Latest news with #TheTimeoftheHero
Mint
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Mint
Why Llosa is essential reading for marketers and brand builders
Mario Vargas Llosa, an aristocrat of Spanish ancestry, was sent to Lima's military academy to sweat the love of literature out of him. Instead, the experience gave us his first novel, The Time of the Hero . Among the greatest literary figures of our times, the Peruvian novelist and liberal died on 13 April, aged 89. I was introduced to his work in 2001 whilst I lived in Aliso Viejo in Southern California and have read much of his work since then. Llosa's pen charted the psychological, political and social transformations of Latin America with a rare combination of intellectual rigour and narrative brilliance, but his legacy goes beyond the obvious. He offered more than storytelling. His imagination was like an SOS. As Roger Scruton said, 'Consolation from imaginary things is not an imaginary consolation." What made Llosa's voice unique was his fearless engagement with power in all facets—its seductions, hypocrisies and consequences. He dissected dictatorships and democracies alike, drawing from the political chaos of Latin America not just to critique, but to understand. His lessons were applicable to all mankind. Llosa's 2010 Nobel Prize was not just in recognition of literary merit, but also of a lifetime spent confronting uncomfortable truths. Whether writing about the terrifying charisma of strongmen or the quiet resilience of individuals, Llosa fused journalism, fiction and philosophy with rare precision. He evolved from a youthful revolutionary sympathizer to a staunch defender of liberal democracy. It is this ideological evolution that drove Llosa and his friend Gabriel Garcia Márquez apart. 'Gabo' stayed with the revolutionary left in Castro's Cuba, while Llosa joined the Western liberal mainstream. To Llosa, a writer's role is not to please, but to provoke, challenge and awaken. My professional career has gained from Llosa's example. Marketers can learn a great deal from Llosa—not just about storytelling, but about the power of narrative to shape perception, culture and identity. Stories are not just entertainment; they are how people make sense of the world. For marketers, this translates into a crucial lesson: facts may inform, but stories persuade. Llosa didn't sell plots and characters, but entire worlds. Brands, too, must create immersive and believable narratives that tap emotions and aspirations. Another key lesson is complexity. Llosa never flattened characters into caricatures, even in depictions of despots or revolutionaries. He showed that human beings are self-contradictory, complex and driven by competing desires. Great marketing embraces this nuance. Instead of reducing consumers to mere stereotypes, demographics or personas, marketers who take a Llosa-like approach look for inner tensions—between status and simplicity, tradition and progress, freedom and belonging—that make people care. Authenticity emerges from acknowledging and resolving complexity, not avoiding it. Llosa teaches that credibility comes not from rigid positioning, but from clarity and the courage of conviction in principles. Marketers can take a cue from his intellectual honesty: speak with conviction, adapt with humility and always root communication in a deeper understanding of the historical, cultural and emotional context. Finally, attention is earned, not granted. His viscous prose demands engagement; it's rich, ambitious and unapologetically intelligent. It reminds me of Nirad C. Chaudhuri. Marketing that respects the audience's intelligence—by telling deeper stories, refusing to oversimplify and inviting interpretation rather than dictating it—builds loyalty and trust. Brands that eventually win are not the loudest, but the ones that say something worth remembering. Llosa is more relevant than ever in today's polarized world because he championed the enduring value of truth, freedom and critical thinking. His novels dissected the dangers of authoritarianism, fanaticism and blind ideology—forces that are resurgent globally. Llosa believed in literature's power to illuminate complexity and challenge complacency. His intellectual journey underscores the importance of evolving convictions through reason. In an age that often rewards outrage over nuance, Llosa's life and work remind us that real engagement with politics, people and art requires courage, curiosity and moral clarity. He was a chronicler of history, a critic of complacency and a craftsman of language whose influence spanned the globe. In honouring Llosa, we honour the enduring power of literature to shape our conscience. Only a handful of businesses and brands can claim that for themselves. In homage to a man of letters, let me offer an epitaph: 'Here lies Mario Vargas Llosa, a titan of literature whose pen carved truth into fiction and gave voice to the soul of Latin America. Nobel laureate, fearless critic and eternal storyteller, he challenged power and celebrated freedom. His words live on—bold, brilliant and unyielding—etched in the hearts of readers across generations. A life of letters, never forgotten." Llosa is dead but his ideas will live forever. The author is CMO, Tata Motors CV
