Mario Vargas Llosa

Novelist

Mario Vargas Llosa was born in Arequipa, Peru on March 28th, 1936 and is the Novelist. At the age of 88, Mario Vargas Llosa biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.

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Date of Birth
March 28, 1936
Nationality
Spain, Peru
Place of Birth
Arequipa, Peru
Age
88 years old
Zodiac Sign
Aries
Networth
$500 Thousand
Profession
Dramaturge, Essayist, Journalist, Literary Critic, Novelist, Opinion Journalist, Philosopher, Playwright, Politician, Prosaist, Screenwriter, University Teacher
Mario Vargas Llosa Height, Weight, Eye Color and Hair Color

At 88 years old, Mario Vargas Llosa physical status not available right now. We will update Mario Vargas Llosa's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Height
Not Available
Weight
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Hair Color
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Eye Color
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Build
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Measurements
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Mario Vargas Llosa Religion, Education, and Hobbies
Religion
Not Available
Hobbies
Not Available
Education
National University of San Marcos, Complutense University of Madrid
Mario Vargas Llosa Spouse(s), Children, Affair, Parents, and Family
Spouse(s)
Julia Urquidi ​ ​(m. 1955; div. 1964)​, Patricia Llosa ​ ​(m. 1965; sep. 2015)​
Children
3, including Álvaro Vargas Llosa
Dating / Affair
Not Available
Parents
Not Available
Mario Vargas Llosa Life

Jorge Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquis of Vargas Llosa (born 28 March 1936), also known as Mario Vargas Llosa (Spanish: [ma_jo az] is a Peruvian novelist, writer, and a former politician who holds Spanish citizenship. Vargas Llosa is one of Latin America's most influential novelists and essayists, as well as one of the country's most influential writers of his generation. According to some commentators, he had a bigger international success and a worldwide audience than any other writer of the Latin American Boom. "For his cartography of authority and his trenchant photos of the individual's resistance, revolt, and loss" in 2010, he was named a Nobel Laureate in Literature. He received the 1967 Rómulo Gallegos Award, the 1986 Prince of Asturias Award, the 1994 Miguel de Cervantes Memorial Prize, the 2005 Carlos Fuentes International Prize, and the 2018 Pablo Neruda Order of Artistic and Cultural Merit.

Vargas Llosa came to international prominence in the 1960s with books like The Time of the Hero (La ciudad y los perros, literally The City and the Dogs, 1963/1968), and the monumental Conversation in the Cathedral (Conversación en la catedral, 1969/1975). He writes prolifically in a variety of literary genres, including literary criticism and journalism. His books include comedies, murder mysteries, historical novels, and political thrillers. Several, including Captain Pantoja and the Special Service (1973/1978), and Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter (1977/1982), have been made into feature films.

Vargas Llosa's books are influenced by the writer's portrayal of Peruvian society and his own experiences as a Peruvian. He has expanded his collection and explored topics that have arisen from other parts of the world. Vargas Llosa has written several articles in which he has expressed various critiques of nationalism in various regions of the world. Another development in his career has been a change from a literary style and approach to a more playful postmodernism.

Vargas Llosa, like many Latin American writers, has been politically active throughout his career. Although he formerly supported Fidel Castro's Cuban revolutionary government, Vargas Llosa later became dissatisfied with the government's actions, particularly after the detention of Cuban poet Heberto Padilla in 1971, and now identifys as a liberal. He ran for the Peruvian presidency in 1990 with the center-right Frente Democrático coalition, defending classical liberal reforms, but lost the election to Alberto Fujimori. He was the person who "created the word that circled the globe" in 1990, claiming on Mexican television that "Mexico is the exemplary dictatorship," a declaration that has since become an adage during the following decade.

Vargas Llosa is also one of the top 25 most influential figures on the Information and Democracy Commission, which was established by Reporters Without Borders.

