Mario Vargas Llosa

[Stewart]

Mario Vargas Llosa (born March 28, 1936) is a Peruvian writer, politician, journalist, and essayist. Vargas Llosa is one of Latin America's most significant novelists and essayists, and one of the leading authors of his generation. Some critics consider him to have had a larger international impact and world-wide audience than any other writer of the Latin American Boom.

Many of Vargas Llosa's works are influenced by the writer's perception of Peruvian society and his own experiences as a native Peruvian. Increasingly, however, he has expanded his range, and tackled themes that arise from other parts of the world. Another change over the course of his career has been a shift from a style and approach associated with literary modernism, to a sometimes playful postmodernism.

Like many Latin American authors, Vargas Llosa has been politically active throughout his career; over the course of his life, he has gradually moved from the political left towards the right. While he initially supported the Cuban revolutionary government of Fidel Castro, Vargas Llosa later became disenchanted. He ran for the Peruvian presidency in 1990 with the center-right Frente Democr?tico (FREDEMO) coalition, advocating neoliberal reforms. He has subsequently supported moderate conservative candidates.


RELATED LINKS


Mario Vargas Llosa's Home Page (http://www.mvargasllosa.com/)
Mario Vargas Llosa on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Vargas_Llosa)

[kpjayan]

I was wondering why his name is not appearing in the Writers index..

Here is an interview (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/oct/04/mario.vargas.llosa.congo) appeared in guardian four days ago ( for those who missed it ) where he talk about the new work

[rabbitfast]

Vargas Llosa is one of the most famous representatives of the Latin American Boom, along with Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The Wikipedia article on Vargas Llosa was part of my Latin American lit class project (Murder, Madness and Mayhem) though I did not work on that particular article (I worked on the Latin American Boom).

[DB Cooper]

Never read any Vargas Llosa so now is the time. I've narrowed the choices to Feast of the Goat or War at the End of the World. Any thoughts?

[kpjayan]

Personal favorites.. Death in the Andes and War at the end of the World.

[Peeping Tom]

The War at the End of the World is also one of my favorites. I also liked The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta, which hardly anyone ever mentions. I never finished reading The Feast of the Goat, probably because I was interrupted so often, but I'm planning to try again at some later date.

[Daniel del Real]

I haven't heard of that one, I think is not even edited in Spanish anymore. What is it all about?

[Peeping Tom]

It was originally published in Spanish as La Historia de Mayta in 1984. The novel takes place sometime in the near future, when U.S. Marines are invading Peru to help a failing Peruvian government against a leftist insurgency. This is the background (almost literally), but the real story is about the writer-narrator in search of the true story of one his childhood friend, Alejandro Mayta, a Trotskyist revolutionary in the late 1950s who died in a failed insurrection, becoming somewhat of a legend in the process. It is told through a series of interviews with people who knew him (all with the current insurrection happening around them). The more the narrator finds out about his one-time friend, the cloudier the picture becomes. History and reality gets mixed up.

I liked this novel, but the title hardly ever comes up when I read anything about Vargas Llosa. Maybe I'm the only one who liked it.

[Stiffelio]

Vargas Llosa's earlier period is undoubtedly his best. I confess I still haven't dared read Conversation in the Cathedral nor The War at the End of the World, which are supposed to be his very best. Therefore my favorites are, in order:

Captain Pantoja and the Special Service *****+++ (it had me crying first with laughter, then with sadness for days).
The Time of the Hero (La Ciudad y los Perros) *****+ (an amazing first novel)
The Green House *****
Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter *****

Still very good, but not at the same level of excellence:

Death in the Andes (Lituma en los Andes) ****0
The Feast of the Goat ****0
The Way to Paradise (El Para?so en la Otra Esquina) ****0

I recommend reading MVL's non-fiction as well.

[Daniel del Real]

I liked a lot his recent books, except the last one that was mediocre for him. So here's how my Vargas Llosa's list would go:

El Paraiso en la otra Esquina *****++
La Guerra del Fin del Mundo *****+
La Fiesta del Chivo *****
Pantale?n y las Visitadoras *****
La Casa Verde ***00
Los Cachorros y otros Cuentos ***00
Travesuras de la Ni?a Mala **000

I've also read one non fiction book, well it is about fiction, an essay about Les Miserables which was pretty good.
La Tentaci?n de lo Imposible ****0

Still missing Conversaciones en la Catedral and La Ciudad y los Perros.

[promtbr]

So because of you two's lack of discretion, I have had no alternative but to ad Captain Pantoja and the Special Service to an already too large amazonbasket...This will be my last addition for the year.Right.

Please tell me you do not admire Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter.

[Daniel del Real]

You won't regret it, this is a very funny and entertaining book.
Haven?t read Aunt Julia but I've heard is one of his weakest novels.

P.S. For some part, thank god Amazon doesn?t deliver that cheap to Mexico, otherwise my amazonbasket and thus my wallet would burst

[Stiffelio]

Please, do read both Captain Pantoja and Aunt Julia. They're both great novels: funny, sour-sweet, ingeniously constructed, helluva reads with great depth to boot. Captain Pantoja is my all time MVL favorite but Aunt Julia is very recommendable too.

[Manuel76]

I read several books by him, but by far my favourite is Conversaci?n en La Catedral, for me one of the real classics of the last century.

I liked a lot other books by him like La guerra del fin del mundo or La ciudad y los perros, great novels but found there very very inferior and always felt dissapointed.

[Daniel del Real]

As much I have praised Mario Vargas Llosa as a writer, I have to express how much I despise him as a person.
With such unacceptable facts like openly support right wing candidate and now elected president Sebastian Pi?era in Chile he is proving that having a brilliant mind in fiction does not necessarily go along with moderation and respect for other countries sovereignty.
Let's not forget, that Pi?eira's group "Coalici?n por el Cambio" incorporates several parties that were the political basis in the Pinpchet's regime.
This man is a tycoon, owner of the LAN airlines in Chile, an man of the extreme right who has had several political scandals on his way to power, from business world to politics.
Two weeks ago, Vargas Llosa was invited by the government of Michelle Bachelet to inaugurate the Museum of the Memory in Santiago, a tribute to all the victims of the Regime. And what Vargas Llosa does for such an honor? That same night he stays at the house of presidential candidate Pi?era. Outrageous. No wonder why the crowd boo him in that event.
After Pi?era's win, Vargas Llosa was also present. What is this man trying to get in here? ?
Deplorable sitation by this man that with acts like this he can start forgetting about the Nobel Prize. It's the first time I'm glad that political facts are related to the prize's designation.

[Stiffelio]

Dear Daniel, I'd like to think that your hateful rant was motivated by getting an upset stomach over a rotten breakfast!

You are very badly misinformed, probably reading too many extreme left tabloids or listening to the bitching and moaning of the Chilean left who, a bit unexpectedly, lost the elections. Mind you, Bachelet has been a great center-left president but she never managed to steer her own coalition into nominating a reasonable candidate to succeed her. Along came Pi?era from the center-right (NOT the extreme right as you say - please, do your homework before speaking out!) and he ran away with the elctions, both in the 1st round and at the ballottage. You criticize Vargas Llosa for supposedly meddling into foreign sovereinty. Yet apparently you are the one who takes exception to the fact that the people from Chile elected Pi?era as their president in free and democratic elections. You must respect such sovereign decision, especially coming from the most educated population (and the most stable country) in Latin America. You should be better informed about Mr.Pi?era's credentials. Please tell me what is wrong with being a millionaire, or being right winger, for that matter. It's true that Mr.Pi?era grew up politically during Pinochet's regime. So did Bachelet and everybody else in the political spectrum. And, if you read the right information, you should be aware that Mr. Pi?era is going to appoint quite a few members of the center-left to his cabinet and to other posts. He is in excellent terms with Bachelet and both are discussing the transition in a very civilized manner. He is a pragmatist, a business man, no bullshitting populist as is the current fashion in many other Latin American countries.

About Vargas Llosa's actions in particular, the least you should deduce is that he is a free thinking, impartial person, having politely accepted both Bachelet's and Pi?era's invitations. I should, moreover, recommend that you start reading Vargas Llosa's extensive non-fiction work, so that you may better know what his political views are and so that you may be better prepared to judge him next time.

[DB Cooper]

Im currently reading The War At The End Of The World, which is my first Vargas Llosa. Let me just say, that Im completely floored with how good this novel is. Ive been on a stretch where Ive been disappointed by the last few books I read, but this more than makes up for it. Vargas Llosa is in full command of his powers here, Im not really cognizant of reading the words, I just follow the story through the images that Vargas Llosa paints in my mind. I cant recommend this highly enough, a must read. I have about 140 pages left and Im totally enraptured every time I pick up this book, and will be sad to read the final page. Do yourself a favor and pick this up. I suppose from here Ill either get Death in the Andes or Feast of the Goat.

[Daniel del Real]

It's great you picked up this book DB. I don't remember much about this book because I read it like 7 years ago I guess, but what I do remember is liking it so much. One of his better works.

[Eric]

Daniel says:

As much I have praised Mario Vargas Llosa as a writer, I have to express how much I despise him as a person.

