this current preoccupation with thenforce or appeal of narrative, the onendemonstrating fertile abundance in varietynof character and incident withinnthe limits of realism, the other demonstratingna similar fertility in self-nStephen Tanner is professor of Englishnat Brigham Young University.njj Stephen L. Tannernft Judgement,nk Cycle Playsn;ious anti-realism.ne War of the End of the World is annal treatment of an actual eventnrazilian history, the remarkablenc resistance of the backland naatnthe siege of Canudos in 1896rhenenergizing force behind thisnance was a charismatic religiousnic named Antonio Mendes Macmownnas Antonio ConselheironCounselor), who gathered aboutnhe poor and alienated inhabitantsne of the most inhospitable backregionsnof the country. With hisnhing against the new Braziliann)lic and his apocalyptic vision ofnlestruction of the forces of thenAnti-Christ, he welded the dispossessedninto a guerrilla army that repeatedlynhumiliated government forcesnuntil the full resources of federalntroops eventually succeeded in destroyingnthis strange leader and hisnnnremote stronghold.nVargas Llosa, a Peruvean, used asnhis principal source Os Sertoes bynEuclides da Cunha {Rebellion in thenBacklands is the titie of the Englishntranslation). This 1901 Brazilian classicnhas been called “the Bible of Braziliannnationality.” It is a perfect do-ityourselfnkit for a novelist because innaddition to narrating the events of thenbatties it has long and detailed chaptersndescribing climate, geography, floranand fauna, and the racial, social, andncultural characteristics of the people,nincluding a biography of AntonionConselheiro, described by da Cunhanas a man existing “indefinitely on thenwavering frontier of madness, in thatnmental zone where criminals and heroes,nbrilliant reformers and moralndefectives, meet and genius jostlesndegeneracy.”nAnother source available to VargasnLlosa but unsuited to his purposes isnR.B. Cunninghame-Graham’s A Bra-nzilian Mystic, Being the Life and Miraclesnof Antonio Conselheiro. Thisnbook does not add much to da Cunha’s,nand as a matter of fact, VargasnLlosa makes no attempt to explore thenlife and personality of Conselheiro.nMARCH 1986113n