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Epoch Times
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
Mario Vargas Llosa: The Man Who Broke From the Tribe
Commentary In one of the many interviews I had with Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, he said he hoped death would surprise him with a pen in his hand. I can't say whether that dream came true, but what is certain is that Llosa likely had little left to write—the world had already been captured in his books. Mario Vargas Llosa (1936-2025) died on April 13 in Lima. And with him, one of the most lucid, courageous, and brilliant voices—not only of the Spanish language but of all humanity—has left us. Llosa, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010, will be remembered for many things. But I'll remember him for his courage above all else, which was exemplified by his defiance of the dominant trends of his time. More Than a Novelist Born in Arequipa in 1936 and raised in Cochabamba, Vargas Llosa had little chance of becoming one of the most important writers in the world. In his autobiographical work ' 'Marito,' as he was called in his youth, began doing business with his writing at a very early age. He sold his first 'little novels' for cigarettes to his classmates. He also wrote love letters on commission for other cadets, and the money he earned allowed him to enjoy small pleasures on weekends. Like many young people in Latin America during the post-war era, Mario Vargas Llosa found himself increasingly drawn to Marxist ideas. In his autobiography, the Peruvian writer describes how, while studying at San Marcos University—the first university founded in continental America and a breeding ground for Marxist movements in the South American nation—he joined discussion groups that viewed communism as the ultimate solution to the world's problems. He wrote: Related Stories 4/30/2025 4/24/2025 'We were chatting in the courtyards of San Marcos ... and we talked about very serious things: the abuses of the dictatorship, the great ethical, political, economic, scientific, and cultural changes that were being forged over there in the USSR, or in that China of Mao Zedong that had been visited and about which that French writer — Claude Roy — had written so many wonders in Keys to China, a book we believed word for word.' After several trips to Cuba, however, he came to understand the horror behind communism. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he did not turn a blind eye. He broke with the revolution and dared to say out loud what others only whispered in private: that there was no freedom on the island, that the regime persecuted dissidents, imprisoned homosexuals, and executed opponents. Vargas Llosa was never just a novelist—and that was his power. He could build entire worlds through fiction, then turn around and write essays that cut to the core of human nature and political delusion. He understood power. He understood the tyranny of collectivism, which made him not merely a dissident, but a heretic in a literary world steeped in political orthodoxy and the romance of revolution. He had once been seduced by the myth of Castro's Cuba. But he woke up—sharply, irrevocably—when reality revealed its face. A Breaking Point It was not an isolated event. Llosa clashed with García Márquez. He confronted Mario Benedetti. They called him a traitor, a bourgeois, a sellout to imperialism. All for the crime of rejecting totalitarianism. While his old friends applauded Castro, Chávez, Evo Morales, and Daniel Ortega, Vargas Llosa exposed them one by one. He denounced authoritarianism disguised as benevolent socialism, and the misery caused by planned economies full of bureaucrats and 'wealth redistribution.' His ideological evolution was not opportunistic—as claimed by those who have never read Hayek or Popper—but deeply rational. Llosa understood that liberalism is not just another ideology, but the only system that guarantees respect for human dignity, private property, and freedom of thought. He made that clear in his essay ' In 'The Call of the Tribe,' Vargas Llosa skillfully explored the ideas of Adam Smith, Hayek, Popper, Berlin, Aron, Revel, and Ortega y Gasset. In them, he found the intellectual tools to build a coherent defense of the individual against the collectivist Leviathan. In that essay—perhaps one of his most important—he made it clear that liberalism is not a closed ideology, but an open doctrine, always ready for debate, criticism, and constant refinement. Beyond expressing his political views in essays and weekly columns, his novels also explored (some might say exposed) human nature and the harsh realities of a region plagued by centralism, collectivism, poverty, and authoritarianism. In 'Conversation in the Cathedral,' he opens with a question: 'At what precise moment had Peru [expletive] itself up?' In 'The Feast of the Goat,' he takes us to the Dominican Republic to tell the story of dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo—a work that could easily describe many of the dictatorships in Latin America, where some men play at being gods and end up becoming demons. For these reasons, Vargas Llosa distanced himself from the Latin American Boom—a literary movement that flourished in the 1960s and 1970s and included fellow Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez, Argentina's Julio Cortázar, and Mexico's Carlos Fuentes. He broke away from this literary elite, which, despite earning international acclaim and awards, often justified the executions ordered by Castro and Che Guevara, as well as the regimes that followed in their wake. The Peruvian writer chose to be a free man rather than an ornamental intellectual. He opted to focus on the people oppressed by the state, not the oppressors with their 'inclusive' rhetoric. He decided to write from a place of truth, not propaganda. A Giant on a 'Fragile Good' Mario Vargas Llosa died as what he truly was: a great man—free, honest, morally unblemished, and proudly reborn as a classical liberal without complexes. He was a moral giant in an age of ideological dwarfs. What remains is his work, his example, and the urgent task of continuing the battle he never abandoned. Because as Vargas Llosa himself said: 'Freedom is a fragile good that only prospers if it is defended every day.' Today, more than ever, we must defend it. From the Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Arab Times
14-04-2025
- Politics
- Arab Times
Mario Vargas Llosa, renowned Peruvian author and Nobel laureate, dies at 89
LIMA, Peru, April 14: Mario Vargas Llosa, the celebrated Peruvian author and Nobel Prize-winning novelist, passed away on Sunday at the age of 89. Known for his profound exploration of power structures and individual resistance, Vargas Llosa's most notable works include The Time of the Hero, Conversation in the Cathedral, and The Feast of the Goat. In 2010, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt, and defeat." His family confirmed his passing in a statement, expressing sorrow but finding solace in his long and fruitful life and enduring literary legacy. Vargas Llosa's literary career began in 1959 with The Cubs and Other Stories, but his breakthrough came with The Time of the Hero in 1963, which provoked outrage among Peru's military. A leading figure in the Latin American literary Boom of the 1960s, his work often critiqued military brutality, societal corruption, and political power. A fierce advocate for personal and economic freedoms, Vargas Llosa distanced himself from his earlier socialist beliefs, becoming a vocal critic of leftist regimes in Latin America. His political evolution included a brief candidacy for the presidency of Peru in 1990, though he was defeated by Alberto Fujimori. Born on March 28, 1936, in Arequipa, Peru, Vargas Llosa's early life was marked by personal upheaval. He went on to study literature at Peru's San Marcos University before pursuing a doctorate in Madrid. His works drew heavily on Peruvian society but were shaped by his experiences living abroad, particularly in Spain, New York, and Paris. Vargas Llosa's personal life included two marriages and a series of relationships, with his most recent being with Isabel Preysler. He is survived by his children, who have requested that his remains be cremated with no public ceremony. His contributions to literature, his political views, and his global influence on Latin American culture remain significant, and his work continues to resonate worldwide.