Early life and family

Mario Vargas Llosa was born in Arequipa, Peru's southern province, on March 28, 1936. He was Ernesto Vargas Maldonado and Dora Llosa Uta's only child, the former radio operator in an aviation firm, the former owner of an old criollo family), who separated a few months before his birth. His father revealed that he was having an affair with a German woman, and Mario has two younger half-brothers, Enrique and Ernesto Vargas, a few weeks after Mario's birth.

Vargas Llosa and his maternal family lived in Arequipa until a year after his parents' separation when his maternal grandfather was named honorary consul for Peru in Bolivia. Vargas Llosa and his family arrived in Cochabamba, Bolivia, where he spent the first years of his childhood. His maternal relatives, the Llosas, were provided by his grandfather, who owned a cotton farm. Vargas Llosa, a young boy, was led to believe that his father died; his mother and her family were not about to reveal that his parents divorced. Vargas Llosa's maternal grandfather obtained a diplomatic post in Piura's northern Peruvian coastal city of Peru, during the Peruvian President José Bustamante y Rivero's reign, and the entire family returned to Peru. Vargas Llosa attended primary school at Colegio Salesiano in Piura. In 1946, he arrived in Lima and met his father for the first time. During his teenage years, his parents re-established their friendship and lived in Magdalena del Mar, a middle-class Lima suburb. He attended Colegio La Salle, a Christian middle school in Lima, from 1947 to 1949.

Vargas Llosa's father took him to the Leoncio Prado Military Academy in Lima when he was 14 years old. Vargas Llosa began working as an amateur journalist for local newspapers at the age of 16. He graduated from the military academy and continued his studies in Piura, where he worked for the local newspaper, La Industria, and witnessed the dramatic performance of his first dramatic work, La huida del Inca.

Vargas Llosa, a young Manuel A. Odra's government, enrolled students in Lima's National University of San Marcos in 1953 to study law and literature. Julia Urquidi, his maternal uncle's niece-in-law, married Julia Urquidi in 1955 at the age of 19; she was ten years older. Vargas Llosa began his literary career in earnest in 1957 with the publication of his first short stories "The Leaders" ("Los jefes") and "The Grandfather" ("El abuelo") while working for two Peruvian newspapers. He was granted a scholarship to study at the Complutense University of Madrid in Spain following his graduation from the National University of San Marcos in 1958. Vargas Llosa's scholarship application had been refused when his Madrid scholarship expired in 1960, but after arriving in Paris, he learned that his scholarship was refused. Despite Mario and Julia's unexpected financial success, the pair decided to stay in Paris, where they began to write regularly — even as a ghostwriter. Their marriage lasted only a few years, with the divorce taking place in 1964. Vargas Llosa married his first cousin, Patricia Llosa, with whom he had three children; a writer and editor; and Morgana (born 1974), a photographer.

Later life

Vargas Llosa has mostly lived in Madrid since the 1990s, but he spends about three months of the year in Peru with his extended family. He also visits London, where he often spends long stretches of time. Vargas Llosa obtained Spanish citizenship in 1993, but he also holds Peruvian nationality. The writer frequently reaffirms his admiration for both countries. "I carry Peru deep inside me" as a child, grew up, was molded, and lived the experiences of childhood and youth that influenced my identity and influenced my calling. "I love Spain as much as Peru," he said, and her debt to her is as significant as my gratitude." I never would have guessed that I was on this podium or become a well-known blogger if not for Spain.

During the 1992-1993 academic year, Mario Vargas Llosa served as a visiting professor of Latin American studies at Harvard University. Vargas Llosa was later named an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by Harvard in 1999. He was elected a member of the Real Academia Espaola (Royal Spanish Academy) in 1994 and took up his seat in L on January 15, 1996. Vargas Llosa joined the Mont Pelerin Society in 2014. The Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, is also a member of the Inter-American Dialogue.

