La ciudad y los perros (The City and the Dogs)

Medium: Literature

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Artist: Mario Vargas Llosa (b. 1936)

Confronting Bodies: El colegio militar Leoncio Prado

Dates of Action: 1964

Location: Lima, Peru

Description of Artwork: Vargas Llosa no tuvo excesivos problemas con la censura porque practicamente toda su obra fue publicada en Europa, sobre toda en Espana. (Vargas Llosa has not experienced excessive censorship problems because almost all his work was published in Europe, and all of it in Spain.)

The Incident: En 1950, Vargas Llosa ingreso en el colegio militar Leoncio Prado de Lima. Sus experiencias en este colegio le sirvieron para escribir su novela La ciudad y los perros. Mil quinientos ejemplares de este libro fueron quemados en el patio de Leoncio Prado en un acto publico que pretendia desmentir la imagen que el escritor peruano habia dado de la disciplina militar. (In 1950 Vargas Llosa was admitted to the Leoncio Prado military school in Lima. His experiences at this school helped him to write his novel The city and the dogs. Fifteen hundred copies of this book were burned in the courtyard of Leoncio Prado in a public act which attempted to dispel the image that the Peruvian writer had been given a military education.)

Results of Incident: Su novela es una de las mas famosas en el mundo entero. Ha sido leida con muchisimo entusiasmo sobre todo por los mas jovenes. (This novel is one of the most famous in the world. It has been read with great enthusiasm, especially by young people.)

Source: Valentin Roma