This is rather a schizophrenic attitude, Daniel. It is the same as saying I adore books by M?rquez, but don't really like the fact that he cosied up, for decades, to the now senile Cuban dictator who would put people in prison for 22 years (e.g. Valladares, whose book I saw in the library a day or two ago).

Latin America is a most unimpressive political continent, with coups, murder, torture, throwing people out of aeroplanes or helicopters into the sea, friendship with dictatorships and undemocratic countries in Europe and the Middle East such as Iran and Russia. Some countries there are a haven for Nazi-style criminals. Others for Marxist would-be dictators.

For me, the ultra-Left and the ultra-Right are part of a circle that meets. We know all about how very nasty, Nazi-inspired generals ran both Chile and Argentina. But Castro also wore a uniform, and can anyone say, hand on heart, that Allende (the Marxist politician, not Isabella his niece) would not have turned out to be another nasty dictator, had he not been murdered? Can you seriously imagine a European politician wearing a military uniform?

So I am inclined to go along with Stiffelio when he suggests that Vargas Llosa thinks for himself. The fact that, in the present South American climate, he has moved to the right should not be seen as a sign that he wants to don a uniform and goosestep his way to glory. He's another reasonably independent author I would like to read.

[Stiffelio]

Eric, Vargas Llosa fell out of love with the Cuban revolution and all other things marxist way back in the early 70s. He's been an independent, staunch defender of democracy ever since. I also recommend you to read his non-fiction work, besides of course all his great novels.

[DB Cooper]

All of the points Eric raised are precisely what make South America such a fascinating and singular place. All of that political turmoil and upheaval, along with their other cultural heritages, make it a very fertile place for art and artists of all kinds. Heaps of talented novelists from there.

[Daniel del Real]

There is always a difference between the persona and the narrator of a book. Of course it always includes the personality of the author but it doesn't mean that they can't go separate ways between their fiction and acting in real life.
I agree with Gunther Grass when he said that writers are the historian of the dispossessed. The history has been always written by people who holds the power.
Mario Vargas Llosa has written great books that deal with political topics like La Guerra del Fin del Mundo and La Fiesta del Chivo. What I like about these books is that although he criticizes dictatorships he is always open with their characters for always finding the best way to become free and live better. In his fiction he is not always sticked to only one ideology and he tries to understand communities before suggesting a role model for a government.
This doesn't happen in real life. Vargas Llosa is glued to a political doctrine, and it's not only democracy, it's the neo-liberalism politics, one that has proven it's not the best way for government and that in Mexico has been a failure oppresing even more the dispossessed and making richer the already rich.
I'm not saying I agree with Hugo Chavez' crazy ways to "run" a country, and even going farther to tell everyone how to run a continent. However I don't either agree for an intellectual like Vargas Llosa to be cheering up for the right wing whenever he can, just like happened in Mexico in 2006 supporting candidate Calder?n and last year with Sebastian Pi?era in Chile.
I think he can express his opinion that is not bad at all, but he is going too far sneaking his nose in every election that happens in Latin America.

You never can be sure about something that didn't happen. But again, before you can give an opinion about a man, you need to know his background, not only as a politician but as a person, human being. Do you know anything about Allende's life Eric? If not I really recommed you to do some research about it since it's a very interesting example for a left wing government that arrived to power in a democratic way.
You can't say that easily that he'd had become a dictatorship without knowing his background.

Read Vargas Llosa, as I've said many times, he is a really good writer.

[kpjayan]

Read Vargas Llosa, as I've said many times, he is a really good writer.

Yes, but read books written prior to year 2000..

[Daniel del Real]

Yes, but read books written prior to year 2000..

I think The Feast of the Goat (2000) and The Way to Paradise (2003) are very strong books. I liked them both. The only weakness came with his last delivery The Bad Girl (2006) which I don't recommend at all.

[kpjayan]

I agree with feast of the goat. Way to paradise was ordinary by his standard. Bad girl was poor as you said. When the field of play shifted form his familiar territory, i find lot many writers loose their way. I am not hopeful about his next book.. ( something to do with Congo and all that)

[DB Cooper]

So those well versed in Llosa, what should I read next. I was utterly blown away by The War At The End Of The World, and to be honest I wasnt expecting a virtuosic performance such as that. I own both Death In The Andes and The Feast Of The Goat, so which would you recommend to read first?

[Stiffelio]

Definitely The Feast of the Goat. And if you wish to continue reading this great writer you could start with The Time of the Hero and The Green House, two magnificent early novels; his style was rather influenced by Faulkner at the time: challenging to read but very rewarding.

I haven't yet read Conversation in the Cathedral, but many critcs say it's Vargas Llosa's best novel (together with The War of the End of the World).

I also loved MVL's more satyrical vein, best shown in Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter (an autobiographical novel) and Captain Pantoja and the Special Service. Warning: you may end up with stomach pain due to uncontrolled laughter in certain passages.

I also read the chilling Death in the Andes. It's good but not great.

I still have a lot MVL to read myself :-)

[mesnalty]

I've yet to read Captain Pantoja and the Special Service, but the Francisco Lombardi movie adaptation of it is hilarious.

[kpjayan]

Hmm, personally I prefer 'Death in the Andes' over 'The Feast of the Goat'.

I havent read Conversation in Cathedral. My few attempts were to be abandoned for some reasons. Will read it this year.

[Manuel76]

Conversation in the Cathedral is one of my favorite novels. I think it's much better then The War of the end of the world, no comparison for me, even if I liked both. Very different books too.

Conversation in the Catedral is one of those books in which the most elaborate technics mean something different. A miracle.

[Daniel del Real]

I've also heard many praisals for Conversaciones en la Catedral, however I have to join the group that haven't read it yet. It will definitely be the next MVL to read, just don't know when. Probably if he wins the Nobel prize will make him jump in my reading list :p

[Bubba]

I have mixed feelings about MVLL, both as a novelist and as what, in the US, people call a public intellectual.

I very much enjoyed La guerra del fin del mundo; it was the first real book I ever read in Spanish, and it may be in part for that reason that I have good memories of it. I've also read Aunt Julia, Lituma, El hablador, Palomino Molero, Pantale?n (Captain Pantoja), and all but ten pages of The Bad Girl. None of these books made much of an impression on me. I couldn't get through La casa verde, Alejandro Mayta, or La fiesta del chivo. I'd like to try La ciudad y los perros and Conversaci?n en La Catedral, but they're sort of hard to find.

In some ways, I admire MVLL's willingness to be hated for his political views: here is a man who is willing to say that the ills of Latin America are the fault not so much of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, the CIA, and the evil yanquis as of the Latin Americans themselves. Of course, he makes his pronouncements from London and Madrid.

Here (http://elcomercio.pe/noticia/465588/mario-vargas-llosa-muchas-veces-he-intentado-escribir-cuentos-he-fracasado), in Spanish, is a very recent article about MVLL's views on the short story. The article--MVLL mentions Rulfo, Cort?zar, and Borges--is mildly interesting, but most enlightening are the readers' comments at the end. Here is one:


Ay Marito, como siempre te olvidaste de mencionar, al gran, al maestro del cuento Julio Ram?n Ribeyro junto con Rulfo, Cortazar, o Borges. Nunca vas a aceptar que en el Per? se lo quiera m?s que a ti. Tu ser?s m?s famoso, pero nunca m?s querido que ?l.In other words: Ay, Marito! As always, you forgot to mention the great Julio Ram?n Ribeyro, the master of the short story, along with Rulfo, Cort?zar, or Borges. You're never going to accept that he is more loved in Peru than you are. You might be more famous, but you will never be more beloved than he is.

You probably have to be either a reader of Ribeyro or a Peruvian to appreciate the truth of this brief comment.

[Daniel del Real]

I have to say it's delightful to read Vargas Llosa's essays or conferences about literature. Can't deny he is a very clever and intelligent human being that goes along being a great writer. But when he starts talking about politics, thinking he's got the solution for the entire Latin America eternal crisis, just one solution for all the countries, then this is when we have to stop listening to him and keep admiring him for his path through literature.

Haven't read Riberyro yet, but thank your for reminding me that big mistake Bubba.

[Bubba]

I forgot to mention I also read Vargas Llosa's Cartas a un joven novelista (Letters to a Young Novelist), which I didn't like much, because it focused mostly on technique, but I have enjoyed his shorter pieces on other books and writers.

I don't follow MVLL's political pronouncements closely, but if a particular ill afflicts an entire continent, might not a single remedy be appropriate?

Take the so-called Cochabamba Water Wars of about ten years ago. A French-led consortium had won the bid to take over the state-owned waterworks and provide water and sewerage services to the city. Possibly well meaning but indubitably slightly dimwitted acolytes of Naomi Klein and her ilk descended on Cochabamba from North America and Western Europe. They joined the locals on the barricades, chanting "?El pueblo unido, jam?s ser? vencido!" Some of the locals even took a few bullets in defense of the people's water.

That was enough. The Bolivian government caved in. Instead of renegotiating the contracts (which were, to be fair, excessively favorable to the French) with the members of the consortium, it tore them up and told the foreign profiteers to go home. Our anti-globalization activists, cheered on by the press in North America and Europe, cried victory and left the "cochabambinos" to their dust and their drought.