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Mario Vargas Llosa: The novelist who lectured Latin America
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Fact and fiction circled each other in the works of Mario Vargas Llosa. Through realism, erotica, and even crude slang, the Peruvian novelist wove tales of political corruption and moral compromise. As part of the Latin American literary boom of the 1960s—alongside Colombia's Gabriel García Márquez and Argentina's Julio Cortázar—he reached international fame, winning the Nobel Prize in literature in 2010. But unlike most other regional giants, he never embraced leftist politics. While his fictional works appeared to support revolution and speaking truth to power, his expository essays tended toward conservatism. He even unsuccessfully ran for president of Peru in 1990 as a right-winger, proposing to privatize state enterprises and lay off public-sector workers. "If you're a writer in a country like Peru or Mexico, you're a privileged person because you know how to read and write," he said. "It is a moral obligation of a writer in Latin America to be involved in civic activities." Born in Peru, Vargas Llosa grew up in Bolivia, where his mother told him his father was dead. In fact, his parents had divorced before his birth; they reunited when he was 10 and soon packed him off to military school in Lima. He retaliated by writing a novel, 1963's The Time of the Hero, a scathing account of life in a military academy that portrayed officers as abusive and corrupt. Scandalized generals denounced the book, which only turned it into a sensation. At 19, Vargas Llosa eloped with his uncle's 29-year-old sister-in-law, inspiring his novel Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter. "His distaste for the norms of polite society in Peru gave him abundant inspiration," said The New York Times, but he refused to live there. Instead, he spent decades in Europe, feted as an international literary star. "His fame and swelling ambition fueled his run for president," said The Washington Post. But he came across as an elitist and failed to win over Peru's largely impoverished indigenous electorate. Chastened, he returned to Europe and became a columnist for Spain's El País, espousing his love of free markets to a global readership. "His combative defense of this position earned him enemies" among Latin America's left, said The Guardian. Yet he maintained his dedication to his craft. Writing "is a way of living with illusion and joy and a fire throwing out sparks in your head," he said. "This is an experience that continues to bewitch me as it did the first time."
See - Sada Elbalad
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- See - Sada Elbalad
Popular Peruvian Author Mario Vargas Llosa Passes away
Rana Atef On Sunday, popular Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa, who is a Nobel literature laureate, passed away at the age of 89 years old in Lima. Llosa most celebrated novels include 'The Time of the Hero' (La Ciudad y los Perros) and 'Feast of the Goat.' He won the 2010 Nobel Prize for Literature. The news of his death was announced by his children, saying in a letter posted on X: 'It is with deep sorrow that we announce that our father, Mario Vargas Llosa, passed away peacefully in Lima today, surrounded by his family." It added: 'His departure will sadden his relatives, his friends and his readers around the world, but we hope that they will find comfort, as we do, in the fact that he enjoyed a long, adventurous and fruitful life, and leaves behind him a body of work that will outlive him." Llosa was born on 28 March 1936, in Arequipa, Peru. Vargas Llosa started writing early, and he worked as a part-time crime reporter at the age of 15 at La Crónica newspaper. He published his first short story collection, The Cubs and Other Stories ("Los Jefes") in 1959. In 1963, he published his first novel, The Time of the Hero, which echoed his experiences at a Peruvian military academy and angered the country's military. read more New Tourism Route To Launch in Old Cairo Ahmed El Sakka-Led Play 'Sayidati Al Jamila' to Be Staged in KSA on Dec. 6 Mandy Moore Joins Season 2 of "Dr. Death" Anthology Series Don't Miss These Movies at 44th Cairo Int'l Film Festival Today Amr Diab to Headline KSA's MDLBEAST