Carlos Thorne (March 11, 1923 – September 1, 2021) was a Peruvian novelist, writer and lawyer. He is regarded as one of the most original and innovative Peruvian writers of the second half of the 20th century. This is due to his unique blend of avant garde flashback techniques, following

Malcolm Lowry Clarence Malcolm Lowry (; 28 July 1909 – 26 June 1957) was an English poet and novelist who is best known for his 1947 novel ''Under the Volcano'', which was voted No. 11 in the Modern Library's 100 Best Novels list.

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...

, with historical detail and accuracy, to the point of reproducing the Spanish of the

Conquistadores Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

Life and works

Thorne was born in

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

, where he studied law and philosophy. After a successful career as lawyer and some excursions into politics, he decided to devote his life to literature and academic research, writing books and becoming professor in law at th
Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos de Lima
(UNMSM), the oldest in the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

. He has been visiting lecturer both in literature and law in the universities of Columbia,

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

, King's College London, Liverpool and Complutense. Perhaps his best known contribution to Latin American novel is his Peruvian trilogy. ''Papá Lucas'' (1987), is a novel centered on the war against Chile in the 1880s. Next, ''El señor de Lunahuaná'' (1994), which is devoted to the wars of independence from the 1810s and 1820s. Finally, ''El encomendero de la adarga de plata'' (1999), the most experimental of the three, is a powerful evocation of the

Spanish conquest The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It ...

written in 17th-century Spanish and set during the

Inca The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...

siege of

Cuzco Cusco or Cuzco (; or , ) is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Sacred Valley of the Andes mountain range and the Huatanay river. It is the capital of the eponymous province and department. The city was the capital of the Inca Empire unti ...

in 1536. In his books the reader gets caught from the first pages in a world of wonder, passion and violence of a strange beauty and poetry. As such, he is seen by his peers and by the critics as on a par with

Alejo Carpentier Alejo Carpentier y Valmont (, ; December 26, 1904 – April 24, 1980) was a Cuban novelist, essayist, and musicologist who greatly influenced Latin American literature during its famous "boom" period. Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, of French ...

and

Gabriel García Marquez In the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Gabriel ( ) is an archangel with the power to announce God's will to mankind, as the messenger of God. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran. Many Chris ...

and thus as one of the main living exponents of the "real maravilloso" (

Magic realism Magical realism, magic realism, or marvelous realism is a style or genre of fiction and art that presents a realistic view of the world while incorporating magical elements, often blurring the lines between speculation and reality. ''Magical re ...

) Latin American novel tradition and of the Latin American historical novel. ''Viva la república'' (1981), his first novel, is a highly achieved satire of the Peruvian military dictators of the 1970s that he passionately opposed. Thorne died in Lima in September 2021, at the age of 98.Fallece el escritor y miembro de la Academia Peruana de la Lengua Carlos Thorne Boas
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Novels

''Viva la república'' (1981) ''Papá Lucas'' (1987) ''El señor de Lunahuaná'' (1994) ''El encomendero de la adarga de plata'' (1999) ''Yo, San Martín'' (2011)

Tales and Short Stories

''Los días fáciles'' (1959) ''Mañana Mao'' (1964) ''La diosa Marina'' (1996) ''En las fauces de las Fieras'' (2004) ''Cuentos completos'' (2005) ''País Violento'' (2016)

Essays

''Palabras de Utopía'' (1983) ''Páginas de Extramuros'' (1993) ''El Hilo de la Razón –'' First edition (1995) ''Los oficios de la Lengua'' (2001) ''La generación del 50 y el Periodismo'' (2007) ''El Hilo de la Razón –'' Augmented Second Edition (2015)

Other writings

''La interpretación de la ley. Cuestiones Metodológicas'' (1989)

References

* Seymour Menton, ''Latin America's New Historical Novel''. 1993, University of Texas Press, Austin.
Seymour Menton, ''Caminata por la narrativa latinoamericana''. 2004, Fondo de Cultura Económica, México.

External links

Bio.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thorne, Carlos 1923 births 2021 deaths Magic realism writers Peruvian male novelists Writers from Lima Lawyers from Lima Peruvian male writers Peruvian novelists