Los cachorros

Published in 1967, The Puppies occupies a unique place in the work of Mario Vargas Llosa. Set in the privileged circles of Lima, it follows the life of Cuéllar, a teenager forever marked by a traumatic event that alters his relationship with others and with himself. Prodigious in the use of rhythm and perspective, in the pages of this particular novel of formation beat the themes that run through the author's entire narrative universe: masculinity, belonging, exclusion and identity. In this narrative we can already see the formal ambition and critical outlook that would make Vargas Llosa a central figure in contemporary literature. As Per Wästberg, president of the Nobel Committee, noted, his writing "has shaped our image of South America [...]. In his early years, he was a innovator of the novel, today, an epic poet.