The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta

“The Story of Mayta” is a novella about a desperate idealist and fervent revolutionary, Alejandro Mayta. Inspired by Trotsky’s ideas, he dreamed of a just society in which everyone would be free and happy. With a tiny group of like-minded companions, he tried to stage an armed uprising in a small town lost in the Peruvian Andes, and, of course, failed. His former classmate, now a famous writer, follows in the footsteps of the unsuccessful Mayta and tirelessly interviews everyone who knew him, loved him, and hated him, trying to determine at what point in his life the well-meaning bungler Mayta, unable to harm a fly, suddenly came to believe that only a violent coup could make all humanity happy.