The Search for Utopia and its Consequences: Political Commitment in Historia de Mayta by Mario Vargas Llosa and The Honorary Consul by Graham Greene

Abstract

This article compares the political evolution of Graham Greene and Mario Vargas Llosa, concretely through the analysis of their novels The Honorary Consul (1973) and Historia de Mayta (1984). We examine how, on the one hand, Greene values positively the search for a utopian society of León Rivas, as a means of founding a fairer society. On the other hand, Vargas Llosa, totally disillusioned with his former belief in Socialism, condemns that same search by Alejandro Mayta, since from his point of view, searching a utopian society only leads to failure and death.