Soundstorm 2022 Festival Arts & Culture Mai Omar Stuns in Latest Instagram Photos Arts & Culture "The Flash" to End with Season 9 Arts & Culture Ministry of Culture Organizes four day Children's Film Festival Arts & Culture Canadian PM wishes Muslims Eid-al-Adha News Egypt confirms denial of airspace access to US B-52 bombers News Ayat Khaddoura's Final Video Captures Bombardment of Beit Lahia Lifestyle Pistachio and Raspberry Cheesecake Domes Recipe News Australia Fines Telegram $600,000 Over Terrorism, Child Abuse Content Arts & Culture Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban's $4.7M LA Home Burglarized Videos & Features Bouchra Dahlab Crowned Miss Arab World 2025 .. Reem Ganzoury Wins Miss Arab Africa Title (VIDEO) Sports Neymar Announced for Brazil's Preliminary List for 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers News Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly Inaugurates Two Indian Companies Arts & Culture New Archaeological Discovery from 26th Dynasty Uncovered in Karnak Temple Arts & Culture Arwa Gouda Gets Married (Photos)
The Hill
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hill
Mario Vargas Llosa, Peruvian author and Nobel literature laureate, dies at 89
LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa, Nobel literature laureate and a giant of Latin American letters, died Sunday. He was 89. He was a prolific author and essayist with such celebrated novels as 'The Time of the Hero' (La Ciudad y los Perros) and 'Feast of the Goat,' and won myriad prizes. The Nobel committee said it was awarding him in 2010 'for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt, and defeat.' 'It is with deep sorrow that we announce that our father, Mario Vargas Llosa, passed away peacefully in Lima today, surrounded by his family,' read a letter signed by his children Álvaro, Gonzalo and Morgana, and posted by Álvaro on X. 'His departure will sadden his relatives, his friends and his readers around the world, but we hope that they will find comfort, as we do, in the fact that he enjoyed a long, adventurous and fruitful life, and leaves behind him a body of work that will outlive him,' they added. The author's lawyer and close friend, Enrique Ghersi, confirmed the death to The Associated Press and recalled the writer's last birthday on March 28 at the home of his daughter, Morgana. 'He spent it happy; his close friends surrounded him, he ate his cake, we joked that day that there were still 89 more years to go, he had a long, fruitful, and free life,' Ghersi said. Tributes poured in for Vargas Llosa. In Spain, where he spent long stretches of his life, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia expressed their condolences, writing on social media that 'the Olympus of universal literature has opened its doors to Mario Vargas Llosa.' Latin America's new wave of writers Vargas Llosa published his first collection of stories 'The Cubs and Other Stories' (Los Jefes) in 1959. But he burst onto the literary stage in 1963 with his groundbreaking debut 'The Time of the Hero,' a novel that drew on his experiences at a Peruvian military academy and angered the country's military. A thousand copies were burned by military authorities, with some generals calling the book false and Vargas Llosa a communist. That, and subsequent novels such as 'Conversation in the Cathedral,' (Conversación en la Catedral) in 1969, quickly established Vargas Llosa as one of the leaders of the so-called 'Boom,' or new wave of Latin American writers of the 1960s and 1970s, alongside Gabriel García Márquez and Carlos Fuentes. Vargas Llosa started writing early, and at 15 was a part-time crime reporter for La Crónica newspaper. According to his official website, other jobs he had included revising names on cemetery tombs in Peru, working as a teacher in the Berlitz school in Paris and briefly on the Spanish desk at Agence France-Presse in Paris. He continued publishing articles in the press for most of his life, most notably in a twice-monthly political opinion column titled 'Piedra de Toque' (Touchstones) that was printed in several newspapers. Vargas Llosa came to be a fierce defender of personal and economic liberties, gradually edging away from his communism-linked past, and regularly attacked Latin American leftist leaders he viewed as dictators. Although an early supporter of the Cuban revolution led by Fidel Castro, he later grew disillusioned and denounced Castro's Cuba. By 1980, he said he no longer believed in socialism as a solution for developing nations. In a famous incident in Mexico City in 1976, Vargas Llosa punched fellow Nobel Prize winner and ex-friend García Márquez, whom he later ridiculed as 'Castro's courtesan.' It was never clear whether the fight was over politics or a personal dispute, as