Novel
A World for Julius
Un mundo para Julius
Alfredo Bryce Echenique · 1970
Synopsis
Julius grows up in an immense mansion in Lima, in a high-society family. His father is dead; his elder sister, Cinthia, in turn dies abroad, where she had been taken to be treated, and his mother, Susan, returns from a trip to Europe married to Juan Lucas, a rich man of the world who takes no interest in him. The child spends his days on the servants' side, Vilma, Nilda, Celso or Daniel, whom he loves and who love him, and gradually discovers the cruel world of adults.
Context
The novel appeared in 1970; it was the author's first, who had made his debut in 1968 with a collection of short stories, and he had written it for the most part in Paris. Submitted without success for the Biblioteca Breve prize, it received Peru's national literature prize in 1972. The author had grown up in the same mansion, and Julius's mother is based, according to him, on one of his aunts; the tone mixes mockery with criticism of hypocrisy, racism and class division.
Who it is for
A long novel in Spanish, without a strong plot, carried by a narrator who tells the story as one speaks, with nicknames and repetitions.
Prizes and reception
The best-known novel by its author, and his most emblematic book, adapted for the cinema half a century after its publication.
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