Because that's what they left them, as anyone with half a brain could have seen even then. The state-owned waterworks has no way of raising money to invest in expansion of water and sewerage lines. (Who's going to lend to a government that doesn't respect its contracts?) In the center of Cochabamba, then, the middle class, such as it is, continues to consume water and pay for it at state-subsidized rates (it's the people's water, after all), while hundreds of thousands of locals living in the slums outside must rely on expensive water of dubious quality delivered by truck. The French consortium would have connected a lot of the slums to water and sewerage lines (in exchange, of course, for the privilege of metering consumption and charging for it).

I saw in the papers the other day that Evo Morales has recently revisited Cochabamba to commemorate this glorious victory of the people and that, to the great embarrassment of his onetime allies in the ranks of the international anti-globalization forces, he could think of nothing better than to issue warnings against eating battery-raised, hormone-fed chicken, which, as he said, could make you gay. (I've always been reluctant to shell out double the price for free-range chicken, but I think I'll start now. Thanks, Evo!)

Let me say too that if the Bolivians want to contest the privatization of their waterworks I don't mind; it's their country, and if they make a mistake they have to live with it. That the rich-country activists who sometimes stoke these protests are celebrated drives me mad.

None of this, of course, has much to do with Vargas Llosa, but I think the excessive nationalism and fear of capitalism in evidence in the Cochabamba Water Wars are common to a lot of Latin American social conflicts. In general, I'd have to agree with MVLL that less jingoism and more liberalism would be good for the continent. That way, the "cochabambinos" might even get some water.

And, come to think of it, Vargas Llosa himself grew up in Cochabamba.

[Stiffelio]

Bubba, this was a bit off-topic but really excellent. You seem to have a very good grasp of what goes on in our continent. We've been in opposite sides of discussions regarding some Latin American writers in the past, but I must say I agree 100% on your accurate perception of our mores and travails. Hats off to you :-)

[Bubba]

Uh, Stiffelio, no need to doff your cap. It doesn't take rocket science. I mean, even Mario Vargas Llosa, besotted by the revolutionary left in his youth, eventually came around.

And it wasn't really all that much off-topic, either. I was just responding to Daniel's complaints about the solutions MVLL is always suggesting for the problems in Latin America. Sure, MVLL's preaching and editorializing on these topics can get old, but that doesn't make him wrong.

As Daniel probably knows, Mexico's oil production has been falling or stagnant for years, and the country, an oil exporter, has even had to import gasoline (and maybe diesel) from the US, and all because, like the Cochabamba waterworks, Pemex (and the rest of Mexico's oil industry) is untouchable.

A little dose of the doc's neo-liberal medicine might be enough to get the patient off his deathbed.

It's not that we're that much better in the US; we often rebuff investment from foreigners we don't like or are suspicious of: Chinese communists, Gulf Arabs, and what have you. But there's always someone else whose money we're willing to take. Well, now I am getting off-topic.

[Daniel del Real]

As Daniel probably knows, Mexico's oil production has been falling or stagnant for years, and the country, an oil exporter, has even had to import gasoline (and maybe diesel) from the US, and all because, like the Cochabamba waterworks, Pemex (and the rest of Mexico's oil industry) is untouchable.


Solution is not that easy Bubba and you know it. I agree about the Pemex situation draining people's blood with the old and stupid slogan that "Pemex is owned by every mexican" and we get nothing from that. But things are not going to improve if corruption is not eliminated little by little from the core of the political spheres.
Telmex, the company of telephony belonged to the government. When it was auctioned and was bought by Carlos Slim, among others we all thought we were gonna improve a lot and that it would become something more accessible and with a better service for the population.
More than 15 years later we still have one of the most expensive telephone rates in the whole world. I'm sure the same would happen to Pemex if it goes private.

[Daniel del Real]

Here's an article about Vargas Llosa's new novel to be published in Spanish november 3rd. The title is El Sue?o del Celta(The Dream of the Celtic) and it's his first novel since Traversuras de la Ni?a Mala. I hope it's better than the last one although that wouldn't tell much.
It is about the life of Irish man Roger Casement, defender of human rights and Brittish politician.
It sounds pretty good.

Alfaguara publicar? el 3 de noviembre "El sue?o del celta" de Mario Vargas Llosa | Alfaguara Espa?a (http://www.alfaguara.com/es/noticia/alfaguara-publicara-el-3-de-noviembre-el-sueno-del-celta-de-mario-vargas-llosa/)

[Stewart]

Mario Vargas Llosa was today announced the Nobel laureate in Literature for 2010, "for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt, and defeat.

[Heteronym]

Awesome!

Finally a laureate I can say, I've read him.

[Daniel del Real]

You're right, the first one since Pamuk for me. Also a writer really easy to find in the libraries.

[Liam]

What does El sueno del celta mean? If it has a Celtic theme, it might be the first MVLL book I will read when it gets translated.

[Daniel del Real]

The Dream of the Celtic. You have to read my previous post Liam or I'm not going to repeat it again :p

[adaorardor]

Anyone read The Way to Paradise, or whatever the novel involving Gaugin is called? That one I haven't read but it looks interesting.

[Daniel del Real]

Yes and I loved it. Actually is one of my favorites. Really different to the style he used in his early works as The Green House or Conversations in the Cathedral; here he doesn't use that much the multi-voice resource of his characters or the swaps between times in the story. This one is more straigh forward, intertwining chapters, one telling the story of painter Paul Gaugin and another for the women right deffender Flora Tristan, who also was Gaugin's grandmother.

[Diotima]

http://www.myminifile.com/images/llosa10.gif

[Diotima]

?Prosperity or egalitarianism / you have to choose. I favor freedom / you never achieve real equality anyway: you simply sacrifice prosperity for an illusion.? (M V Llosa)

[Diotima]

The note reads: "Patricia, when you read this I will be gone. I am leaving you for a Swedish woman. No, she is not Anita Ekberg, but her embonpoint is indeed ample! Be good to the children whose names, for the moment, I forget. I am delirious with love! Farewell, my dear, farewell!":cool:

[Diotima]

...:cool:
1. Write short novel.
2. Punch M?rquez in the face.
3. Get the jump on him with a sucker punch - don't forget you are Peruvian and you punch like a girl. But if you hit him first, he will be so surprised he won't get up. Clever, eh?
4. Become Peruvian president.
5. Ship this mirror to Lima so you don't forget your resolutions.
6. Stop writing in lipstick.

[Diotima]

The War of the End of the World (1981)

Hailed as a tragic masterpiece, the novel was inspired by true events in Baha, Brazil, in the late 19th century. At a time of economic decline following the breakdown of the Empire of Brazil, the poor are drawn to a charismatic preacher, Antonio Conselheiro, who is predicting the end of the world. Condemned by the church, Conselheiro takes his rag-tag band of followers to build a town at Canudos, set to be a new utopia. But Canudos exists in defiance of the national government, and violent conflict ensues when armies are sent to bring the prophet to order.

[Daniel del Real]

Now that diotima started with pictures here's a interesting set published by El Pa?s this morning. Photos of MVLL with GGM, Rushdie, Neruda, Onetti, Fuentes, Saramago, Cela etc.

Mario Vargas Llosa - Mario Vargas Llosa, un Nobel en fotos - ELPA?S.com (http://www.elpais.com/fotogaleria/cultura/Mario/Vargas/Llosa/Nobel/fotos/elpgal/20101007elpepucul_2/Zes/1)

Same newspaper also published, courtesty of his editorial house Alfaguara, the first pages of his new book El Sue?o del Celta:

http://www.elpais.com/elpaismedia/ultimahora/media/201010/07/cultura/20101007elpepucul_2_Pes_PDF.pdf

[Stiffelio]

What does El sueno del celta mean?
The Dream of the Celt is about Irishman Roger Casement, a romantic freedom fighter: expeditioner in the Peruvian jungle; diplomat for Great Britain in Congo where he denounced King Leopold's atrocities; later embraced the Irish cause and was hanged for treason.

[Stiffelio]

Anyone read The Way to Paradise, or whatever the novel involving Gaugin is called? That one I haven't read but it looks interesting.

I'm reading it right now. It actually seems like two novels in one, two fascinating stories.

[Eric]

Please accept a little of my true Gombrowiczian sarcasm, borrowed from another thread:

Suddenly, everyone is saying what a wonderful lad Mario Vargas Llosa is. Even if they've never read anything by him. Because he's a Latin American, and Latin America, led by the world's greatest democrats Morales, Ra?l Castro, and Ch?vez, is going to liberate itself from the hegemony of the wicked Yanks.