neither writer ever wanted to discuss it publicly. As he slowly turned his political trajectory toward free-market conservatism, Vargas Llosa lost the support of many of his Latin American literary contemporaries and attracted much criticism even from admirers of his work. A pampered early life and 'hell' in a military school Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa was born March 28, 1936, in Peru's southern city of Arequipa, high in the Andes at the foot of the Misti volcano. His father, Ernesto Vargas Maldonado, left the family before he was born. To avoid public scandal, his mother, Dora Llosa Ureta, took her child to Bolivia, where her father was the Peruvian consul in Cochabamba. Vargas Llosa said his early life was 'somewhat traumatic,' pampered by his mother and grandmother in a large house with servants, his every whim granted. It was not until he was 10, after the family had moved to Peru's coastal city of Piura, that he learned his father was alive. His parents reconciled and the family moved to Peru's capital, Lima. Vargas Llosa described his father as a disciplinarian who viewed his son's love of Jules Verne and writing poetry as surefire routes to starvation, and feared for his 'manhood,' believing that 'poets are always homosexuals.' After failing to get the boy enrolled in a naval academy because he was underage, Vargas Llosa's father sent him to Leoncio Prado Military Academy — an experience that was to stay with Vargas Llosa and led to 'The Time of the Hero.' The book won the Spanish Critics Award. The military academy 'was like discovering hell,' Vargas Llosa said later. He entered Peru's San Marcos University to study literature and law, 'the former as a calling and the latter to please my family, which believed, not without certain cause, that writers usually die of hunger.' After earning his literature degree in 1958 — he didn't bother submitting his final law thesis — Vargas Llosa won a scholarship to pursue a doctorate in Madrid. Vargas Llosa drew much of his inspiration from his Peruvian homeland, but preferred to live abroad, residing for spells each year in Madrid, New York and Paris. His early novels revealed a Peruvian world of military arrogance and brutality, of aristocratic decadence, and of Stone Age Amazon Indians existing simultaneously with 20th-century urban blight. 'Peru is a kind of incurable illness and my relationship to it is intense, harsh and full of the violence of passion,' Vargas Llosa wrote in 1983. After 16 years in Europe, he returned in 1974 to a Peru then ruled by a left-wing military dictatorship. 'I realized I was losing touch with the reality of my country, and above all its language, which for a writer can be deadly,' he said. In 1990, he ran for the presidency of Peru, a reluctant candidate in a nation torn apart by a messianic Maoist guerrilla insurgency and a basket-case, hyperinflation economy. But he was defeated by a then-unknown university rector, Alberto Fujimori, who resolved much of the political and economic chaos but went on to become a corrupt and authoritarian leader in the process. Cuban writer Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Vargas Llosa's longtime friend, later confessed that he had rooted against the writer's candidacy, observing: 'Peru's uncertain gain would be literature's loss. Literature is eternity, politics mere history.' Vargas Llosa also used his literary talents to write several successful novels about the lives of real people, including French Post-Impressionist artist Paul Gauguin and his grandmother, Flora Tristan, in 'The Way to Paradise' in 2003 and 19th-century Irish nationalist and diplomat Sir Roger Casement in 'The Dream of the Celt' in 2010. His last published novel was 'Harsh Times' (Tiempos Recios) in 2019 about a U.S.-backed coup d'etat in Guatemala in 1954. He became a member of the Royal Spanish Academy in 1994 and held visiting professor and resident writer posts in more than a dozen colleges and universities across the world. In his teens, Vargas Llosa joined a communist cell and eloped with and later married a 33-year-old Bolivian, Julia Urquidi — the sister-in-law of his uncle. He later drew inspiration from their nine-year marriage to write the hit comic novel 'Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter' (La Tía Julia y el Escribidor). In 1965, he married his first cousin, Patricia Llosa, 10 years his junior, and together they had three children. They divorced 50 years later, and he started a relationship with Spanish society figure Isabel Preysler, former wife of singer Julio Iglesias and mother of singer Enrique Iglesias. They separated in 2022. Vargas Llosa is survived by his children. Their letter announcing his death said his remains will be cremated and there won't be any public ceremony.
