What is the original Spanish title of Mario Vargas Llosa's novel 'The War of the End of the World'?

The original Spanish title of Mario Vargas Llosa’s novel ‘The War of the End of the World’ is ‘La guerra del fin del mundo.’

Published in 1981, the novel is a fictionalised account of the War of Canudos, a devastating conflict in northeastern Brazil during the 1890s. Its central figure, Antônio Conselheiro, leads a religious community at Canudos that resists the newly established Brazilian Republic.

The title is sometimes confused with descriptions of the Canudos rebellion or with other apocalyptic-sounding phrases, but ‘La guerra del fin del mundo’ is the novel’s canonical Spanish title. The English title is a direct translation, not an alternate original title.

Vargas Llosa drew heavily on the historical conflict and on Euclides da Cunha’s Brazilian classic ‘Os Sertões’. The book’s large cast and multiple viewpoints combine political history, religious belief and military violence. It was published before Vargas Llosa received the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature.