mēgĕlˈ ängˈhĕl ästooˈryäs, 1899–1974, Guatemalan novelist, poet, and diplomat. Living in Paris in the 1920s, Asturias was influenced by Romain Rolland, Valéry, and the surrealists. As a result of his opposition to Guatamalan dictatorship, his life was marked by periods of exile and imprisonment. His best-known works include Las leyendas de Guatemala, a study of the early legends and folklore of Guatemala; The President (1946, tr. 1963), a novel about a Latin American dictator; and the Banana Republic trilogy (1950–73), a grim account of exploitation in Central America. Among his other works are The Bejeweled Boy (tr. 1972), a complex allusive novel replete with mysticism and Guatemalan legends. In 1967, Asturias was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

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