vargas Llosa embodies the need for a master narative, a single view, a whole encompassing truth. But in ... this book, Braulio Munoz, with Kant and Derrida by his side, looks the man in the eye and the rest is literature-which amounts to a lively, even fascinating reading. -- Julio Ortega, Brown University An invaluable addition to the literature. CHOICE Munoz's book is undoubtedly a significant contribution to our understanding of the 'psychocultural sediments' hidden in Mario Vargas Llosa's writing. World Literature Today Munoz incorporates much interesting detail and analysis into the work. British Bulletin of Publications on Latin America, the Caribbean, Portugal and Spain Munoz has written an important study de-mystifying one of the sacred cows of Euro-Latin American literature while acknowledging his storytelling ability. Munoz's brilliant de-construction of Vargas Llosa's personal confession and self-affirmation and his relocation of the writer as a European-based mestizo is worth the price of the book. -- James Petras, Professor of Sociology, Binghamton University