But hold on a minute, neo-armchair revolutionaries, Mario the Magician ain't no revolutionary. Hear the grumbles of intellectuals from Sweden, brought to you from the pages of Upsala Nya Tidning:

Leonardo Rossiello, Spanish lecturer:


He is quite conservative, neo-liberal [Yanks, remember that "liberal" means centre-right in Britspeak]. I shall be commenting positively about the prize to my colleagues and students. But I'm not opening any bottles of champagne. I still wish the Argentinian Juan Gelman had won the prize.G?ran Greider, Sweden's last revolutionary poet and the editor of the newspaper Dala-Democraten:


I'm not pleased. Latin America is the home of all progressive authors and Llosa even tried to become president on a neo-liberal ticket. He is out of step with everything positive that is occurring in the countries of Latin America. So, if you're a leftie, you can stop all the cheering, slime, and smarm about how wonderful it is that a Latin American has won that capitalist funded prize, the Nobel. He's a centre-rightie. Now, after people saying for ages that authors are above politics, you will see people starting to snarl and moan as soon as they realise that they been tricked by the Swedish academy of reactionaries into thinking that Latin American writer = revolutionary in Che Guevara T-shirt.

A more balanced comment comes from chief political editor of Upsala Nya Tidning, H?kan Holmberg:


Others can comment on literary matters. But Vargas Llosa's writing has a clearly political dimension. He was once presidential candidate for a party of liberal colouring [Yanks, remember "liberal"!] against the authoritarian right and the Maoist guerrilla with its romanticising of violence. The Nobel committee's motivation also includes a description of Vargas Llosa's political development from Marxism to reformism and democracy.Hurray for Holmberg! Not all Swedes mince their words or v?nder kappan efter vinden (are turncoats).

[hdw]

Vargas Llosa's next novel is going to be about Roger Casement, the Irish Nationalist who was executed by the British but who made his name as a British consul exposing human rights abuses in the Congo and Peru. Maybe it's the Peruvian connection that has attracted Vargas Llosa. It'll be interesting to see his take on Casement. There have been persistent rumours that Casement's infamous Black Diaries - which paint him as a predatory homosexual preying on young men - were forgeries designed to discredit him with socially conservative Irish Catholic supporters.

Harry

[lenz]

El sue?o del celta

This intriques me very much. I look forward to it as I wouldn't usually to a MVLL book.

[Mirabell]

as usual, one of the best essays on any book or subject can be depended on coming from the Fric Frac Clubbers.

here is Francois Monti's take on Vargas Llosa and his Nobel Prize

Don Mario - Vargas Llosa, Nobel de litt?rature 2010 - Fric-Frac Club (http://www.fricfracclub.com/spip/spip.php?article617)


The best take on the man and his career I've read so far.

[Bhagwat Goyal]

Mario Vargas Llosa is a literary genius par excellence. A wizard of words, thoughts and vision, his conception of a total novel gives us a new genre of fiction. - Bhagwat Goyal

[Stiffelio]

Thanks for the link. I must have more than 10 bookmarked articles to read when I have some spare time, plus some printed articles from newspapers. If you can read Spanish I recommend the El Pa?s 15 page Cultura supplement dedicated to MVLL (you can also read it online).

[Eric]

I agree with Mirabell and Stiffelio that the Fric Frac essay is a good one. If for nothing else, simply because it raises the issue of political affiliation. The default position for good literature simply cannot be that the author must always be left-wing. Because some shockingly na?ve people on the left have then gone into litanies of eulogism about such "democrats" as the Castro Brothers, and other leaders on the Left.

So anyone who has said anything good about Thatcher is guilty by association. Yet I do not remember Thatcher ever condemning anyone to 25 years in prison for dissidence (c.f. Valladares, Cuba). The Castros are as much dictators as were Pinochet and Galtieri. And people never discuss what Allende would have been like, had his own power struggle succeeded. Because he died, he has, like Che Guevara, become a "people's martyr".

For many lefties, "apolitical" means "agrees with us". I'm glad that the Nobel people have put the cat among the pigeons by choosing a centre-right author. Though I have not read him yet for literary merit. I hope to read his books one day in a tranquil atmosphere when the post-Nobel- fever has subsided.

[Mary LA]

Excellent Fric Frac club link -- thanks Mirabell

[Taleb]

Nothing against Mario, but some Swedish anger......evaporating:


Don’t give him the Nobel – he’s right-wing! | spiked (http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/9776/)

[Loki]

I'm about to read my first Llosa, in Spanish. Is it difficult to read? Is his style complex?
By the way, I'll probably read Travesuras de la nina mala (The Bad Girl).

[Stiffelio]

No, The Bad Girl is very easy to read. Vargas Llosa moved away from complex style many novels ago. In fact, I would advise you against choosing The Bad Girl as your first dip into Vargas Llosa. It's a finely written novel but not among his best. Try reading El Para?so en la Otra Esquina (The Way to Paradise), a beautiful and entertaining novel (with two separate stories to boot!) which is also very easy to read in Spanish as a second language.

[Loki]

The thing is that my reading list contains just one of Llosa's novels, The Bad Girl. I don't know any of the other books in the reading list, but I would really like to read something by Llosa, and since it's my only choice, I'm kinda stuck.

Oh, thanks for the answer/tip!

[Daniel del Real]

Come on, who imposed you that reading list with that novel as your only choice for a MVLL novel? If it was your teacher please tell him we think he is a dork.

[sirena]

I'll probably read Travesuras de la nina mala (The Bad Girl).

Please, do. It's my favourite. :D

[Loki]

Come on, who imposed you that reading list with that novel as your only choice for a MVLL novel? If it was your teacher please tellhim we think he is a dork.

She'll be pissed! :D
Anyway, it must have some sense that reading list, maybe it's the easiest one by Llosa, or the one she remembers best I don't know...

Sirena said:

Please, do. It's my favourite. :D

Are you being sarcastic by any chance?:confused:

[lionel]

The thing is that my reading list contains just one of Llosa's novels

Does that reading list have Vargas Llosa under V, or LL? Just interested. :p

BLOG (http://tonyshaw3.blogspot.com/)

[Loki]

Does that reading list have Vargas Llosa under V, or LL? Just interested. :p


I think it should be under LL. "Unfortunately" (for you) it is not in alphabetical order.


By the way, out of curiosity, the reading list is this:
E. Lindo, Una palabra tuya
E. Mendoza, El asombroso viaje de Pomponio Flato
M. Vargas Llosa, Travesuras de la ni?a mala
J. Mars?, ?ltimas tardes con Teresa
A. Neuman, Bariloche, Anagrama
G. Mart?n Garzo, El lenguaje de las fuentes
G. Aguirre, Electr?nica para Clara

Is Llosa (or this novel by Llosa) better than the other authors/novels?

[Daniel del Real]

If SHE recommends The Bad Girl probably under M.

[Loki]

Neither of the three options, since it's not in alphabetical order!

[Daniel del Real]

The best novel of the list is by far ?ltimas Tardes con Teresa. Mars? is an outstanding writer you should try. You need to read him carefully since his prose tends to be elaborated but once you get into the reading it's definitely a great experience.

[lionel]

Maybe I was trying to say that the surname is really Vargas Llosa, so it should be indexed under V, not LL. It's a Spanish thing: let's be respectful :)

BLOG (http://tonyshaw3.blogspot.com)

[Loki]

The best novel of the list is by far ?ltimas Tardes con Teresa. Mars? is an outstanding writer you should try. You need to read him carefully since his prose tends to be elaborated but once you get into the reading it's definitely a great experience.

So definitely not a good choice for me, since I have little time to devote to reading. I think I'll be able to read from about 11 p.m., and then I'll be so tired there wont' be much space left for elaborated prose.
Thanks for the tip though!;)


lionel: I still can't understand why after 6 years studying Spanish I have yet to figure out how the name-surname thing works, can you believe it? But maybe it's just because nobody has taught me properly!

[Daniel del Real]

Don't worry, they don't know how to do that even here in Mexico. In all my school life when they arranged the names alphabetically by last name, sometimes I was one of the early names in the list as they took Del Real as a whole first last name,and somethings late in the list becaused they used Real and ignored Del because it is a preposition. That's absurd. Now if you add to the formula that we use a lot our second last name it can be a little tricky to understand to foreigeners. Not that hard as Russian names either :p

[Amoxcalli]

Don't get me started on Arabic ones. It's no wonder our medieval counterparts called the guy Averro?s, when his real name was Abū 'l-Walīd Muḥammad bin Aḥmad bin Rushd. That's Abu 'l-Walid Muhammad son of Rushd son of Ahmad, if I recall correctly. I've yet to figure out what the rest of the name means. Just to clarify, that's still how the naming system works in Arab countries. There's the story of a woman from New Zealand called Marguerite van Geldermalsen who married a Jordanian Bedouin. The official document of their wedding said: "Marguerite, daughter of Van, daughter of Geldermalsen". I found it quite funny. :P


Back to MVL. I read his The Feast of the Goat, and I was neither disappointed nor overwhelmed. It is a very solid story without any faults though. It does make me want to read more. Any suggestions?

[Stiffelio]

Loki: a couple of things -

- Do you have to read all of the books in your reading list or you may choose just a few? I haven't read anyone on the list, except for the MVLL one. But if you worry about complexity, I bet Mars? and Neuman will be a lot harder to read than MVLL's The Bad Girl.

