Mario Vargas Llosa, the celebrated Peruvian author and Nobel Prize laureate in Literature, has passed away at the age of 89 in Lima, Peru. His family confirmed his death on Sunday, stating, “It is with deep sorrow that we announce that our father, Mario Vargas Llosa, passed away peacefully in Lima today, surrounded by his family.” The letter, shared online by his son Álvaro, expressed both their grief and the hope that his extensive body of work will continue to provide comfort and inspiration to his readers around the world.
Vargas Llosa was a prolific author and essayist, renowned for his critically acclaimed works, including “The Time of the Hero” (“La Ciudad y los Perros”) and “Feast of the Goat.” Over his illustrious career, he received numerous accolades, culminating in the prestigious Nobel Prize for Literature in 2010.
Born Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa on 28 March 1936 in Arequipa, Peru, he experienced a tumultuous childhood. His father abandoned the family before his birth, prompting his mother, Dora Llosa Ureta, to move to Bolivia to avoid public scandal. Vargas Llosa described his early life as “somewhat traumatic.” Raised in a well-connected household, he was surrounded by women who indulged him, yet he faced the complexities of familial absence.
He began his writing career at a young age, becoming a part-time crime reporter by the age of 15. Vargas Llosa published his first short story collection, “The Cubs and Other Stories” (“Los Jefes”), in 1959 but gained prominence with the release of “The Time of the Hero” in 1963. The novel, inspired by his experiences at a military academy, attracted backlash from military authorities, resulting in the burning of copies and accusations of communism against the author.
Vargas Llosa quickly emerged as a leading figure of the Latin American literary “Boom” in the 1960s and 1970s, alongside contemporaries such as Gabriel García Márquez and Carlos Fuentes. Throughout his career, he maintained an active presence in journalism, particularly through his political opinion column “Piedra de Toque.”
Throughout his life, Vargas Llosa emerged as a staunch advocate for personal and economic freedoms, gradually disassociating from his earlier Marxist leanings. He openly criticised leftist leaders in Latin America, pivoting towards free-market conservatism. Though he initially supported Fidel Castro’s Cuban revolution, his disillusionment grew over time, leading to a public denouncement of the regime.
Among his notable personal conflicts was an infamous altercation with fellow Nobel laureate García Márquez in 1976, where Vargas Llosa punched his friend-turned-foe, a confrontation shrouded in both political and personal tension.
Vargas Llosa briefly entered the political arena in 1990 when he ran for the presidency of Peru, losing to then-unknown Alberto Fujimori. Despite his political ambitions, his literary career was unmatched, drawing inspiration from the complexities of his Peruvian homeland while often choosing to live abroad in cities such as Madrid, New York, and Paris.
His novels often depicted a Peruvian reality marked by military oppression, decadence, and cultural clashes. Describing his complex relationship with his country, Vargas Llosa once stated, “Peru is a kind of incurable illness and my relationship to it is intense, harsh and full of the violence of passion.”
Vargas Llosa was married to his first cousin Patricia Llosa, with whom he had three children. They divorced after five decades, and he later formed a relationship with Spanish socialite Isabel Preysler, which ended in 2022.
Mario Vargas Llosa leaves behind a legacy of literary excellence and profound cultural commentary, surviving through his children and the significant impact of his work.
Source : euronews
