Biography of Vargas Llosa Mario. Mario Vargas Llosa

Vargas Llosa Mario (full. Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa) (b. March 28, 1936, Arequipa, Peru) - Peruvian writer, public and political figure; prose writer, publicist, literary critic; winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (2010). Mario Vargas Llosa spent the first years of his life in the house of his maternal grandfather in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba. His grandfather was a wealthy man who owned cotton plantations. Mario's parents divorced, but in 1946 they resumed their life together and settled in Lima. Mario was enrolled in military school. army life disliked the young man, a year before graduation, he dropped out and began working in the newspaper La Industria, published in the city of Piura. In 1953, Mario Vargas Llosa entered the Faculty of Philology of the University of San Marcos, then went to Europe, where he received a scholarship from the University of Madrid. In 1958, he defended his dissertation there on the work of Ruben Dario.

In 1960, Vargas Llosa settled in Paris, where he collaborated with Julio Cortázar, worked as a radio and television journalist. His first novel, The City and Dogs, was written on the basis of his impressions of studying at a military school, naturalistically showed the atmosphere of cruelty and violence in an army environment. The novel caused a scandal in Peru, the writer was accused of slandering the army, the book was publicly burned on the parade ground of the school in Lima. But this book brought fame to the writer, was later filmed both in the USA and in the USSR (Jaguar, 1986, directed by Sebastian Alarcon). In subsequent works, Vargas Llosa showed interest in socio-psychological problems.

In his story "Puppies" (1967), violence is an integral element of the social way of life, expresses an anarchist protest against the triumph of total injustice in Latin American society. The setting for The Green House (1967) was a brothel in Piura. The title of the work reflects the green color of the selva. The writer gave green the meaning of naturalness, wildness, eroticism, used the motives of a chivalric romance in the narrative. In the novel A Conversation in the Cathedral, the son of a high-ranking official, Santiago, tries to find out the fate of his father, who was allegedly involved in an anti-government conspiracy, but is confronted by the hermetic structure of the state apparatus and retreats from his intentions. In this book, Vargas Llosa attempted to recreate the spirit of dictatorial power. Since 1970 he has been a professional writer. Artistic skill put him forward among the classics of Latin American magical realism.

One of the idols of the young writer was Gabriel Garcia Marquez, in 1971 Vargas Llosa even defended his fundamental dissertation on his work. At first, these two giants of Latin American literature supported good relations, but gradually they disagreed on political and literary questions. In 1976, Vargas Llosa even publicly slapped García Márquez, after which the relationship between the writers was severed. The political views of Mario Vargas Llosa have undergone a complex evolutionary path. In his youth, he enthusiastically accepted the Cuban revolution, was an ardent admirer of Fidel Castro. Only at the end of the 1970s did the writer begin to become disillusioned with communist ideas and subsequently opposed not only the socialist dictatorship, but also right-wing authoritarianism.

Motifs of the grotesque and self-irony appeared in the novel Captain Pantaleon and the Company of Good Offices (Pantaleon y las visitadoras, 1974), which describes the history of brothel for military personnel (in 2000, the novel was filmed and released in the Russian box office under the title “Sexnaz of Captain Pantokha”), in the story “Aunt Julia and the Scribbler” (1977), in which Vargas Llosa, using the language and clichés of “soap operas”, brought in grotesque caricature form the story of his first marriage. The story "Aunt Julia and the Scribbler" was filmed in 1990 in Hollywood with the participation of Keanu Reeves and Peter Falk.

From 1976-1979, Mario Vargas Llosa served as President of the International PEN Club. In 1978 he returned to Lima, but continued to travel extensively around the world. In 1981, his historical novel The War of the End of the World was published, which takes place in Brazil at the end of the 19th century, where a religious community formed in the village of Canudos, which abolished private property. This novel marked a shift in the worldview of Vargas Llosa, his departure from the left. The writer showed interest in messianic cults and the psychological background of the irrational in human behavior.