- Frankly, despite Daniel's and my quibbles about The Bad Girl, you will still enjoy it, you'll be in excellent narrating hands with MVLL. But it will be a pity if you don't explore this writer any further. It's as if you were to read Saramago and began with lesser novels such as The Elephant's Journey or Cain, or got to know Garc?a M?rquez just by reading the mediocre Memories of My Melancholy Whores, or Philip Roth reading Indignation.

- I suggest you start reading Vargas Llosa by tackling his early masterpieces. Dai, leggilo pure in italiano. Ce ne sono ottime traduzioni. Ti consiglio La citt? e i cani; La casa verde (quello s? ? assai difficile da leggere!); Il Paradiso ? altrove; Pantaleon e le visitatrici.

- Finally, the surname belongs in the V: its Vargas Llosa, unhyphenated, and for heaven's sake, never ever just Llosa.

[Stiffelio]

Back to MVL. I read his The Feast of the Goat, and I was neither disappointed nor overwhelmed. It is a very solid story without any faults though. It does make me want to read more. Any suggestions?

Judging from what I've read, I'd start with the very beginning: The Time of the Hero and The Green House, two early and rather experimental masterpieces. I haven't yet read Conversation in the Cathedral nor The War of the End of the World, but most critics say those two massive novels constitute MVLL's pinnacle as a writer. I'd also recommend you to explore his satirical vein: Captain Pantoja and the Special Service and Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter. Of his more recent ouput, The Way to Paradise is very good and I personally look forward to his upcoming new novel about Roger Casement which will be published next week.

[Loki]

Loki: a couple of things -

- Do you have to read all of the books in your reading list or you may choose just a few? I haven't read anyone on the list, except for the MVLL one. But if you worry about complexity, I bet Mars? and Neuman will be a lot harder to read than MVLL's The Bad Girl.

Nope. Just one of them, and since I've got so much to study for my exam is more than enough!:D


-Frankly, despite Daniel's and my quibbles about The Bad Girl, you will still enjoy it, you'll be in excellent narrating hands with MVLL. But it will be a pity if you don't explore this writer any further.

I will, but not before next autumn, unfortunately.


-I suggest you start reading Vargas Llosa by tackling his early masterpieces. Dai, leggilo pure in italiano. Ce ne sono ottime traduzioni. Ti consiglio La citt? e i cani; La casa verde (quello s? ? assai difficile da leggere!); Il Paradiso ? altrove; Pantaleon e le visitatrici.

Ma dillo che sei italiano! Forse italiano no, ma vedo che te la cavi piuttosto bene. Grazie dei consigli! Per ora per? devo attenermi ai libri proposti dalla mia lettrice.


-Finally, the surname belongs in the V: its Vargas Llosa, unhyphenated, and for heaven's sake, never ever just Llosa.

Ok, thanks! I'll never call him that. And thanks again for suggesting some Llosa's books! :D

P.S. someone may even open a thread on surnames, patronymics and so on; I think it could be interesting seeing different traditions (Spanish, Arabic, Russian ones, to mention the ones you've briefly talked about).

[Daniel del Real]

- Frankly, despite Daniel's and my quibbles about The Bad Girl, you will still enjoy it, you'll be in excellent narrating hands with MVLL. But it will be a pity if you don't explore this writer any further. It's as if you were to read Saramago and began with lesser novels such as The Elephant's Journey or Cain, or got to know Garc?a M?rquez just by reading the mediocre Memories of My Melancholy Whores, or Philip Roth reading Indignation.


Totally agree, you will enjoy it, but it's a shame to have such a great writer as Vargas Llosa with a purely beach read, that is what this book is.
I'm also expecting a great novel in El Sue?o del Celta. I don't think I'll but iy immediately since I have no money at all right now, but maybe in early december I'll check it out.

[sirena]

Are you being sarcastic by any chance?:confused:

Noooo! Not at all! Quite contrary! I loved the novel.
I read it in Croatian translation and planning to read it in Spanish as well. Go for it!

[Loki]

Totally agree, you will enjoy it, but it's a shame to have such a great writer as Vargas Llosa with a purely beach read, that is what this book is.


The thing is that it's not a literature course, but a language one. She's not interested in the literary aspect of the novel, but she wants us to read something in Spanish and to be able to say something about the book.

Anyway, thanks to all for the tips! ;)
I'll write my comments.

[Stiffelio]

Vargas Llosa keeps coming out in the news. Yesterday his new novel El Sueño del Celta was published in Spanish simultaneoulsy in 17 countries, with a first edition of 500,000 copies.

And, on a more frivolous note, a song has been composed in his honour by Swedish musician Martin Luuk and is sung by Indi Rock band EP's Trailer Park. The name of the song: "Did you know that the name of my true love was Vargas Llosa?" You can listen to it online here:

http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/s/Did+you+know+that+the+name+of+my+true+love+was+Var gas+Llosa/3gRZyn

Ain't it cool?

[Daniel del Real]

I'm really looking forward to this novel. The price is fair and the distribution for sure will be generous. I'll try to get in late November to read it for my vacation time in December.
A song? come on!

[littératuresansfrontières]

It was originally published in Spanish as La Historia de Mayta in 1984. The novel takes place sometime in the near future, when U.S. Marines are invading Peru to help a failing Peruvian government against a leftist insurgency. This is the background (almost literally), but the real story is about the writer-narrator in search of the true story of one his childhood friend, Alejandro Mayta, a Trotskyist revolutionary in the late 1950s who died in a failed insurrection, becoming somewhat of a legend in the process. It is told through a series of interviews with people who knew him (all with the current insurrection happening around them). The more the narrator finds out about his one-time friend, the cloudier the picture becomes. History and reality gets mixed up.

I liked this novel, but the title hardly ever comes up when I read anything about Vargas Llosa. Maybe I'm the only one who liked it.

I am quoting this ages later! But I just read my MVLL book which happens to be La Historia de Mayta and you are not the only one who liked it! I actually found it very interesting. The story -as Peeping Tom mentioned - revolves around the narrator who travels in search of the story of a leftist Trotskyist revolutionary called Mayta but it isn't the story that really mattered for me. It is the very original way of telling it. I obviously don't know how it ranks compared to other MVLL novels but the way he played with narration to building this gray area where reality, history and fiction become indistinguishable, I found absolutely amazing.

[hdw]

Vargas Llosa agreed to censorship of his novels in order to get them published in Franco's Spain -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/nov/26/mario-vargas-llosa-spain-franco

I would love to see the Spanish originals of the quotes in Giles Tremlett's Guardian article. What is "poofery" in Spanish?

I also like the way that "tart" was replaced by the less offensive(?) "bitch". Or rather, the Spanish word that Tremlett translates as "tart" was replaced by the Spanish word that Tremlett translates as "bitch".

I note, for future reading, his Conversation in the Cathedral, with its 3-page lesbian bedroom scene.

Harry

[Peeping Tom]

But I just read my MVLL book which happens to be La Historia de Mayta and you are not the only one who liked it!

Glad you liked it.

[Stiffelio]

This is the article in Spanish.

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/Vargas/Llosa/manos/censor/elpepucul/20101126elpepicul_1/Tes

"Poof" and "sneak" are translations from "maricón" and "soplón", respectively, which I'd translate more accurately into "faggot" and "snitcher"

"Tart" and "bitch" are translated from "puta" (really more a "whore" than a "tart") and "perra". Funny that in most Latin American countries "perra" is actually a lot more offensive than "puta"

I hope this helps :-)

[hdw]

Thanks. It's interesting that the word for a female dog in so many languages is used as a rather gross insult, whereas, in English at least, to call a man a "dog" (a bit of a dog, a sly dog, etc.) implies a reluctant admiration. One of those ways in which language can be quite sexist.

Harry

[hdw]

I take back some of what I said above about dogs. I've just been reading some of the Wikileaks, and I see that US officials called Vladimir Putin an "alpha-dog". I don't think that was a compliment.

Harry

[Eric]

Stiffelio, you say:


"Poof" and "sneak" are translations from "maricón" and "soplón", respectively, which I'd translate more accurately into "faggot" and "snitcher"
Not all of us are Americans. For a Brit, a "faggot" is a bundle of twigs, whilst a "fag" is a cigarette. We still maintain an independence of English, a language which the Brits, not the Yanks, invented in the first place.

Anyway, it's fun that Vargas Llosa takes up the subject of self-censorship. I bet the censors had a whale of a time.

I suppose Putin (slightly more accurately transliterated as "poo-chin") is a bit of a dog when he bares his chest holding his rod. But I agree with what I read online about the one-man show to bring military America to its knees: the leaks are more embarrassing than dangerous. Although I bet that anyone who has been double-agenting for the Yanks will be worried about assassination. I see that Prince Andrew's in jolly hot water for saying something. No Llosaian self-censorship on his part. But we must remember who his daddy is: the Duke of Swearing and Racist Put-Downs.

[hdw]

A faggot can also make a tasty mouthful. No, no, it's a kind of meatball! Made from pig's heart, liver and fatty pork belly. What's not to like?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faggot_(food)

Harry

[Manuel76]

Very interesting article, and glad to read that José María Valverde was among the first ones to hail Vargas Llosa as the best Spanish writer of his generation. osé María Valverde wrote with Marín de Riquer a very interesting History of World Literature, full of wonderful commentaries.

