Conversations with Charles Dickens

A novel from 1946 written in Spanish by the Nobel Prize laureate Guatemalan writer and diplomat Miguel Ángel Asturias (1899–1974). “Mr. President” is an important milestone in Latin American literature; it explores the nature of political dictatorship and its impact on society. Asturias, among the first, used a literary technique now known as magical realism. “Mr. President” is one of the most notable works in the “novel about a dictator” genre; it was created based on an earlier short story by Asturias, written as a protest against social injustice after the later devastating earthquake in the author’s hometown.