In the center of the novel "The Story of Maita" (1984), the activities of a Trotskyist revolutionary are described, who, already in his declining years in 1958, is preparing a revolution in Peru. Almost simultaneously with the release of the novel, peasant unrest broke out in the same area where its events take place. Vargas Llosa was interrogated by the parliamentary commission of inquiry into these events. The writer dedicated the story “Who killed Palomino Molero?” to them. (1986), and subsequently returned to this theme in Death in the Andes (1993). Main character In the novel "The Talker" (1987), the Peruvian Jew Saul Suratas, studying ethnography, is gradually immersed in the mythology of the Indians. In this novel, the writer is interested in the processes of interaction between the languages ​​of Latin American culture. An erotic utopia in the style of postmodernism is given in the dilogy "Praise to the Stepmother" (1988) and "Notes of Don Rigoberto" (1997).

In the late 1980s, Mario Vargas Llosa took up seriously political activity, in 1990 he was nominated as a candidate for the presidency of Peru from the Democratic Front party. He proposed a plan for a radical transformation of the Peruvian economy according to the recipes of the Chicago School of Economics, advocated a transition to a free market, reduction of the budget deficit, and privatization of state property. In the first round of elections, Vargas Llosa won first place with 34% of the vote, but in the second round he was overtaken by Alberto Fujimori. Having lost the elections, M. Vargas Llosa again left his homeland, settled in London, receiving Spanish citizenship. He used the experience of his election campaign in the autobiographical novel Fish in the Water (1993).

The study of the phenomenon of the Latin American dictatorship was undertaken in the novel The Holiday of the Goat (2001), where the writer explored in detail the era and social consequences of the rule of the dictator of the Dominican Republic Rafael Trujillo. The action unfolded in three layers of events: one storyline tells about the return of a Dominican refugee to her homeland thirty years after the murder of Trujillo in 1961, the second attempted to reconstruct this murder, the third is dedicated to recent years the life of a dictator. The novel The Adventures of a Bad Girl (2006) is a modernized version of Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary. In 2008, Vargas Llosa published a monograph, dedicated to creativity Uruguayan writer Juan Onetti. In the novel "The Dream of the Celt" (2010), the writer turned to the events of the late 19th - early 20th centuries, the fate of the indigenous population of the Congo and the Amazon, who worked on rubber plantations. In addition to prose, Mario Vargas Llosa also turned to the genre of dramaturgy.

Mario Vargas Llosa is a well-known Peruvian prose writer and playwright, essayist, politician, winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature. He had a strong friendship with Gabriel Garcia Marquez, which lasted until February 1976. They met in August 1967 in Caracas, where the 13th International Congress of Ibero-American Literature, organized by the University of Pittsburgh, was taking place. Mario Vargas Llosa was nine years younger than Marquez, he arrived in Venezuela in order to receive literary prize named after Romulo Gallegos, awarded for his recently published novel The Green House. They first met at the airport, settled in the same hotel, and quickly developed friendly relations between them. Even though Mario was younger, he lived in Paris and Barcelona from 1959, where he met many other writers. Vargas Llosa soon left for Lima, but in early September García Márquez arrived there to take part in the literary week with him. Then Garcia Marquez became the godfather of Gonzalo Gabriel, the second son of Mario and Patricia Vargas Llosa, which further strengthened their friendship. In 1971, Llosa completed his doctoral dissertation on "Garcia Márquez: A History of Deicide".

