Public Relations in the novel Tiempos recios by Mario Vargas Llosa

A literary approach to the life and work of Edward Bernays Freud

Abstract

This article analyzes the novel Tiempos recios, by Mario Vargas Llosa, focusing on the interpretation of the role played by Edward Bernays Freud in the positioning of Public Relations as a scientific and professional discipline. In its first part, from reality and fiction, the story presents the Public Relations strategies used by Bernays in favor of the banana transnational United Fruit Company, which impacted on the United States government and public opinión, as well as caused a crisis in Guatemala that ended in the overthrow of Jacobo Árbenz in 1954. Within this framework, a thorough and critical reading is developed, a specific analysis of the author’s mentions of Bernays and Public Relations, and a review of the scentific literature that shows the contribution of the Austrian academic. It is concluded that Bernays and the use of Public Relations are the main support of Tiempos recios political and social plot.