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Son of Man
Augusto Roa Bastos
Novel, 1960. Translated from Spanish
Linked episodes follow Paraguayans from the Francia era through the Chaco War, showing peasant life, repression and faith.
Books by country South America
Books set in Paraguay
Two books by writers from Paraguay, set there, that give a real sense of the place: Son of Man and I, the Supreme.
About the literature of Paraguay
Paraguay's most celebrated writer, Augusto Roa Bastos, won the Cervantes Prize in 1989, yet few Paraguayan books have been translated into English. Spanish and Guaraní are both spoken across the country, and Guaraní speech and storytelling colour his work. His I, the Supreme, translated from Spanish, is a dense monologue that reimagines the rule of Dr Francia in early independent Paraguay, while Son of Man links episodes from Francia's era to the Chaco War.
Dictatorship, war and isolation run through much of the country's writing. Historians fill some of the gaps in English. R. B. Cunninghame Graham, a Scottish traveller, wrote A Vanished Arcadia about the Jesuit mission settlements among the Guaraní before the 1767 expulsion, and Thomas L. Whigham's The Paraguayan War: Causes and Early Conduct examines the 1864–70 conflict that shaped the nation.
By writers from Paraguay
I, the Supreme
Augusto Roa Bastos
Novel, 1974. Translated from Spanish
A dense, dictatorial monologue reimagining Dr Francia's rule in early independent Paraguay, steeped in Guaraní-Spanish culture, isolation and state power.
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