The friendship of the two writers ended on February 12, 1976. On this day, they met in Mexico City at the screening of the film Surviving the Andes. When García Márquez opened his arms, Mario Llosa met him with a strong blow to the face, from which he fell. For over thirty years after that, the cause of the incident was unknown. Versions were called the most different. Many believed that they were involved Political Views writers, it is known that in the mid-1970s Llosa began to adhere to the right views, while Marquez was always on the left. But it is most likely that the cause was a woman. Photographer Rodrigo Moya, who was present there, said that after the fight, Llosa said: “How else do you think I should say hello to you after what happened with Patricia in Barcelona?” Most likely it was about Patricia Llosa, cousin and second wife of Llosa. What was meant by these words is known only to the participants in the incident. It wasn't until 2007 that this long-standing feud began to show some signs of cooling, and García Márquez even allowed excerpts from Vargas Llosa's work to be used in the academic commentary edition of One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Biography

The full name of the writer is Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa (Spanish: Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa). He was born on March 28, 1936 in the city of Arequipa in Peru in a middle-class family. Shortly after his birth, his father, who worked as a bus driver, left the family. The mother of the future writer moved with her son to her father, the honorary consul of Peru in Bolivia. He spent the first years of his life in his grandfather's house in the city of Cochabamba. The consul of Llosa was the owner of cotton plantations, he provided for his daughter and grandson. In 1946, the Llosa couple began to live together again, settling in Lima. Mario graduated from high school, at the insistence of his father entered the military school named after Leoncio Prado, later described by him in the novel The City and Dogs. A year before graduation, he dropped out of school and began working as a reporter for a small newspaper in the town of Piura.

In 1953 he entered the University of San Marcos at the Faculty of Philology, but soon after that he left for Europe, received a scholarship from the University of Madrid and in 1958 defended his thesis on the work of the world-famous Latin American poet Ruben Dario. In 1960, he moved from Madrid to Paris, where he was promised a grant for literary studies. Despite the fact that the grant was never received, Llosa did not return to Madrid. At that time he lived in a civil marriage with his cousin Julia Urquidi, who was much older than him. They separated in 1964, and in 1965 Mario married his other cousin, Patricia, with whom he had three children. In the capital of France, he worked as a journalist on radio and television. In 1969-1970, Vargas Llosa lived and taught in England and Spain, after which he professionally engaged in literary activity.

Vargas Llosa's first novel, The City and the Dogs, was published in 1963. In this work, the author very realistically depicted the wild customs that reigned in the Peruvian military school named after Leoncio Prado. The book became a cult among the youth of the Soviet Union, it was publicly burned in Peru, which only increased its popularity. The novel was filmed in the USA and the USSR. In 1967, having received the International Prize. Romulo Gallegos, Vargas Llosa made a famous speech about the close connection of the writer with social life. The most famous works of Llosa: “Green House” (1968), “Puppies” (1967), “Conversation in the Cathedral” (1969), “Captain Pantaleon and the Company of Good Offices” (1973), “Who Killed Palomino Molero?” (1986). Last novel writer, "The Dream of the Celt", was published in September 2010. Vargas Llosa is considered one of the greatest contemporary prose writers. His works have been translated into dozens of languages, books are printed in millions of copies all over the world.

Currently, Mario Vargas Llosa lives in London, but every year he tries to visit Peru, the understanding of the history of which has become one of the main themes of the writer. He participated in many political life of his country, in his youth he supported the Cuban regime, but over time he became disillusioned with communist ideas, moving to the position of liberalism. In 1990, he even ran for president of Peru from the Democratic Front party, but lost in the second round to Alberto Fujimori. In 1993, the writer received Spanish citizenship. Mario Vargas Llosa received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010. In his speech, he said: "Literature is a lie, but it becomes the truth in us readers, transformed, infected with aspirations and through imagination constantly questioning the gray reality." In addition, he is a member of the Spanish Royal Academy, an honorary doctor of a number of universities in Europe and America, a Chevalier of the Order of the Legion of Honor (1985). Winner of the Breve Library Prize (1962), Romulo Gallegos Prize (1967), Prince of Asturias Prize (1986), Cervantes Prize (1994), Jerusalem Prize (1995), German Booksellers Peace Prize (1996), Chino del Duca Prize (2008).

Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa(Spanish Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa; born in 1936) is an outstanding Peruvian prose writer and playwright, publicist and politician.