He has been active in Spain's political arena. He stopped supporting the People's Party in favour of the recently formed Union, Progress, and Democracy, finding that the former party's conservative beliefs are in contradiction with his classical liberal convictions. His political convictions appear in the book Poltica razonable, which was written with Fernando Savater, Rosa Dez, lvaro Pombo, Albert Boadella, and Carlos Martriarán. He continues to write, both journalist and fiction, as well as traveling extensively. He has worked as a visiting professor at a number of prestigious universities.

In April 2011, the writer announced that he would vote for Alejandro Toledo (Peruvian former President 2001-2006). Following his election, he said that his country should continue to pursue constitutionality and independence.

Vargas Llosa is opposed to Catalan independence from Spain. In October 2017, he attended an anti-independence protest: "Spanish democracy is here to stay." No nationalist conspiracy can destroy it." He attended a march in Madrid against the pardon of the Catalan independence kings in 2021.

Vargas Llosa has had a conflict on far-right politician Keiko Fujimori, daughter of Peru's authoritarian President Alberto Fujimori, since her entrance into politics. Vargas Llosa said during her presidential campaign in 2011, "the only alternative is Keiko Fujimori because it has the legitimization of one of Peru's worst dictatorships ever" "the true heirship of one of the country's worst dictatorships has existed in history." Vargas Llosa said in 2014, "Keiko is the daughter of a murderer and a robber who is detained in prison and convicted by international jurors to 25 years in jail for murder and robbery." I do not want her to win the elections." Vargas Llosa, on the other hand, expressed support for Keiko while expressing opposition to far-right candidate Pedro Castillo and describing Fujimori as the "lesser of two evils" in the second round of the 2021 Peruvian general election.

Vargas Llosa, the far-right presidential candidate who opposed Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship, expressed his support for José Antonio Kast, who stood for democracy in the 2021 Chilean general elections.

Both the Panama Papers (2016) and the Pandora Papers (2021) were published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Vargas Llosa. According to IDL-Reporteros, Melek Investment Inc., a British Virgin Islands firm, was registered by Vargas Llosa for book royal profits and the selling of real estate in London and Madrid. "Under Messrs. Vargas Llosa" investment were made "without the knowledge of Messrs. Vargas Llosa," Carmen Balcells, a Vargas Llosa representative, said in the 2021 Panama Papers leaks. Vargas Llosa's signature was on a "Consent to Act as Director" document for Melek Investing Inc. as part of the 2021 leak, according to IDL-Reporteros.

Later personal life

Vargas Llosa is in a dating dispute with Filipina Spanish socialite and television actress Isabel Preysler, who is seeking a divorce from Patricia Llosa as of 2015. "I was not a believer, nor was I an atheist, nor was I an atheist either," he says, but rather, an agnostic.

He is an enthusiast of association football and a fan of Universitario de Deportes, and he is a fan of the Universitario de Deportes. In his book A Fish in the Water, the writer confessed that he has been a fan of Peru's 'cream colored' team, which first appeared in the field just 10 years old. Vargas Llosa was given an honorary life membership of this football team in February 2011, a function that took place in the Monumental Stadium of Lima. In April 2022, he was hospitalized after being infected with COVID-19.

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Mario Vargas Llosa Career

Writing career

The Time of the Hero, Vargas Llosa's first book, was published in 1963. The book is set in a Lima military academy, and the author's intention is based on the author's own experiences at Leoncio Prado Military Academy. This early work attracted national attention and immediate success. Its vitality and skillful use of sophisticated literary techniques captivated reviewers right away, and the Premio de la Crola award was given to it. Nonetheless, Peru's tense condemnation of the Peruvian military establishment sparked scandal. Several Peruvian generals criticized the book, alleging that it was "degenerate in thought" and claiming that Vargas Llosa was "paid by Ecuador" to damage the Peruvian Army's reputation.

