The works of the contemporary Spanish American writers known as the "novelists of the boom" are characterized by techniques revealing the influence of James Joyce, William Faulkner, and John Dos Passos. The writings of Vargas Llosa, who is part of that group, exemplify this influence and that of Gustave Flaubert. In several interviews and in The Perpetual Orgy: Flaubert and Madame Bovary (1986; La orgia perpetua: Flauberty Madame Bovary, 1975), Vargas Llosa has emphasized Flaubert's objectivity in his presentation of character, plot, and action.

Objectivity and impersonal presentation (free of authorial intrusion and mediation) are characteristic of Vargas Llosa's novels. Joyce, Faulkner, and Dos Passos have inspired his juxtaposition of temporal planes, use of multiple points of view, and telescoping of dialogues.