Mario Vargas Llosa- a classic of world literature, one of the greatest Latin American prose masters of modern times. Based on the number of circulations of his books, the author is the most commercially successful among the writers of the Spanish-speaking world in early XXI V. His works have been translated into dozens of languages, repeatedly filmed and awarded numerous prizes, including the Nobel Prize in Literature. Continuing the line of the great Latin American prose masters, such as Vargas Llosa, he creates amazing novels that balance on the verge of reality and fiction.

Childhood, youth

Jorge Mario was born on March 28, 1936 in (Spanish: Arequipa), the second largest city, in the family of a bus driver. Parents, Ernesto Vargas Maldonado And Dora Lso Ureta separated before the baby was born. Dora and the baby were left in the care of their father, the Consul of Peru in the city (Spanish: Cochabamba; one of the largest Bolivian cities). The first years of the boy's life passed in.

Llosa's grandfather, honorary consul and owner of cotton plantations, provided his daughter and beloved grandson with everything they needed. But he strictly protected the boy from all information about his father. However, in 1946, when Mario was 10 years old, the parents reconciled and decided to get together. Subsequently, Vargas Llosa described the shock experienced by a 10-year-old boy who learned that his father was alive and not dead, as his relatives said. The world of children's illusions often appears in the works of the writer, where Peru appears as a wonderful, warm home paradise, only from the father it blows cold. The family was reunited and returned to Peru, but the cold in the relationship between father and son remained forever.

in the town Piura(Spanish: San Miguel de Piura) Mario graduated primary school. Then, under pressure from his father, he entered the military school. Leoncio Prado(Spanish: Colegio Militar de Leoncio Prado), later described by him in the novel The City and the Dogs. In general, it is the alienation from home that the prose writer explains his early passion for literature: Mario wrote his first work (play) at the age of 15.

The harsh life at the school so disgusted the young man, whose childhood was spent in prosperity and love, that a year before graduation, Mario dropped out and got a job as a journalist in the newspaper La Industria, published in Piura. In 1953, he went to the capital and entered the philological faculty of the State University of San Marcos (Spanish: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos). The father was angry with his son's act and refused him financial support.

Therefore, in parallel with his studies, Mario took on any job: from editing news on the central radio to decorating tombstones at the cemetery. However, the money was barely enough for the bare necessities.

In 1959, the young man left for Spain, where he received a scholarship from the University of Madrid, defended his thesis on the work of the famous Latin American poet Rubena Dario(Spanish Rubén Darío; 1867-1916) and received the title of doctoral candidate in philosophy.

In 1960, Vargas Llosa moved with his wife to the capital of France. In Paris, he worked as a journalist for radio and television, and also worked as a translator in close collaboration with the famous Argentine writer (Spanish: Julio Cortázar; 1914-1984). For some time (1969-1970) Jorge Mario taught in England and Spain, after which he professionally engaged in literary activity.

In 1971, the writer defended his fundamental dissertation on the work of one of his idols, the famous Colombian prose writer (Spanish Gabriel García Marquez; 1927-2014). At first, the two classics of Latin American "magic realism" maintained friendly relations. But gradually they had disagreements on political issues. The relationship of writers became so tense that in 1976 Vargas Llosa publicly slapped his “colleague in the shop” in the presence of journalists. (After that ill-fated slap in the face, the writers did not communicate for a long 30 years! Only in 2007 did signs of the extinction of a long-standing enmity appear).

Until 1974, the family lived in Europe: in Paris, London, Barcelona.

In 1975 Vargas Llosa was elected President PEN Club(English PEN International - international human rights organization, uniting professional writers, poets and journalists).

In 1978, the writer returned to, but continued to travel a lot around the world. In Peru, Vargas Llosa did not stop active social activities, in 1981 he hosted the program "La Torre de Babel" on television.

Now the eminent writer collaborates with El País (Madrid, Spain) and with the monthly cultural magazine Letras Libres (Mexico City, Mexico; Madrid, Spain).

Today, Vargas Llosa mainly lives in London, but he tries to visit his homeland often, understanding the history of which has become one of the central themes of the writer.

