El Sueno del Celta

Four years after publishing, Travesuras de la ni a mala, Vargas Llosa has completed El sue o del celta, a work based on the provocative life of Irishman Roger Casement, one of the first to document human rights abuses in European-ruled colonies.

Casement's shocking revelations exposed a painful truth: Europeans were committing unspeakably barbarous acts in the name of commerce, civilization, and Christianity. What Casement witnessed ultimately led him to confront England and the imperialist policies enforced in his native Ireland. He became a militant for the Irish Nationalist cause and during World War I conspired with the German government to purchase weapons for a revolt set to take place during the Easter holiday. But the weapons never made it to Irish shores, and the British brutally suppressed the Easter Rising. All Irish rebel leaders, including Casement, were executed. Many pleaded clemency for Casement including Arthur Conan Doyle, W.B. Yeats, and George B. Shaw.