A literary immortal

Mario Vargas Llosa, the Peruvian writer, stands as a monumental figure in global literature. His prolific output spans genres, including twenty novels, a collection of stories, ten plays, fourteen essay collections, two chronicles, and a memoir. He also penned numerous articles and insightful columns for the Spanish newspaper El País. His influence extends beyond writing; he also ventured into the realm of politics.

Vargas Llosa’s unique distinction lies in being the first member of the French Language Academy, or Académie Française, who did not primarily wriet in French. This honor places him among literary giants such as Voltaire, Montesquieu, victor Hugo, and Alexandre Dumas. He also holds membership in the Royal Spanish Academy, underscoring his mastery of the Spanish language and his contributions to its literary heritage.

The Boom Generation

Vargas Llosa, who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2010, is a central figure in the Latin American literary boom. This movement revolutionized 20th-century Spanish-language narrative. He stands alongside other literary giants, including Mexicans Carlos Fuentes and Juan Rulfo, Colombian Gabriel García Márquez, Argentine Julio Cortázar, and Uruguayan Juan Carlos Onetti.

From Military school to Literary Fame

His novel, The City and the Dogs (1963), propelled him to literary stardom. The novel, based on his experiences at the Leoncio Prado military College, faced censorship and threats. A thousand copies were burned by military personnel and alumni in the school’s courtyard, highlighting the controversial nature of his work and its impact on Peruvian society.

Ideological Shifts and Literary Independence

Vargas Llosa’s disillusionment with the Cuban Revolution led him to distance himself from the Marxist ideals embraced by many writers of the boom. He embraced a liberal pragmatism, a shift that, according to him, set him apart from many of his contemporaries. In The Call of the Tribe (2018), Vargas Llosa deconstructs nationalism and totalitarian ideologies within an autobiographical framework.

A staunch defender of the Spanish language, or Castilian as he preferred, Vargas llosa considered it the grate contribution of Spain to the world, while lamenting the decline of its official status in certain regions.

critical Acclaim

Rafael Narbona Monteagudo,a literary critic,writer,and essayist based in Madrid,emphasizes Vargas Llosa’s enduring legacy:

Vargas Llosa is not only the last great classic in Castilian language,but it is also a figure of the great global literature.
Rafael Narbona Monteagudo, Literary Critic

Narbona further elaborates on Vargas Llosa’s literary achievements:

he has left half a dozen masterpieces that can compete with the most superlative texts, such as Conversation in the cathedralwhich is at the height of the ulisesby James Joyce. Y The goat partythat great past novel about the figure of the dictator, has a breath to Tolstoy in War and peace. I can’t think of any equivalent figure. Maybe in Spain we had Javier Marías, but with a more scarce and less controversial work.
Rafael Narbona Monteagudo, Literary Critic

Transcending Regionalism

Carlos gamerro,an Argentine literary writer and critic,views Vargas Llosa as an significant writer. Gamerro notes that Vargas Llosa, unlike some Latin American writers catering to a First World audience, remains firmly rooted in the realistic tradition while employing avant-garde narrative techniques influenced by William Faulkner. This approach allows him to renew the regionalist tendency with elements of literary modernism.

Gamerro recalls his early encounter with Vargas Llosa’s work:

He was one of the writers that impacted me at that time.
Carlos Gamerro, Argentine Literary Writer and Critic

Gamerro characterizes Vargas Llosa as one of the most complete narrators of Latin American literature, executing a triumphant realism.

Narbona highlights Vargas Llosa’s technical prowess:

His rigorous technique is away from the jumps in time, the different perspectives and simultaneities.
Rafael Narbona Monteagudo, Literary Critic

Vargas Llosa, drawing inspiration from his own experiences, initially incorporated the styles of literary innovators like James Joyce and Faulkner before adopting a simpler, more accessible style.Narbona notes that he even embraced humor in works like Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter and Pantaleon and the visitors.

A Powerful Narrative Voice

Carlos gamerro emphasizes Vargas Llosa’s significance as:

the last representative of a generation of writers who turned Latin American literature into the most powerful and most influential narrative of the second half of the twentieth century.
carlos Gamerro, Argentine Literary Writer and Critic

Gamerro includes José Donoso, José Lezama Lima, and Guillermo Cabrera Infante among these influential authors.

He further explains the impact of this literary movement:

Still in Latin America we were looking at Europe or the United States to see how to write,and if they approved us. And from there,I would say that Latin American literature becomes one of the pillars of that phenomenon,which becomes a model for other literatures of the Third World,such as those in Africa,or in Asia,that of India,which clearly took force with force from boom Latin American. If one asked: what would Balzac have written if it were Latin American? The answer would be the work of Vargas Llosa.
Carlos Gamerro, Argentine Literary Writer and Critic

Political Controversies

Vargas Llosa’s political stances, particularly his advocacy for neoliberalism, have drawn criticism. Rafael Narbona addresses the question of separating the author from his work:

It seems absurd to mix their political ideas with the valuation of their work. The texts have an autonomous value. He felt very disappointed to verify that Cuba is not a utopia, but a dictatorship.
Rafael Narbona Monteagudo, Literary Critic

Narbona notes Vargas Llosa’s admiration for figures like Margaret Thatcher, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and Javier Milei. Regarding Milei, he states:

Milei seemed disappointing.But I don’t think he was a fascist either. in fact, he was in favor of homosexual marriage, abortion, euthanasia.He was a democrat. But I disagreed in his enthusiasm for neoliberalism; these sludge come from those powders, until they reach Donald Trump.But that is not a reason to “cancel” a writer.
Rafael Narbona Monteagudo, Literary Critic

Carlos Gamerro critiques Vargas Llosa’s ultranza defense of neoliberalism, and more in recent times, in which he has led several countries to an unbearable situation. Though, Gamerro concludes:

The ideology of an author is not necessarily transmitted in his work. I believe that today is a day to celebrate the great writer Vargas Llosa and leave the ideological repairs a little.
Carlos Gamerro, Argentine Literary writer and Critic