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
• Mario Vargas Llosa on Wikipedia

 

[kpjayan]

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

Here is an interview 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.