Vargas Llosa's second book, The Green House (La casa verde), was released in 1965 about a brothel named "The Green House" and how its quasi-mythical presence has a bearing on the lives of the characters. Bonifacia, a girl who is about to receive the priesthood's vows, and her transformation into la Selvatica, the most well-known prostitute of "The Green House," are the main plots in the story. Vargas Llosa was immediately recognized as a key figure of Latin American literature, establishing him as a leading voice of Latin American narrative. In 1967, the Green House won the first edition of the Rómulo Gallegos International Novel Prize, pitting against works by veteran Uruguayan writer Juan Carlos Onetti and Gabriel Garca Márquez. This book alone received enough accolades to place the author among the Latin American Boom's most influential figures. Some commentators maintain that The Green House is Vargas Llosa's finest and most important achievement. The Green House, according to Latin American literary scholar Gerald Martin, is "one of the finest books to have appeared in Latin America."

Conversation in the Cathedral, Vargas Llosa's third book, was released in 1969 when he was 33 years old. The story of Santiago Zavala, the son of a cabinet minister, and his chauffeur Ambrosio is the subject of this captivating tale. The pair are led to a riveting discussion in "The Cathedral" at a nearby bar. During the encounter, Zavala seeks the truth about his father's involvement in the assassination of a notorious Peruvian underworld figure, sheds light on a tyrant's inner workings. Zavala's search came to an end with no answers and no hint of a promising future. The novel portrays how a draconian regime in Odra controls and kills people. Conversation in the Cathedral Vargas Llosa's most bitter book has a recurring theme of hopelessness.

From 1969 to 1970, he lectured on Spanish American Literature at King's College London.

Vargas Llosa wrote Garca Márquez: The Story of a Deicide (Garca Márquez, a Deicide), which was his doctoral thesis at the Complute University of Madrid in 1971. Despite Vargas Llosa's book-length report about his Colombian Nobel Laureate writer Gabriel Garca Márquez, they did not speak to each other again. Vargas Llosa punched Garca Márquez in the face in Mexico City at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in 1976, breaking the relationship. Neither writer had ever articulated the core reasons for the quarrel. In 2007, a photograph of Garca Márquez sporting a black eye was published, reiniting public interest in the conflict. Despite decades of silence, Vargas Llosa decided to allow part of his book to be used as the launch of a 40th-anniversary edition of Garc's One Hundred Years of Solitude, which was re-released in Spain and Latin America this year. Historia de un Deicidio was also reissued in the year 2000 as part of Vargas Llosa's complete collection.

Vargas Llosa's output moved away from more serious topics such as politics and problems with society as a result of the monumental work's Conversation. Raymond L. Williams, a Latin American literary scholar, describes this period in his writing career as "the discovery of humor." Captain Pantoja and the Special Service (Pantaleón y las visitadoras), his first attempt at a satirical novel, was published in 1973. This short, amusing book contains vignettes and documents about Peruvian armed forces and a corpse of prostitutes sent to explore military outposts in remote jungle areas. These plot elements are similar to Vargas Llosa's earlier book The Green House, but in a different style. Captain Pantoja and the Special Service is, therefore, a parody of both The Green House and the literary interpretation that the novel portrays. Vargas Llosa's drive to write the book came from knowing prostitutes were being recruited by the Peruvian Army and taken to serve soldiers in the jungle.

Vargas Llosa wrote from 1974 to 1987, but he took time to pursue other interests. Captain Pantoja and the Secret Service, an unsuccessful motion-picture adaptation of his book, was co-directed by him in 1975. He was elected President of PEN International, the international association of writers and the oldest human rights group, in 1976, a position he held until 1979. Vargas Llosa travelled extensively during this period to speak at conferences held by international organizations, including the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Cambridge, where he served as Simón Bolvar Professor and an Overseas Fellow of Churchill College in 1977–78.

Vargas Llosa was elected as a member of the Peruvian Academy of Language in 1977, a status that he still holds today. He also wrote about Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, based in part on his mother, Julia Urquidi, to whom he dedicated the book in that year. Lo que Varguitas no dijo (What Little Vargas Didn't Say) was her first book, in which she gives her personal account of their marriage. Vargas Llosa's account exaggerates several key points in their courtship and marriage, while dismissing her responsibility in assisting her literary career. Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter are two of the most striking examples of how popular culture's words and images can be used in literature. Tune in Tomorrow, a 1990 Hollywood film, was turned into a Hollywood feature film.