Political activity

Since 1987, the writer has been seriously involved in politics and led the political movement Movimiento Libertad. He always said that "the writer must be closely connected with public life."

Living in Europe, the writer has always closely followed everything that happens in his native country and what is generally happening in the world of big politics.

“I am sure,” Vargas Llosa wrote, “that literature and art have a huge impact on real life. Any totalitarian regime always striving to control society. Good works of art make people more difficult to manipulate... In this sense, culture and art are a serious support for freedom. And freedom is ... the goal of any great art.”

In 1990, Vargas Llosa was even nominated as a candidate for the presidency of Peru from the El Frente Democrático party. In his program, he proposed a plan for a radical transformation of the Peruvian economy, advocated a transition to a free market and the speedy privatization of state assets. Political opponents, in order to discredit the writer, read on the radio quotes from his book “ doomsday war» under the guise of excerpts from election program candidate.

In the first round of elections, Vargas Llosa won the largest number of votes (34%), but lost in the second round (Spanish Alberto Ken'ya Fujimori; 45th President of Peru, who led the country from 1990 to 2000). After the defeat in the elections, the writer left the country. He received Spanish citizenship, but settled in London, where he completely immersed himself in literary work.

He used the experience of that election campaign in his novel "Fish in the Water", where he described the "naked tragedy of national unconsciousness."

Creation

The very first novel City and dogs"("La ciudad y los perros", 1963) created a scandal in Lima and laid the foundations for the future world popularity of Vargas Llosa. The book, based on the life experiences of a young writer from studying at a military school, where the author describes the atmosphere of cruelty and violence, was publicly burned on the parade ground of the academy. The wild morals of the Leoncio Prado school depicted in the "true story" branded the Peruvian military with shame. In Peru, the novel caused a scandal among the high military command. Some even accused Vargas Llosa of carrying out a political order from Ecuadorian emigrants.

Novel " Green house” (“La casa verde”), published in 1966, was awarded the prize (Spanish: Premio Internacional de Novela Rómulo Gallegos). Moreover, during the voting, Vargas Llosa by a wide margin overtook such a powerful competitor as Garcia Marquez.

The cruelty and violence of the authorities, described in the story " Puppies” (“Los cachorros”, 1967), provoke a protest against total injustice in Latin American society.

Novel " Conversation in the Cathedral” (“Conversacin en La Catedral”, 1969) reveals the corruption of Peruvian society in the era of dictatorship Manuel Odria(Spanish Manuel Apolinario Odría; President of Peru in 1948-1956). The scene of the work is limited to a tavern on the outskirts of Lima, where two Peruvians are talking. In this book, the writer tries to recreate the spirit of dictatorship, under the guise of "ordering reality" which "disintegrates".

At the same time, the theme of dystopia in the work of Vargas Llos is combined with sharply satirical motifs. The history of the brothel for the military in the novel " Captain Pantaleon and the Good Offices Company” (“Pantaleón y las visitadoras”, 1973) can be seen as a parody of the “documentary novel” genre.

In the story " Aunt Julia and the scribbler” (“La tía Julia y el escribidor”, 1977), the author brought out the story of his first marriage in a grotesque caricature form, using the techniques and language of “soap operas”.

In the late 70s, Vargas Llosa began to try his hand at the genre historical novel. The action of the book doomsday war” (“La guerra del fin del mundo”, 1981) takes place in late XIX V. The work marks a radical shift in the worldview of Vargas Llosa: the transition from left-of-centre political beliefs to right-of-centre views. The novel is written in the spirit folk epic More precisely, the tales of the crusade. The writer himself considers this book his main work.

At the center of the novel Maita's story"("Historia de Mayta", 1984) - the activities of an elderly revolutionary preparing an uprising in Peru in 1958. Almost simultaneously with the release of the book in the same area where the events described take place, a wave of peasant unrest swept. Later, Vargas Llosa was repeatedly interrogated in the parliamentary commission investigating that uprising.