In Spain perra sounds perhaps less offensive than puta, but well at least he could publish his novel, Juan Marse's Si te dicen que caí had to be published in Mexico...

[Heteronym]

Funny, a few months ago I knew nothing about Vargas Llosa, and now I've read three novels by him: The Time of the Hero and The Bad Girl before he received the Nobel Prize, and just recently The War of the End of the World. And I still have The Feast of the Goat and The Dream of the Celt to read.

He's an amazing writer, with a beautiful, sober style.

[Mirabell]

I'm currently reading Time of the Hero which is just amazing. The way he manipulates speakers and narrators and builds a narrative like a cathedral....incredible. My first novel by him and if they all are that great, he'll soon become one of my favorite writers,

[Bjorn]

Here's Llosa's Nobel lecture, by the way:

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2010/vargas_llosa-lecture_en.html

(Also in the original Spanish (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2010/vargas_llosa-lecture_sp.html).)

I don't entirely agree with him across the board, but some good stuff that would, in an ideal world, make it clear why the "it's political" complaint is so ridiculous.

[Daniel del Real]

I watched it yesterday and I agree with you Bjorn regarding the political topics. Everything else was really good as he is a great speaker and a good essayist. When he spoke about his influences (Flaubert, Tolstoy, Dickens, Faulkner, Mann, etc) he was really accurate about his influences and how he became the writer he is. I think that all of us that have heard Vargas Llosa's speeches and what he usually says when he is in front of a microphone, found nothing unexpected as he continued his usual and official speech. The only unusual situations was when his voice broke down when he thanked to his wife and refered to her almost with tears in his eyes. That is a new face of a very serious man that is usually rigid in his face and his acts.
A good lecture, expected but far away of the best lectures I've read/seen.

[Stiffelio]

I thought it was a wonderful, moving speech. Contrary to Bjorn's and Daniel's stance, I tend to agree almost entirely with Vargas Llosa's political and economical ideals. At least he is a genuine convert from the left to the right and no hypocrite as many other intellectuals (I'm not sure I undertsand what you mean by his "official speech", Daniel: I don't think Vargas Llosa is anybody's mouthpiece but his own). But, the above having been said, Vargas Llosa should be respected and admired solely for his literary talent and that's what he got the Nobel Prize for. By the way, the thank-you speech did not purport to be a lecture.

[Eric]

I have yet to read the speech, which was published in the Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet, yesterday, I think. But I tend to agree with Stiffelio about his political stance. I find it rather immature and comical that people are always over the moon about everything that happens in Latin America, as long as it's not done by right-wingers, who, by sleight of hand, are turned into crypto-fascists by the admirers of such democrats as Fidel Castro, and his literary groupie Márquez. The lefties are now doing a writhing act, trying to find Vargas Llosa moving and sincere, but damning him at the same time as a nasty rightie. Let people tie themselves up in knoits. We, living in Western democracies, don't have to toe the left or right line. Our elections are not manipulated and we don't get sent to prison for eleven years for saying what we think.

It's nice to think there is someone who is no one's mouthpiece and feels free to say what he really thinks. But remember: that is because there are still countries in the world where you are not silenced when you debate things rather than merely leak them to elicit applause and climb the heights of the moral high ground.

[Bjorn]

Contrary to Bjorn's and Daniel's stance, I tend to agree almost entirely with Vargas Llosa's political and economical ideals.
I don't have any particular problem with any of the opinions he claimed to stand for in this speech; what bothered me slightly was the implication that it's either his way or Sovietism. Also, I've seen some fairly scathing criticism on his comments on the wonders of having Indian and African influences in Peru, even if he did acknowledge that they didn't exactly have a choice in the matter, since apparently his attitude towards Indians hasn't always been uncontroversial. But that aside, it is a great speech. What I meant by the "political" label being ridiculous is that no matter whoever wins the Nobel, some people always complain about it being a political choice - as if there's nothing inherently political about great literature. Next time someone complains about that, I'll just direct them to Llosa's lecture and the excellent points he makes about writing and reading as a political act, the power and role of literature and art in wanting to make the world a different place.


By the way, the thank-you speech did not purport to be a lecture.
It's called the Nobel lecture.

[Bubba]

In general, Vargas Llosa's political views--at least about open economies and such--coincide with mine, but I also understand the many Peruvians who can't stand him. Their dislike dates, I think, to his failed presidential bid. When he realized el chino's campaign was gaining momentum, he forged (that's right: forged) alliances with long-time figures from the Peruvian right who had never done anything for their country and who were as corrupt and venal as any on the left. He was especially angered by the way his campaign was abandoned by the poor, by the Indians and mestizos from the highlands, who flocked to Fujimori. He didn't hide his anger, and in his blind arrogance he was unable to see what made it impossible for him to win their support.

Vargas Llosa was also a tremendously sore loser. Read, for example, the mean-spirited but lively post-election memoir El pez en el agua or the novel Lituma en los Andes, which is, among other things, a somewhat peevish indictment of the ignorance and bloodthirstiness of the people of the highlands (remember: these are the people who didn't vote for him).

I took a look at his Nobel lecture, but I just skimmed it, as I found it slightly boring.

[Heteronym]

I liked this bit a lot:


But thanks to literature, to the consciousness it shapes, the desires and longings it inspires, and our disenchantment with reality when we return from the journey to a beautiful fantasy, civilization is now less cruel than when storytellers began to humanize life with their fables. We would be worse than we are without the good books we have read, more conformist, not as restless, more submissive, and the critical spirit, the engine of progress, would not even exist. Like writing, reading is a protest against the insufficiencies of life. When we look in fiction for what is missing in life, we are saying, with no need to say it or even to know it, that life as it is does not satisfy our thirst for the absolute – the foundation of the human condition – and should be better. We invent fictions in order to live somehow the many lives we would like to lead when we barely have one at our disposal.



Without fictions we would be less aware of the importance of freedom for life to be livable, the hell it turns into when it is trampled underfoot by a tyrant, an ideology, or a religion. Let those who doubt that literature not only submerges us in the dream of beauty and happiness but alerts us to every kind of oppression, ask themselves why all regimes determined to control the behavior of citizens from cradle to grave fear it so much they establish systems of censorship to repress it and keep so wary an eye on independent writers. They do this because they know the risk of allowing the imagination to wander free in books, know how seditious fictions become when the reader compares the freedom that makes them possible and is exercised in them with the obscurantism and fear lying in wait in the real world. Whether they want it or not, know it or not, when they invent stories the writers of tales propagate dissatisfaction, demonstrating that the world is badly made and the life of fantasy richer than the life of our daily routine. This fact, if it takes root in their sensibility and consciousness, makes citizens more difficult to manipulate, less willing to accept the lies of the interrogators and jailers who would like to make them believe that behind bars they lead more secure and better lives.

[Stiffelio]

Bubba,

Of course he was bitter about losing the elections. Who wouldn't be? His biggest frustration was not succeding at the "political game", at not being able to convince the lower classes, unfortunatelly very poorly educated people who have always been easy prey to populist pied-piperism such as, for instance, Fujimori's was in a way. With hindsight Vargas Llosa was right. Where did Mr Fujimori end up?

I don't think El Pez en el Agua is mean-spirited. It's an excellent taking-stock memoir, a personal contrition of sorts for having wasted precious time in a futile pursuit of something he was not born to be, i.e. a politician. We should be thankful to him that he went back to full-time writing.

[Daniel del Real]

I think the best that could have happened to all of us, literature lovers, is what actually did, that is Vargas Llosa losing the elections. Probably things would've come slightly different, better to the Peruvian people (not so much however), but I think he would have get lost in something it's not his main strenght, politics. On the other hand, it would've been a waste of time for what he is really good at, writing, wether it's fiction or non fiction. If he would've become president, maybe he wouldn't be a Nobel prize winner right now, and I'm sure that he prefers the latest than to be president.


But, the above having been said, Vargas Llosa should be respected and admired solely for his literary talent and that's what he got the Nobel Prize for.

Totally agree and I'll keep with that image of him.

[Daniel del Real]

Here's a complain by ex-president of the Catalunya generalitat Jordi Pujol, reproaching Vargas Llosa of praising Barcelona in the 70's which claims was still Franco's regime and time of persecusions and intolerance.
I'd say it is exagerated, but you can judge.

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/Jordi/Pujol/reprocha/Vargas/Llosa/elogio/Barcelona/franquista/elpepucul/20101210elpepucul_8/Tes

[Bubba]

Stiffelio, there are plenty of people who, even though they may be bitter, are magnanimous in defeat, who, unlike MVLl (who has since mellowed), don't blame others for their own shortcomings. Look at John McCain after his loss to a much younger man in the last US presidential elections, for example (he has since gone a little crazy, I will admit).