The War of the World, Vargas Llosa's fourth major book, was released in 1981 and was his first attempt at a historical novel. Vargas Llosa's style was transformed by this project's work toward topics such as messianism and irrational human behaviour. It brings back the War of Canudos, a 19th-century Brazil in which an armed millenarian sect kept off a siege by the national army for months. This book, as in Vargas Llosa's first book, has a sober and serious theme, and its tone is moody. Vargas Llosa's insightful exploration of humanity's propensity to idealize violence, as well as his account of a man-made disaster brought on by fanaticism on both directions, earned the novel acclaim. Critics have argued that this is one of Vargas Llosa's best literary works due to the book's ambition and execution. Even though the book has been widely distributed in Brazil, it was initially poorly received because a foreigner was writing about a Brazilian theme. The book was also chastised as both revolutionary and anti-social. Vargas Llosa says that this book is his favorite and was his most difficult feat.

Vargas Llosa began writing books that were considerably shorter than those of his earlier books after finishing The War of the World. He finished The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta in 1983 (Historia de Mayta, 1984). The book focuses on a leftist rebellion that took place in Jauja, Spain, on May 29th. Vargas Llosa was asked by Peruvian President Fernando Belaya later this year to join the Investigatory Commission, a task force that would look into the murder of eight journalists in the hands of the villagers of Uchuraccay. The commission's primary aim was to look into the murders in order to provide the public with details of the case. Vargas Llosa wrote a series of articles defending his position in the investigation after being involved with the Investigatory Commission. Who Killed Palomino Molero, who died in 1986, was the author of his first book, Who Killed Palomino Molero (Quién mató a Palomino Molero). (Before the conclusion of the Uchuray probe, he began writing shortly after. Despite the fact that the plot of this mystery novel is similar to Uchuray's tragic events, literary commentator Roy Boland points out that it was not an attempt to reconstruct the murders, but rather a "literary exorcism" of Vargas Llosa's own experiences during the commission. The experience inspired Death in the Andes, Vargas Llosa's later books, which was first published in 1993 in Barcelona.

Vargas Llosa wrote another major work The Feast of the Goat (La fiesta del chivo), a political thriller, was released in 2000 (and in English in 2001). Vargas Llosa's most complete and fascinating book since The War of the World, according to Williams. Sabine Koellmann, a writer, sees it in the vein of his earlier books "Conversación en la catedral" depicting the effects of authoritarianism, abuse of power on the individual. The book, based on Rafael Trujillo's dictatorship from 1930 to his assassination in 1961, has three main strands: Urania Cabral, the daughter of a former politician and Trujillo loyalist who returned to the Dominican Republic after Trujillo's assassination in 1930, is the protagonist; the second strand concerns Trujillo's remains; and the third and final strand concerns Trujillo's disappearance The book gained acclaim in Spain and Latin America and has had a major influence in Latin America, being regarded as one of Vargas Llosa's finest books.

Hitos Literarios ("The Milestones and the Stories of Greatest Literary Works"), illustrated by Willi Glasauer, was published in 1995. The book includes amusing facts, trivia, and facts, as well as Willi Glasauer's illustrations of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, The Stranger by Albert Dos Passover by John Dos Passos, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Thomas Mann, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Thomas Mann, Death in Venice by John Steinbeck, The Great Gatsby by Hermann Hesse, The book includes:

He wrote The Way to Paradise in 2003, in which he addresses Flora Tristan and Paul Gauguin.

Vargas Llosa wrote The Bad Girl (Travesuras de la nia mala), a book that critic Kathryn Harrison argues is a rewrite (rather than simply a rewrite) of Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary (1856). In Vargas Llosa's version, the plot follows a decades-long love of its narrator, a Peruvian expatriate, and a woman with whom he first fell in love as teenagers.