The story " Who killed Palomino Molero?"(Quién mató a Palomino Molero?", 1986).

Novel " fish in the water » («El pez en el agua», 1993) – special piece. Even in his youth, having felt a vocation for literature, Jorge Mario decided that the fate of the writer was certainly associated with the mission of the savior of the fatherland. If he won the presidential elections in 1990, he would certainly try to create some kind of unity of literature and politics in order to build an "ideal state". This is a novel that has become a political autobiography of a Latin American intellectual and at the same time a portrait of a country seen through his eyes.

Postmodern erotic utopia is revealed in the romantic dilogy " Praise to the stepmother"("Elogio de la madrastra", 1988) and " The Diaries of Don Rigoberto» («Los cuadernos de don Rigoberto», 1997).

The study of the "myths of dictatorship" in Latin American societies was continued by Vargas Llosa in the novel Goat Festival"("La Fiesta del Chivo", 2000), where the author describes in detail the era and the social consequences of the dictator's harsh rule Rafael Trujillo(Spanish Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina; 39th President of the Dominican Republic, who ruled from 1942-1952). This work - main book late period literary activity writer, which was created as a result of a preliminary scrupulous study of the dictatorial regime. Although, in relation to the novel, the author stipulates: “First of all, this piece of art and not a historical treatise. When working on the text, I allowed myself to take ... a lot of liberties ".

Among the rare literary failures of the writer, critics include the novel " The adventures of a bad girl” (“Travesuras de la niña mala”, 2006), which is, in fact, a modernized version of the author classical work Flaubert Madame Bovary (1856).

In the book " Dream of the Celt” (“El sueño del celta”, 2010), the writer refers to the events of the late XIX - early XX centuries. The novel vividly depicts the fate of the indigenous peoples of the Congo and those engaged in hard labor on rubber plantations. It describes the real events that happened to the British diplomat Roger Casement(Eng. Roger David Casement; 1864-1916), who later became an activist in the Irish national liberation movement.

Novel " humble hero” (“Héroe modesto”, 2013), according to the author, is a parable about modern country. The book has been translated into more than 20 languages ​​and has become a bestseller in many countries.

In a lively narrative full of warm humor, the author masterfully twists two parallel storylines. The main characters are middle-aged Peruvians: a simple, gullible hard worker, whose decency is often used by scoundrels, and a successful businessman, whose sons are waiting for death - loafers. They are, of course, not heroes in the usual sense of the word; but in situations where others cowardly retreat, these two quietly rebel and do not intend to die at all.

The prose of the remarkable writer Vargas Llosa is remarkable for its extraordinary fascination. At the same time, many of his works are a vivid political and historical document based on real events. It is in the ability to combine these two features that special art great Latin American writer.

Titles and awards

For your fruitful creative life eminent writer received many titles, prizes and awards.

• Member of the Spanish Royal Academy, honorary doctorate from a number of universities in America and Europe.
• Knight of the Order of the Legion of Honor (1985).
• Winner of the following Prizes: Breve Libraries (1962), Romulo Gallegos (1967), Prince of Asturias (1986), Cervantes (1994), Jerusalem (1995), World of German Booksellers (1996), Chino del Duca (2008).
• Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (2010).

The Nobel Prize was awarded to the 74-year-old writer "for ... a vivid image of a people in revolt against the cruelty of power, resistance, struggle and defeat of man."

Personal life

The personal life of the famous Peruvian prose writer is unusually stormy and eventful.

In the late 1950s 18-year-old Jorge Mario had a fiery affair with his aunt Julia Urquidi who was almost 10 years older than him. To the great indignation of relatives, young people began to live in a civil marriage. They lived together for more than 10 years, but the couple had no children.

Subsequently, Julia Urkidi became the prototype main character bright romance"Aunt Julia and the Scribbler" In his almost autobiographical work Vargas Llosa describes a beautiful love story young man with his close relative, who grew into marriage bonds, which was not prevented by a significant age difference.

