Alfredo Bryce Echenique

Alfredo Bryce Echenique
Bryce in 2007
Born
Alfredo Marcelo Bryce Echenique

(1939-02-19)19 February 1939
Lima, Peru
Died10 March 2026(2026-03-10) (aged 87)
Lima, Peru
OccupationWriter
Alma materNational University of San Marcos
Notable works
  • A World for Julius (1972)
  • La vida exagerada de Martín Romaña (1981)
  • El huerto de mi amada (2002)
Notable awards
Spouse
  • Maggie Revilla
  • Pilar de Vega Martínez
  • Ana Chávez

Alfredo Marcelo Bryce Echenique[1][a] (19 February 1939 – 10 March 2026) was a Peruvian writer. He wrote numerous books and short stories; he is best known for his 1970 work A World for Julius. At the time of his death, he was considered to be the last living representative of the Latin American Boom,[2] although he has also been categorized as being part of post-boom literature.[3]

Early life and education

Alfredo Bryce Echenique was born in Lima on 19 February 1939, to a family of bankers. He was the great-grandson of José Rufino Echenique, who served as the country's president in 1851–1855.[4][5]

Bryce attended elementary school at the Colegio Inmaculado Corazón. At age 15, he entered the San Pablo British boarding school. He attended the National University of San Marcos, where he graduated in law and completed a parallel Bachelor of Arts in literature with a thesis on Ernest Hemingway.[6][7] He went on to receive a doctorate in literature from the Sorbonne in Paris.[8][5]

Literary career

Life in France

Bryce moved to Paris in 1964.[9] At the Sorbonne, he studied classic and contemporary French literature for two academic years.

Throughout Europe

Between 1965 and 1966, he subsequently lived in Perugia, Mykonos, and Germany, where he moved to study German with a grant from the Goethe-Institut.

Back in France, recognition and PhD in Peru

Bryce returned to France and taught Spanish in a school in Paris's Le Marais district from 1967 to 1968.[10] In 1968, he published his first book Huerto cerrado[5]; also in 1968 he began to lecture on Latin American literature at Paris Nanterre University[9] and from 1971 on at the Sorbonne. In 1970 he published the novel A World for Julius, the work for which he is best remembered;[5] it was translated into English by Dick Gerdes in 1992,[11] and a motion picture adaptation was released in 2021.[12]

In 1972 he was awarded the Peruvian National Prize for Literature and in 1973 he entered as an assistant lecturer to the University of Vincennes (Paris VIII). A few years later in 1975, Bryce received a Guggenheim fellowship[3] and obtained a master's degree in comparative literature from Vincennes. In 1977, he returned to Peru and received his doctoral degree from San Marcos University with a thesis on Henry de Montherlant.

Return to France

In 1980 he moved to Montpellier in Southern France, where he entered the Paul Valéry University Montpellier 3 as a professor.

Later years

In 1984, Bryce settled down in Spain living first in Barcelona and from 198? in Madrid until his return to Peru. In 1988, he adopted Spanish citizenship without losing his Peruvian nationality.[13] In 1999, he returned to Peru, where he resided at the time of his death in 2026.[14] Bryce continued writing until 2019, when he published his final volume of memoirs and retired.[15]

Claims of plagiarism

In March 2007, Peruvian diplomat Oswaldo de Rivero wrote an article for the Lima newspaper El Comercio accusing Bryce of plagiarizing his article "Potencias sin poder". Bryce responded by saying the article had been submitted in error by his secretary.[16] Also in 2007, he was accused of plagiarizing an article by José María Pérez Álvarez; Bryce apologized to Pérez Álvarez and claimed that political conspirators, intent on causing him harm, had submitted the article under his name.[17]

In May 2008, the writer Herberto Morote presented a complaint alleging that Bryce had plagiarized his works. The INDECOPI dismissed the complaint due to lack of evidence.[18] However, in 2009, the INDECOPI found Bryce guilty of plagiarizing 16 articles from 15 different authors (among them de Rivero) and ordered him to pay a fine of 177,000 soles (equivalent to €41,000).[19] Bryce maintained that he had never committed plagiarism; nevertheless, according to an open letter published in the newspaper El País, 40 cases of plagiarism by Bryce have been verified.[20]

