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Alfredo Bryce Echenique

Biography

Alfredo Bryce Echenique is virtually unknown in the English-speaking world, which is somewhat surprising, as he has produced two first-class novels, one of which has been translated into English. He was born in Lima in 1939 to the sort of rich family that he would portray in Un mundo para Julius (A World for Julius), His great-grandfather had been president of Peru. He was educated at expensive American and British schools. He wanted to be a writer but his father pushed him to study law. However, he did take a degree in literature, writing a thesis on Hemingway. His fascination for this writer will be mirrored in the eponymous hero of La vida exagerada de Martín Romaña [The Exaggerated Life of Martín Romaña]. He obtained a scholarship from the French government to study in France and went into exile for over thirty years. In Paris he mixed with the many other Latin American writers living there in the 1960s. As well as in Paris, he also lived for some time in Italy, Germany and Greece. In 2007, he was accused of plagiarising various newspaper and magazine articles and an investigating committee found him guilty in 2009. His novels are typified by sympathetic characters, who are often anti-heroes, somewhat marginalised from their society. It is regrettable that he is not much better-known in the English-speaking world.

Other links

Alfredo Bryce Echenique
Alfredo Bryce Echenique (in Spanish)
Alfredo Bryce Echenique (in Spanish)
Alfredo Bryce Echenique (in Spanish)
Alfredo Bryce Echenique (in Spanish)
Alfredo Bryce Echenique (in Spanish)
Bryce Echenique, Alfredo (in Spanish)
Acusan de plagio a Alfredo Bryce Echenique (in Spanish)
Se suman las acusaciones de plagio contra Bryce Echenique (in Spanish)
Perú sanciona a Bryce Echenique por plagio de diversos artículos (in Spanish)
Interview (in Spanish)

Bibliography

1968 Huerto cerrado (short stories)
1970 Un mundo para Julius (A World for Julius) (novel)
1972 Muerte de Sevilla en Madrid (novel)
1974 La felicidad ja ja (short stories)
1977 A vuelo de buen cubero (later: Crónicas personales) (essays)
1977 La Pasión segun San Pedro Balbuena que fue tantas veces Pedro y que nunca pudo negar a nadie (later: Tantas Veces Pedro) (novel)
1979 Todos los cuentos (short stories)
1981 Cuentos completos (short stories)
1981 La vida exagerada de Martín Romaña [The Exaggerated Life of Martín Romaña] (novel)
1984 El hombre que habla de Octavia Cádiz (novel)
1986 Magdalena peruana y otros cuentos (short stories)
1987 Goig (children’s) (with Ana María Dueñas)
1988 La última mudanza de Felipe Carrillo (novel)
1990 Dos señoras conversan; Un sapo el desierto; Los grandes hombres son asi, y tambien asa (short novels)
1993 Permiso para vivir (antimemoirs I)
1995 No me esperen en abril (novel)
1995 Para que duela menos (anthology)
1996 A trancas y barrancas (articles)
1997 Reo de nocturnidad (novel)
1997 Guía triste de París (short stories)
1999 La amigdalitis de Tarzán (Tarzan’s Tonsillitis) (novel)
2000 La historia personal de mis libros
2001 Crónicas perdidas
2002 El huerto de mi amada (novel)
2003 Doce cartas a dos amigos
2005 Permiso para sentir (antimemoirs II)
2005 Entre la soledad y el amor (essay)
2007 Las obras infames de Pancho Marambio [The Infamous Works of Pancho Marambio] (novel)
2009 La esposa del rey de las curvas (stories)
2009 Penúltimos escritos: retazos de vida y literatura (essays)
2012 Dándole pena a la tristeza (novel)
2015 Muerte de Sevilla en Madrid (story)
2015 El descubrimiento de América y otros cuentos (stories)
2018 Función del diálogo en la narrativa de Ernest Hemingway (literature)
2019 Permiso para retirarme (antimemoirs III)