With Julia Urquidi

In 1964, Jorge Mario confessed to Julia that he was in love with her niece, his cousin Patricia, after which the couple broke up.

A year later, in 1965, Jorge Mario married Patricia Llosa who bore her husband 3 children: Alvaro (1966), Gonzalo(1967) and Morgan(1974). The eldest son, Alvaro Vargas Llosa (Spanish: Álvaro Vargas Llosa) followed in his father's footsteps - he became a writer and publicist.

After the divorce, Julia Urquidi, dissatisfied with the version of their relationship set out in the novel, wrote the book herself, What Vargito Didn't Say. In her novel, the ex-wife of Vargas Llosa said that parting with the writer was an unexpected blow for her. She also noted that she continues to consider herself his wife. In March 2010, "Aunty" Julia died in Bolivia at the age of 84.

And in June 2015, Mario Vargas Llosa, who had lived with Patricia Llosa for half a century, openly announced his divorce from his wife.

79-year-old writer left his 70-year-old wife for a 64-year-old Maria Isabel Preisler(Spanish: María Isabel Preysler Arrastía), Spanish-Filipino journalist and TV presenter.

Previously, the beautiful Isabel was married three times (her first husband was famous singer Julio Iglesias) and is the mother of 5 children.

Meanwhile, the children of the eminent writer issued a public statement in which they noted that they were shocked by the event and considered their father's act a betrayal of their mother. "She left her career to devote herself entirely to her family," said son Gonzalo Vargas Llosa.

And the writer in love, in a conversation with Patricia, admitted that only "now he understood what happiness is." How can one not recall the imperishable words of the great Pushkin that “all ages are submissive to love”!

Curious facts

• Mario's father, Ernesto Vargas, had 2 sons from a German mistress; therefore, the actors Ernesto (Spanish: Ernesto Vargas) and Enrique Vargas (Spanish: Enrique Vargas) are half-brothers of the Peruvian writer.
• The first novel by Vargas Llosa, The City and the Dogs, was filmed in 2 great powers - the USA and the USSR. Soviet film"Jaguar" was filmed in 1986 on the basis of the film studio "Mosfilm".
• In Brazil and Cuba, the novel Doomsday War was regarded as an offensive anti-socialist libel.
• “I am first of all ... a writer, not a politician,” Vargas Llosa shared in an interview. “My participation in the political life of Peru was an exception ... I went into politics to defend democracy.”
• Roger Casement never married. Moreover, it is considered a proven fact that he was a homosexual. After the arrest of the revolutionary, a huge resonance was received by his personal diaries, so-called "Black Notebooks", where he frankly described his love affairs. A forensic examination conducted in 2002 showed that the sensational recordings were indeed made by Casement.
• "All in world goes in order to reduce the army and weapons spending, - Vargas Llosa said in an interview, - and to use the saved funds for medicine, education and culture. It would be much more beneficial for humanity."
• “I think that my first book, The City and Dogs, which tells about the life of a military school, where parents send their sons to “make real men” of them, ultimately achieved its goal: many readers thought about the need to build a democratic society ', says the writer.
• The novels The Adventures of a Bad Girl, Praise to a Stepmother, and Don Rigoberto's Notebooks are a kind of creative monograph on how to organize your personal life in order to achieve happiness.
• The novel "Fish in the Water" presents the political views of the writer. This book is a kind of presentation of the election program of Vargas Llosa.
• Isabel Preisler, who is the mother of superstar Enrique Iglesias, is better known to the Spanish press as "La Reina de Corazones" ("Queen of Hearts"). Under the same title, the journalist published her biographical book.
• In 1991, 2002 and 2004 Spanish media called Isabel Preysler "The Pearl of Manila" ("La Perla de Manila"). And the readers of Hola! recognized her as "the most elegant lady in Spain."
• In 2010, Vargas Llosa wrote in his Nobel speech: "Literature is a lie, but it becomes the truth... thanks to the reader's imagination...questioning the gray reality."

