Shakespeare References in Aunt Julia And The Scriptwriter

Mario Vargas Llosa’s novel Aunt Julia And The Scriptwriter contains a few Shakespeare references. The first, actually, is only a possible reference to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Mario Vargas Llosa writes, “He stopped in the garden for a few seconds to get Puck, the badly spoiled fox terrier, who bade him goodbye with affectionate yaps” (p. 19). Puck isn’t exclusive to Shakespeare’s play, but I’m including the reference anyway, as there are two other Shakespeare references in the book. The second is to Shakespeare himself: “and the title was nothing if not vast in scope: Ten Thousand Literary Quotations Drawn from the Hundred Best Writers in the World, with the subtitle: ‘What Cervantes, Shakespeare, Moliere, etc., have had to say about God, Life, Death, Love, Suffering, etc. …’” (p. 51). The other reference is to Romeo And Juliet: “He fell to the ground alongside Sarita, and the two of them, with their last breath, managed to embrace and thus enter, clasped in each other’s arms, the dark night of hapless lovers (such as a certain Romeo and Juliet?)…” (p. 297).

Aunt Julia And The Scriptwriter was published in 1977. The edition I read was the Avon Books version, originally published in the 1980s. I believe my copy is from 1990, as there is a sticker on the cover which reads, “Now the major motion picture ‘Tune In Tomorrow.’”