A Victim of His Own Success

The Celtic's Dream, Mario Vargas Llosa's latest novel, has turned into the author's nightmare.  Pirate copies are being sold on Lima's streets in broad daylight, and there doesn't seem to be too much that anyone can do about it.  Luckily, legitimate sales have been good, numbering 20,000 copies, with an additional 10,000 being printed.

I suppose that most of his countrymen want to read the book by the Nobel-Prize winner, but can't afford it at bookstore prices.  Then, as in other third-world countries, they resort to piracy, an unfortunate but "necessary evil" in today's economy.

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