depicting the realities of tyranny — so as to end it.
Author | Peru
This year’s Nobel literature laureate, Mario Vargas Llosa, has outdone the history books over and over again during his half-century career, from Feast of the Goat’s study of tyranny’s corruption to The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta’s satire of Peruvian rebels. “We still have in Latin America … this atrocious tradition of authoritarianism and brutality … in politics,” he told journalists after winning the Nobel. “I think that is the reason why Latin American literature is impregnated with political preoccupations.”
For Vargas Llosa, those obsessions extend into public life. In 1990, he made a failed run for president of his home country, Peru. More recently, as an advocate and essayist, his distaste for dictators has set him decisively against Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, with whom he has an ongoing feud. As Vargas Llosa said himself, “I think literature is an expression of life, and you cannot eradicate politics from life.”
Copyright © 2011 Atlas Network. Developed by The Liberty Lab
1201 L Street NW, Washington DC 20005 | 202-449-8449
[...] Read full bio [...]
[...] Biography | Lectures/Articles | Events | Photo Gallery | Awards | Tributes | Home [...]
[...] Biography | Lectures/Articles | Events | Photo Gallery | Awards | Tributes | Home [...]
[...] Biography | Lectures/Articles | Events | Photo Gallery | Awards | Tributes | Home Atlas President Alex Chafuen said of Vargas Llosa: [...]
[...] Biography | Lectures/Articles | Events | Photo Gallery | Awards | Tributes | Home [...]
[...] Biography | Lectures/Articles | Events | Photo Gallery | Awards | Tributes | Home Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa was born on March 28th, 1936 in Arequipa, Peru. His parents Ernesto Vargas Maldonado and Dora Llosa Ureta, were already separated when he was born. Vargas Lllosa would not know his father until he was 10 years old. [...]
[...] Biography | Lectures/Articles | Events | Photo Gallery | Awards | Tributes | Home [...]
[...] Atlas will culminate the celebration the Freedom Dinner, where we will celebrate the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. Keynote speaker will be Nobel Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa. [...]