For each of your repost - thanks a lot! Gracias!

Was the article helpful?

The first acquaintance with the Peruvian author, who fully deserved the Nobel Prize, and the acquaintance was very pleasant. I realized that I even missed Latin American authors since studying at the Faculty of Regional Studies.
"In the rhythm of the mariner" is written in the annotation, and this is a perfectly matched characterization of the book. Roman is a real dance, exciting, bewitching, sexy and accelerating the pulse. It is no coincidence that this unknown dancing couple is on the cover.

In Llosa, everything somehow merged so harmoniously, all the lines, plots, themes, that after reading you feel contentment from completeness and completeness. He writes lively and original, without reflection and lengthy abstract reflections, with swift, but not fussy actions, with emotional vivid dialogues. And in a dance with the reader, he surrounds him with the atmosphere of Peru, inviting him to almost physically feel the sweltering heat that sets in even before 10 am, drink a glass of chichi, treat himself to a steak with taku-taku and sensually exclaim: che gua!

The author circles constantly switching from one storyline to another, which, by all the rules, eventually find common ground. He circles with another trick, when the narration jumps from the present time into memories in unprepared jumps - this does not confuse, but it turns one's head. In addition to all the other obvious virtues of the book, I was bribed almost from the very beginning by the mention of "Dr. Faustus" by Mann and the repeated play on some points - it was unexpected and beautiful. The second thing Llosa bought was the mention of individual masterpieces classical music(2nd Brahms Concerto, Onneger's oratorio) and painting. All this betrays a real esthete in the author.

A little about the heroes.

Felicito Yanake, short, very thin and energetic, runs his own transport company. He has an unsuccessful marriage, or rather no, two sons, he doubts the paternity of the first of them, he has a mistress, for whom he has the most tender feelings. He achieved everything with his work and throughout his life he is grateful to his father, who, despite all the hardships and almost poverty, put his son on his feet and gave him an education. He will never forget his father's testament and make it his credo: "Don't let anyone trample you, son!". That is why, when someone begins to blackmail him and tries to cut coupons from a merchant, he is ready to die and let his loved ones be killed rather than bend.

Adelaide, or Saint, is a faithful friend of Felicito, who keeps her strange shop, walks in the same hoodie all her life and shares with her friend her sudden insights, which she considers a curse.

Ismael Carrera is the owner of an insurance company who, in his 80s, decided to marry a young maid, because he fell in love with her and because he has two nasty twin sons who are just waiting for their daddy to die. He surprises with his serenity against the backdrop of the hell that his sons have arranged for his 2nd true friends through his own fault.

Rigoberto is one of those true friends. And here it is worth saying that Llosa is very good at showing what a true friend is and that such friendship is a priceless treasure. At 62, Rigoberto is about to retire with his beloved family, wife and son, embarking on a grand tour of Europe, which, thanks to a murky boss story, has to be postponed to an unknown date.

Fonchito is the teenage son of Rigoberto. The line of Mann's Faustus is connected with him, since the son seems to be out of this world and, as a priest friend more accurately formulated: a hypersensitive soul. Despite the appearance of a mysterious stranger, the psychologist and the priest defined the boy as completely normal, while the parents, on pins and needles, are already ready to believe in the appearance of the devil. A thoughtful tomboy does not allow him to fully understand - lies, hallucinations or communication with the other world?

Police officers who, despite the fame of the police as the most corrupt of all public institutions As a result, they do their job well.

Another couple of author's features.
Llosa likes to move his characters from one novel to another and use the same places. And although I have not read other books by the author, from the footnotes indicating that this or that place or the hero appears in the author there and there, it caused some very comfortable feeling.
Llosa writes amazingly about sex. With all his frankness, he does not dwell on intimate descriptions, but uses them very harmoniously without an ounce of vulgarity and without a gram of modesty, but somehow very ideally and freely.

Mario Llosa - Captain Pantaleon and the Good Offices Company

Mario Llosa - Letters to a young novelist