And El pez en el agua (I rather like the book, by the way) is very certainly mean-spirited. Read the vicious bit about Ribeyro, who was once MVLl's friend. A little background: Ribeyro was a Peruvian envoy to UNESCO when, according to MVLl, he circulated a petition likening MVLl's stance against Alan García's nationalization of Peruvian banks to that of the Peruvian oligarchy (I would share, for my part, MVLl's opposition to any nationalization, but any local "oligarchy," if its members know what's good for them, will always support such nationalizations, as the ensuing cronyism and corruption will ensure that the oligarchs and their firms will be the beneficiaries of dubious loans; in short, Ribeyro's petition was doubly mistaken). At the time, MVLl was getting his presidential bid underway, and news of the petition circulated by Ribeyro broke in the Peruvian media. Through a common friend, Ribeyro sent a message to MVLl telling him not to worry, these were cosas coyunturales. It was this message--its implication that Ribeyro was circulating the petition to save his job--that sent MVLl into a rage and caused him to break off his long friendship with Ribeyro. MVLl surely earns enough from his novels and journalism not to have to hold down another job; his failure to sympathize with writers who don't enjoy the degree of freedom his own international success accords him, whose work he may know, in his heart of hearts, is superior to his own, is arrogant; it is perhaps even symptomatic of profound envy.

Most Peruvians, of course, are rightly proud that one of their own has won the Nobel, but if you've been to Peru you see that the Peruvian people don't really love MVLl and his work (nadie es profeta en su tierra, you will retort), not as much, in any case, as they love that of Ribeyro or even José María Arguedas. And it is, I think, his countrymen's relative failure to love him, in either politics or literature, that sticks in MVLl's craw, that fuels his resentment of the likes of Ribeyro and the poor Peruvians who dared express their preference for el chino.

I, too, agree with whoever said MVLl should be judged solely on his literary talent, but I also think that his politics, his resentments, are themselves major components of his literature, and that they are thus fair game.

You ask where Fujimori ended up. What about where he began? Enacting (without losing the support of the poor who had voted him into office) a program of market reforms very similar to those MVLl himself had espoused on the campaign trail. How galling it must have been for MVLl to see his poor countrymen allow this previously unknown Jap to do what they had not allowed him, the great writer, the man who saw more clearly than anyone else what the country needed, to do! Little wonder he took Spanish citizenship shortly thereafter.

Fujimori, of course, ended up in a jail cell (he presided over massive corruption, as well as a vicious counter-insurgency that MVLl must have been secretly pleased not to have to have lead himself). Shortly before his extradition from Chile to Peru, Fujimori gave an interview to a Peruvian newspaper. Asked how he planned to spend his time in jail, he said he would do a lot of reading. What books and writers did he mention? Vargas Llosa perhaps? No. La palabra del mudo, by ... Julio Ramón Ribeyro.

[Manuel76]

Exagerated and manipulative, but of course applauded by a lot of people who can be the very example of what Stifelio called: very poorly educated people who have always been easy prey to populist pied-piperism. Of course thiskind of comments let him be president for 23 years.

I only can say Vargas Llosa's vision of that time in Barcelona seems to me a very accurate and clear one. I didn't live at that time here or anywhere, so it's only a second hand oppinion. But anyway Vargas Llosa of course mentioned Franco's repression and violence over Spanish society of the time, but he clearly is praising a social and cultural uprising against a cruel regime, a cultural golden age (the cultural life of a city can be opposed to the political regime of that same city).

Jordi Puyol's commentaries are once more poorly developed or explained, he just named again prison, Franco, repression and won his public. After all this three words have given him money for thirty years.

[waalkwriter]

Just an interesting little note; Llosa came up in the news again. He's ecstatic over Humala's win over Keiko Fujimora:


"What's important is that we have been freed from the return to power of a dictatorship that was terribly corrupt and bloody," he told CPN radio. "We should congratulate ourselves and celebrate."

He said it saved Peru's Democracy. Just interesting because Humala is definitely a pragmatic leftist, while Llosa has tended to conservatives the last few decades.

[Rumpelstilzchen]

It is not suprising when you consider who is her father... Vargas Llosa compared both to Aids and Cancer...

[Stiffelio]

Vargas Llosa's political views are often misunderstood. He's no right nor left. All he cares for is freedom and democracy. He is a pragmatic liberal (in the British meaning of the term, not the American!). In the case of the Peruvian elections he opted for the lesser of two evils.

[waalkwriter]

I'm more of a progressive myself, in the classic American definition of the term. I hope that Humala is able to improve conditions for the poor; Peru's economic policies have really generated enormous wealth inequality. I was just glad to see Llosa so unequivocally behind Humala.

[Heteronym]

Mario Vargas Llosa has quickly become one of my favourite writers. What I love most about him is his consistency. I was comparing him to Gabriel García Márquez the other say and concluded the following: García Márquez reached the heights of the novel form with One Hundred Years of Solitude, but his career is uneven and some of his novels and novellas are really awful. Vargas Llosa may never have written something as great as 'Solitude,' but he's written The Time of the Hero, The War of the End of the World, The Feast of the Goat, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, The Dream of the Celt, The Bad Girl, to name just a few, and that's an amazing career!

Only The Storyteller has truly disappointed me so far.

[Daniel del Real]

Vargas Llosa's political views are often misunderstood. He's no right nor left. All he cares for is freedom and democracy. He is a pragmatic liberal (in the British meaning of the term, not the American!). In the case of the Peruvian elections he opted for the lesser of two evils.

He sees dictatorships and its possibilities everywhere! It's too much. As Apfelwurm mentioned he compared Keiko and Humala with Cancer and Aids, and now he's exultant with Humala's win. In last Peruvian elections he was totally against Humala. He's just not coherent.

[Eric]

Coherence, I would imagine, is a difficult thing to maintain regarding one's views on Latin American politics. Most of the countries in Latin America seem to swing from left to right and back again quite a lot. As Peru is, after all, Vargas Llosa's home country, he will know a thing or two of what goes on under the surface.

One thing I read with great interest in El País (3rd June 2011) is the fact that populist Keiko Fujimori's chances were probably undermined by a pretty bitter election campaign that, among other things, brought up the sterilisation programme. (The article is entitled "El pasado envenena la campaña en Perú.) Evidently, the father of Keiko, Alberto Fujimori, forced 300,000 women of indigenous indian origin to be sterilised. In Peru, there are evidently 100,000 people of Japanese origin, people that occupy all the best jobs. (This article was entitled "El poder de los 'nikkei' se multiplica'.)

So I suggest that Vargas Llosa is not just flapping - he was after all presidential candidate himself once - but understands the complex paradoxes of Peruvian politics.

[Stiffelio]

He sees dictatorships and its possibilities everywhere! It's too much. As Apfelwurm mentioned he compared Keiko and Humala with Cancer and Aids, and now he's exultant with Humala's win. In last Peruvian elections he was totally against Humala. He's just not coherent.



He's not exultant with Humala's victory but with the fact that Peruvians were spared the possibility of Keiko adopting her corrupt and murderous father's evil ways.

[Mirabell]

Keiko adopting her corrupt and murderous father's evil ways.

because it's genetic or what? :confused:

[waalkwriter]

No, but because she was very close to her father, and was his political protege. Even during the campaign she was defending her father.

[Rumpelstilzchen]

She even had her father's face on some of her election posters...

[Daniel del Real]

He's not exultant with Humala's victory but with the fact that Peruvians were spared the possibility of Keiko adopting her corrupt and murderous father's evil ways.

It's incredible how you always defend Vargas Llosa's political views. Are you part of his public relations team or what?

[Bubba]

If, as a poster suggested, Vargas Llosa celebrated Humala's victory, it is almost certainly because, as I suggested in my earlier posts, many of MVLl's political pronouncements, cloak them though he may in impeccable liberal language, are fueled by personal resentment. His defeat at the hands of Alberto Fujimori still sticks in his craw. How, otherwise, could he celebrate the victory of a man who represents everything he is against? There might be good reason to think, for example, that Keiko Fujimori isn't, at bottom, committed to democracy, but we already have proof (he attempted a coup against a democratically elected president) that Humala is not. He's also a populist of the sort MVLl has long decried.

It's highly unlikely that Vargas Llosa, had he been elected president, would have forcibly sterilized hundreds of thousands of indigenous women, but there was a murderous armed rebellion going on, and he would have had to make tough choices. What's more, if he had managed to get his liberal economic creed to take root throughout the country, it would have contributed (though in a way much less crude than forced sterilizations) to the destruction of what's left of traditional indigenous culture anyway.

On the whole, my view is that for a "great" man, Vargas Llosa is surprisingly petty and resentful. He has also happened to find a convenient political and economic creed (liberalism) to drape over what are often no more than expressions of personal grudges born of perceived slights, to cover them with a veneer of legitimacy.

[Daniel del Real]

We finally agree on something Bubba. Well said.

[Eric]

I think that Stiffelio's comment in #118 fits in with what I read in El País about Vargas Llosa being in the doghouse with some of his former supporters and readers for being pro-Humala. But this was perhaps a case of "better the devil you know" combined with a sincere wish to avoid the Fujimori clan. You may remember that Fujimori Senior is in prison for various reasons. Nor does that sterilisation programme sound to have been very democratic.