Personal life

In 1968, the year he published Huerto cerrado, Bryce married Maggie Revilla. His second wife was Pilar de Vega Martínez, from Asturias, whom he married in 1980 in Spain. In 2004, he married a Peruvian lawyer, Ana Chávez Montoya. He also had a relationship with a Puerto Rican model, Tere Llanza; his final partner was Claudia Grau.[5][3]

Death

Bryce died in Lima on 10 March 2026, at the age of 87.[21] His close friend, Spanish singer-songwriter Joaquín Sabina, published two poems in his honor.[22] Álvaro Vargas Llosa, son of fellow Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, posted a tribute to Bryce on social media, calling him "one of the great Peruvian writers, and of the Spanish language".[23] The Peruvian Ministry of Culture and the Peruvian Presidency also expressed their condolences.[2] His remains were cremated and scattered in the sea in La Punta District, Callao.[24]

Bibliography

Novels[21]

  • Un mundo para Julius (English translation: A World for Julius), 1970
  • Tantas veces Pedro, 1977
  • La vida exagerada de Martín Romaña, 1981
  • El hombre que hablaba de Octavia Cádiz, 1985
  • La última mudanza de Felipe Carrillo, 1988
  • Dos señoras conversan (novelettes), 1990
  • No me esperen en abril, 1995
  • Reo de Nocturnidad, 1997
  • La amigdalitis de Tarzán (English translation: Tarzan's Tonsillitis), 1998
  • El huerto de mi amada, 2002
  • Las obras infames de Pancho Marambio, 2007
  • Dándole pena a la tristeza, 2012

Short story collections

  • Huerto cerrado, 1968[21]
  • La felicidad, ja ja, 1974[21]
  • Magdalena peruana y otros cuentos, ISBN 9789580602262 1988
  • Guía triste de París, ISBN 9788420483139, 1999

Chronicles

  • A vuelo de buen cubero, ISBN 9788433912053 1977
  • Crónicas personales, ISBN 9788433925091, 1998
  • A trancas y barrancas, ISBN 9788433967039, 1996
  • Crónicas perdidas, ISBN 9788433924971, 2001
  • Doce cartas a dos amigos, ISBN 9789972404030, 2003

Memoirs

  • Permiso para vivir – Antimemorias I, 1993[21]
  • Permiso para sentir – Antimemorias II, 2005[21]
  • Permiso para retirarme - Antimemorias III, 2019[2]

Essays

  • Entre la soledad y el amor, ISBN 9788483066898, 2005
  • La suprema ironía cervantina, ISBN 9788499380377, 2010