Tiempos recios (Fierce Times), his book about Guatemala's 1954 coup, was published in 2019.

Political career

Vargas Llosa, like many other Latin American intellectuals, was early a supporter of Fidel Castro's Cuban revolutionary government. He pursued Marxism as a university student and was later persuaded by communist ideals following the Cuban Revolution's triumph. Vargas Llosa came to the conclusion that socialism was incompatible with what he considered to be general liberties and rights. When the Castro regime jailed poet Heberto Padilla for a month in 1971, the official break between the writer and Cuban government began with the so-called 'Padilla Affair'. Vargas Llosa, joined by other intellectuals of the time, wrote to Castro condemning the Cuban political system and the artist's detention. Vargas Llosa has identified himself with liberalism rather than radical left-wing political ideologies ever since. He has condemned both left- and right-wing authoritarian regimes since he relinquished his earlier leftism.

He served on the Investigatory Commission investigating the Uchuray massacre in 1983, which literary commentator Jean Franco characterized as "the most difficult event in [his] political career." Vargas Llosa's involvement with the Investigatory Commission prompted immediate negative reactions and condemnation from the Peruvian press; many believed that the murder was a plot to discourage journalists from reporting the presence of government paramilitary forces in Uchuray. The commission reported that it was the indigenous villagers who had been responsible for the killings; for Vargas Llosa, "how vulnerable democracy is in Latin America and how quickly it dies under both right and left dictatorships." These conclusions, as well as Vargas Llosa personally, came under intense criticism: Enrique Mayer, an anthropologist, was accused of "paternalism," while fellow anthropologist Carlos Iván Degregori chastised him for his ignorance of the Andean world. Vargas Llosa was accused of actively participating in a government cover-up of army involvement in the massacre. Misha Kokotovic, an American Latin American literature scholar, argues that the novelist was charged with "indigenous cultures as a "primitive' barrier to the full realization of his Western model of modernity. Vargas Llosa said that his readers were likely more concerned about the hundreds of peasants who died in the hands of the Sendero Luminoso guerrilla group than with the atrocity itself and then the reaction his book had sparked, and that his critics were obviously more concerned with his study than with the hundreds of peasants who later died at the hands of the Sendero Luminoso guerrilla group.

He helped shape and became a leader of the center-right group, Movimiento Libertad, in 1987. Ex-President Fernando Bela (of the Popular Action Party) and Luis Bedoya Reyes (of the Partido Popular Cristiano) joined forces next year to form the Frente Democrático coalition in Peru's second top conservative party (FREDEMO). In 1990, he ran for president of Peru as part of the FREDEMO alliance, which had the support of the US. He suggested neoliberal policies similar to Fujimori, which scared the majority of the country's poor; this plan stressed the need for privatization, a market economy, free trade, and, most importantly, the dissemination of private property. Despite winning the first round with 34% of the vote, Vargas Llosa was defeated by Alberto Fujimori, then-unknown agricultural engineer, in the subsequent run-off. In his book A Fish in the Water, Vargas Llosa wrote an account of his presidential campaign (El pez en el ada, 1993). Since his political demise, he has concentrated on his writing, with only occasional political involvement.

Vargas Llosa attended a conference in Mexico named, "The Experience of Freedom" a month after losing the election on Octavio Paz' invitation. It was broadcast on Mexican television from 27 August to 2 September, focusing on the demise of communist rule in central and eastern Europe. Vargas Llosa, the founder of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which had been in power for 61 years, shocked his supporters by speaking at the conference on August 30th. "I don't think there has been in Latin America any instance of a system of tyrantship that has so effectively recruited the intellectual community, bribing it with a great subtlety," he said. "Mexico is the only dictatorship," he said. The exemplary dictatorship is not communism, not the USSR, not Fidel Castro; the optimum dictatorship is Mexico. "It's a camouflaged tyrantship." "Mexico is the perfect dictatorship" became a cliché in Mexico and elsewhere before the PRI came to power in 2000.

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