The Dream of the Celt

Translated from the original Spanish by Edith Grossman

2014 Longlist

In 1916, the Irish nationalist Roger Casement was hanged by the British government for treason. Casement had dedicated his life to improving the plight of oppressed peoples around the world. But when he dared to draw a parallel between the injustices he witnessed in African and American colonies and those committed by the British in Northern Ireland, he became involved in a cause that led to his imprisonment and execution. Ultimately, the scandals surrounding Casement’s trial and eventual hanging marred his image to such a degree that his pioneering human rights work wasn’t fully reexamined until the 1960s. The Dream of the Celt is a fascinating fictional account of an extraordinary man in the original and dynamic style of Nobel Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa. A painstakingly researched and lively novel about a neglected human rights pioneer.

(From Publisher)

About the Author

Mario Vargas Llosa was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010 “for his cartography of the structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual’s resistance, revolt, and defeat.” Peru’s foremost writer, he has been awarded the Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-speaking world’s most distinguished literary honor, and the Jerusalem Prize. His many works include The Feast of the Goat, The Bad Girl, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, The War of the End of the World, and The Storyteller. He lives in London.

Librarian’s Comments

The Dream of the Celt is a fascinating portrait of the period of colonization and the portrait of a good man. Historically very interesting, we also liked the way M. Vargas Llosa rehabilitated the person of Roger Casement.