Awards

See also

Notes

  1. ^ In this Hispanic American name, the first or paternal surname is Bryce and the second or maternal family name is Echenique.
  1. ^ a b Nossiter, Adam (17 March 2026). "Alfredo Bryce Echenique, 87, Dies; Novelist Bared Peru's Privileged Class". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 March 2026.
  2. ^ a b c Gómez, Sofía (10 March 2026). "La muerte de Alfredo Bryce Echenique: perfil del último representante del 'boom' literario latinoamericano". El Tiempo (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 March 2026.
  3. ^ a b c "Muere Alfredo Bryce Echenique a los 87 años, el último gran representante del Boom latinomericano". RTVE (in Spanish). 10 March 2026. Retrieved 11 March 2026.
  4. ^ a b Briceño, Franklin (10 March 2026). "Muere el escritor peruano Alfredo Bryce Echenique, autor de "Un mundo para Julius"". AP News (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 March 2026.
  5. ^ a b c d e Gómez Vega, Renzo (10 March 2026). "Muere Alfredo Bryce Echenique, escritor vitalista y gigante de las letras latinoamericanas". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 March 2026.
  6. ^ López Iglesias, Javier (10 March 2026). "El creador que escribía para que le quisieran más". Hoy es Arte.
  7. ^ Ferreira, César (May 2019). "Función del diálogo en la narrativa de Ernest Hemingway by Alfredo Bryce Echenique". Book review. Latin American Literature Today.
  8. ^ Alvarez, Renzo (11 March 2026). "Entre la oralidad, el humor y la crítica social: un análisis del legado literario de Alfredo Bryce Echenique". RPP (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 March 2026.
  9. ^ a b "Mort d'Alfredo Bryce Echenique, le plus Péruvien des écrivains parisiens" ["Death of Alfredo Bryce Echenique, the most Peruvian of Parisian writers"]. Le Nouvel Obs (in French). 12 March 2026. Retrieved 12 March 2026.
  10. ^ Rosas, Yasmin (19 February 2020). "Alfredo Bryce Echenique a los 81 años: 'El retiro ha sido una decisión personal': Entrevista". El Comercio.
  11. ^ Houston, Robert (24 January 1993). "What He Learned From the Servants". New York Times. Archived from the original on 3 November 2023.
  12. ^ Gómez Roncal, Daggiana (12 November 2021). "Se estrenó Un mundo para Julius, película dirigida por la cineasta PUCP Rossana Díaz Costa". PuntoEdu. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.
  13. ^ "Bryce Echenique recibe máximo premio de narrativa en España". Letralia. 16 November 1998.
  14. ^ Silva, Roberto (10 March 2026). "Alfredo Bryce Echenique falleció a los 87 años: perfil de uno de los escritores más importantes de la literatura peruana". Radio Programas de Perú (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 March 2026.
  15. ^ Morales, Manuel (18 June 2019). "Bryce Echenique se retira: "No tengo pensado otro proyecto"". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 March 2026.
  16. ^ "Bryce renuncia a periódico tras escándalo por plagio". El Universal (in Spanish). 24 March 2007. Retrieved 11 March 2026.
  17. ^ Huete, Cristina (21 June 2007). "Bryce Echenique se disculpa por el plagio de un artículo y lo atribuye a un complot político". El País (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 5 November 2024. Retrieved 11 March 2026.
  18. ^ Cordero, Jaime (10 January 2009). "Un tribunal condena en Perú a Bryce por plagio". El País (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 17 September 2019. Retrieved 11 March 2026.
  19. ^ "Perú sanciona a Bryce Echenique por plagio de diversos artículos". El País (in Spanish). 9 January 2009. Retrieved 11 March 2026.
  20. ^ "Bryce Echenique: de plagios y premios". El País (in Spanish). 13 November 2012. Retrieved 11 March 2026.
  21. ^ a b c d e f "Alfredo Bryce Echenique: escritor peruano murió a los 87 años" (in Spanish). El Comercio. 10 March 2026. Retrieved 10 March 2026.
  22. ^ "Joaquín Sabina despide a Alfredo Bryce Echenique con dos poemas inéditos: "Pluma traviesa"". El Comercio (in Spanish). 10 March 2026. Retrieved 11 March 2026.
  23. ^ Greenall, Robert (10 March 2026). "Acclaimed Peruvian writer Alfredo Bryce Echenique dies aged 87". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 11 March 2026.
  24. ^ Alvarez, Renzo (12 March 2026). "Restos de Alfredo Bryce Echenique fueron cremados y sus cenizas esparcidas en el mar de La Punta". rpp.pe (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 March 2026.
  25. ^ a b Fuente, José Luis de la. "Biografía de Alfredo Bryce Echenique". Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 March 2026.
  26. ^ Beltrán Peña, José (1994). "Cultura peruana en 1993" (PDF). Estación Com-Partida (in Spanish). 17–18: 2. Retrieved 18 March 2026 – via Medio Siglo de Poesía Peruana.
  27. ^ a b Price, Helene (October 2005). Thematic Content and Style in the Narrative of Alfonso Bryce Echenique (1990-2002): A Consideration of Fantasy (PDF) (PhD thesis). University College London. p. 6. Retrieved 18 March 2026.
  28. ^ Lorenci, Miguel (10 March 2026). "Muere Alfredo Bryce Echenique, el renglón torcido del 'boom'". El Correo (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 March 2026.
  29. ^ "El peruano Alfredo Bryce Echenique, Premio Grinzane Cavour". Analítica. 5 February 2002. Retrieved 18 March 2026.
  30. ^ Napa, Renzo (10 March 2026). "Falleció Alfredo Bryce Echenique a los 87 años". Radio Programas del Perú (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 March 2026.
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