I'm glad that Bubba again brings up the sterilisation programme that I did earlier. This involved 300,000 women. If there are also 100,000 people of Japanese origin who tend to have pretty good jobs, this combined fact does suggest things about ethnic preferences and government policy. Armed rebellions are nasty, and Peru is perhaps rather ungovernable at times, but forced sterilisation does make me, a European, think of Nazis. (Nor were the Japanese too gentlemanly towards prisoners and others during WWII, by the way, though that is long ago, except for some old Dutch people who still remember the torture and suffering.)

[Stiffelio]

because it's genetic or what? :confused:

Most of the people she was surrounded with belonged to her father's party and (allegedly) took part or at least turned a blind eye to the repressive excesses committed during his government.

[waalkwriter]

Humala led a peaceful coup that resulted in the sitting President getting arrested, tried, and convicted, in a fair court, of human rights violations. I think that's a textbook exception. What's more Humala is mostly a pragmatic leftist, and so is likely much easier for Llosa to swallow.

[Daniel del Real]

Let's hope to see Humala as an open minded leftist, more in the side of people like Lulla instead of Evo Morales or that Chavez Gorilla.

[waalkwriter]

That Chavez "gorilla" has actually improved the quality of life of the poor; he cut the rates of extreme poverty in half and has actually spawned fairly successful policy initiatives that have grown what you would consider the entrepreneurial class; creating thousands of state assisted small enterprises from poor or lower middle class families, and he's successfully expanded education and healthcare spending. And he's done this fighting a very entrenched oligarchy of interests that controls the country's national media and most of it's wealth and land. He's done some anti-democratic things, but he's firmly crossed the line in my opinion, and what's he done for improving wealth equality and expanding the prosperity of a traditionally sharply divided, poor country, more than outweigh a few abuses of the sort you'd be hard-pressed to find a Latin American leader who didn't engage in.

Evo Morales has also done loads to improve the quality of life for the indigenous and the poor, and done so against an entrenched oligarchy of wealthy neo-liberal interests.

On the other hand on Lula's watch the rate of the deforestation of the Amazon skyrocketed compared to previous regimes, and a government still very much based in liberalism was run. Lula, to me, essentially stood for nothing. The person I'm hoping he emulates is Michele Bachelet.

But I should stop digressing into politics on Llosa's thread.

[Daniel del Real]

But I should stop digressing into politics on Llosa's thread.

Yeah, specially since you know nothing about Hugo Chavez and the crime regime that he has impossed with no freedom of speech.

[Mirabell]

Yeah, specially since you know nothing about Hugo Chavez and the crime regime that he has impossed with no freedom of speech.


Not wanting to put my foot in, but in the interest of keeping debate down: the term "crime" is very difficult to apply to things a government does and mostly serves a pejorative (and in this case not helpful) function. That said, I guess I think I agree more with your than with Jake's assessment.

[Heteronym]

I've been reading The Cubs & other stories, after receiving it for my birthday; it's his first published work, a collection of short-stories, and by God how awful it is! It's so impenetrable, serious and... dull... it's incredible to think this mediocre writer is going to become the author of The Feast of the Goat, The War of the End of the World and Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter. It's like an impersonation of a bad writer trying to be serious, or an inexperienced writer having all those weird notions that great literature is about being miserable, boring, lifeless. It's good to learn the man lightened up a bit.

[Daniel del Real]

Agree, by far it's the worst I've read from him and probably the worst he has to offer.

Welcome back!

[Heteronym]

Fortunately I've got The Green House waiting to be read; maybe that will help wash down the bad taste from this little book.

[Stevie B]

I did not enjoy The Green House, but I read it so long ago I can't recall why. My favorite Vargas Llosa books include his more humorous novels Captain Pantoja and the Special Service + Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter. I'm also fond of the author's first novel, The Time of the Hero, a dramatic and intense story that is set in a military academy.

[Heteronym]

I am anxious to read Captain Pantojas and the Special Service, but I'm committed to read Vargas Llosa chronologically, so I have to finish The Green House first, and then Conversations in the Cathedral. But yes, I'm dying to get another taste of his humor.

[Daniel del Real]

I did not enjoy The Green House, but I read it so long ago I can't recall why.

That also happened to me, but there's no other to blame than myself. I found it very complex with the polyphony and the constant change of stages that I got completely lost. I finished it, but of course I wasn't able to comprehend and enjoy as it must be. A re-read is mandatory but I want to tackle first Conversaciones en la Catedral, another challenge from what I've heard.
Captain Pantoja is one of the most hilarious novel I've read, a great great read with a very deep satire of the Peruvian government and their way to remedy their issues.

[Stiffelio]

The Green House is a superb book but rather difficult to understand at first. Vargas Llosa was influenced by Faulkner at that time (and by Onetti who, in turn, was influenced by Faulkner), so you'll find some passages which require some extra effort from the reader. But I bet it will pay off for you as it did for me. Having said that, this is the kind of reading you'll need to wind down from and I wouldn't advice you to read Conversation in the Cathedral right after it. I'd mesh it up with the hilarious Captain Pantoja so you would have an idea of Vargas Llosa's range as a writer during his best years.

[Liam]

I'm tempted to read this merely because it has the word Celt in the title:


http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51qUmqpC88L._SL500_AA300_.jpg (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/0374143463/ref=dp_image_z_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books)

[kpjayan]

When is the release date ? OR is it already out in English ?

[Liam]

@ Jay: June 5, in hardback, trans. by Edith Grossman.

[Daniel del Real]

It took ages to be translated. The book came out October 2010, just when he won the Nobel Prize so I expected a sooner date of release. It is a very solid book, way better than The Bad Girl but far away from this huge titles.

[Eric]

Have I got this right? This is a book about a closet (Ruairí Dáithí Mac Easmainn) who was quite a star in British imperial circles, but queered his pitch (pun deliberate) and investigated British imperialist wrongdoings, finally getting himself entangled in all sorts of intelligence things and was ultimately executed as a traitor? Why did Mario Vargas Llosa choose to write about this man? Did Casement try to be all things to all men?

[Stiffelio]

Eric, Vargas Llosa first heard about Roger Casement when he was doing some research about Joseph Conrad. Conrad had overlapped with Casement during their African years, so the latter kept popping up in the research material. Vargas LLosa saw good fodder for a novel with this incredible, multifaceted character. The novel is excellent, although, as Daniel said, it does not reach the level of the mammoth novels VLL wrote in the 60s and 70s. In my opinion, VLL's approach is much too journalistic, the reader being given excessive details of Casement's travails in Africa and in the Amazon rubber stations, to the detriment of exploring more deeply into his mind and inventing some more.

[Daniel del Real]

That is true, although not surprising as it fits with the latest novel publications by Vargas Llosa. In these latest years this is the was he has decided to go with his narrative with novels like El Paraíso en la Otra Esquina, Travesuras de la Niña Mala, El Sueño del Celta and in some way, La Fiesta del Chivo too. It doesn't mean they're bad novels, but they're totally different to those early polyphonic, time breaking challenging novels he used to construct.

[Liam]

Vargas Llosa in the news (http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/nobel-laureate-vargas-llosa-donating-30000-volume-personal-library-to-his-peruvian-hometown/2012/03/28/gIQA2EgdhS_story.html) again.

[Liam]

Mario Vargas Llosa is profiled (http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2012/jun/15/mario-vargas-llosa-life-in-writing) in The Guardian.

[Heteronym]

I found The Feast of the Goat a very novelistic novel, as opposed to a merely journalistic one. Vargas Llosa juggled three different narratives and timelines and got them all entangled at points and then separated them again for an interesting twist at the end with Urana's character.

The Dream of the Celt was a good read but also felt like a biography instead of a novel. It lacked Vargas Llosa's own input of imagination to give the events more ressonance, the way he did in The War of the End of the World.

But to answer Eric, I think the main reason he wrote about Casement is because Casement was especially active in denouncing the crimes committed against the Peruvian Indians who worked in the rubber plantations. I think that's what must have interested the author. For my part, I'm glad to have discovered Casement - it seems he was a pioneer of the civil rights, whose homosexual scandal unjustly consigned him to oblivion. Perhaps a man who did so much reporting the crimes of Africa and South America is up for a reappraisal.

[Stiffelio]

The Dream of the Celt was a good read but also felt like a biography instead of a novel. It lacked Vargas Llosa's own input of imagination to give the events more ressonance,....

I fully agree with you. I think VLL found an incredible character in Casement but he stuck too much to the historical truth instead of tapping his imagination to make Casement live a fuller, more novelistic life. Casement was such a rich, contradictory character: a closet gay human rights fighter hanged for treason; it can't get any better than that. I expected a lot more of VLL, especially in the prison scenes, when Casement fights his own introspective battles; instead they fall flat on the page.

[Daniel del Real]

I found The Feast of the Goat a very novelistic novel, as opposed to a merely journalistic one. Vargas Llosa juggled three different narratives and timelines and got them all entangled at points and then separated them again for an interesting twist at the end with Urana's character.


I agree with you, The Feast of the Goat is different from his last novels, although I still stand it is still far away from his polyphonic early works like The Green House or Conversaciones en la Catedral. Anyhow, it is a great novel, probably his last great one totally approved by his critic (though I enjoyed very much El Paraíso en la Otra Esquina)