by Augusto Roa Bastos

Born June 13, 1917, in the rural Guairá region of Paraguay, Augusto Roa Bastos learned to speak both Spanish and Guaraní at an early age. His family lived near a sugar plantation where his father worked as an administrator. He attended military school, fought in the Chaco War (1932-35) against Bolivia, and worked as a journalist covering the exploitation of laborers in the yerbales (maté tea plantations in northern Paraguay). In 1947, though he never belonged to any political party, he was labeled a communist subversive by government authorities and was forced into exile. He moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he wrote all of his major works of fiction, including Yo el Supremo, while supporting himself variously as a journalist, teacher, and screenwriter. During the tragedy of Argentina’s “Dirty War” (1975-78), unleashed by a neofascist military junta against alleged communist subversives...