NBC News
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- NBC News
Mario Vargas Llosa, Peruvian author and Nobel literature laureate, dies at 89
LIMA — Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa, Nobel literature laureate and a giant of Latin American letters, died Sunday. He was 89. He was a prolific author and essayist with such celebrated novels as 'The Time of the Hero' (La Ciudad y los Perros) and 'Feast of the Goat,' and won myriad prizes, including the 2010 Nobel. 'It is with deep sorrow that we announce that our father, Mario Vargas Llosa, passed away peacefully in Lima today, surrounded by his family,' read a letter signed by his children Álvaro, Gonzalo and Morgana, and posted by Álvaro on X. 'His departure will sadden his relatives, his friends and his readers around the world, but we hope that they will find comfort, as we do, in the fact that he enjoyed a long, adventurous and fruitful life, and leaves behind him a body of work that will outlive him,' they added. The author's lawyer and close friend, Enrique Ghersi, confirmed the death to The Associated Press and recalled the writer's last birthday on March 28 at the home of his daughter, Morgana. 'He spent it happy; his close friends surrounded him, he ate his cake, we joked that day that there were still 89 more years to go, he had a long, fruitful, and free life,' Ghersi said. Latin America's new wave Vargas Llosa published his first collection of stories 'The Cubs and Other Stories' (Los Jefes) in 1959. But he burst onto the literary stage in 1963 with his groundbreaking debut 'The Time of the Hero,' a novel that drew on his experiences at a Peruvian military academy and angered the country's military. A thousand copies were burned by military authorities, with some generals calling the book false and Vargas Llosa a communist. That, and subsequent novels such as 'Conversation in the Cathedral,' (Conversación en la Catedral) in 1969, quickly established Vargas Llosa as one of the leaders of the so-called 'Boom,' or new wave of Latin American writers of the 1960s and 1970s, alongside Gabriel García Márquez and Carlos Fuentes. Vargas Llosa started writing early, and at 15 was a part-time crime reporter for La Crónica newspaper. According to his official website, other jobs he had included revising names on cemetery tombs in Peru, working as a teacher in the Berlitz school in Paris and briefly on the Spanish desk at Agence France-Presse in Paris. He continued publishing articles in the press for most of his life, most notably in a twice-monthly political opinion column titled 'Piedra de Toque' (Touchstones) that was printed in several newspapers. Vargas Llosa came to be a fierce defender of personal and economic liberties, gradually edging away from his communism-linked past, and regularly attacked Latin American leftist leaders he viewed as dictators. Although an early supporter of the Cuban revolution led by Fidel Castro, he later grew disillusioned and denounced Castro's Cuba. By 1980, he said he no longer believed in socialism as a solution for developing nations. In a famous incident in Mexico City in 1976, Vargas Llosa punched fellow Nobel Prize winner and ex-friend García Márquez, whom he later ridiculed as 'Castro's courtesan.' It was never clear whether the fight was over politics or a personal dispute, as neither writer ever wanted to discuss it publicly. As he slowly turned his political trajectory toward free-market conservatism, Vargas Llosa lost the support of many of his Latin American literary contemporaries and attracted much criticism even from admirers of his work. Pampered early life Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa was born March 28, 1936, in Peru's southern city of Arequipa, high in the Andes at the foot of the Misti volcano. His father, Ernesto Vargas Maldonado, left the family before he was born. To avoid public scandal, his mother, Dora Llosa Ureta, took her child to Bolivia, where her father was the Peruvian consul in Cochabamba. Vargas Llosa said his early life was 'somewhat traumatic,' pampered by his mother and grandmother in a large house with servants, his every whim granted. It was not until he was 10, after the family had moved to Peru's coastal city of Piura, that he learned his father was alive. His parents reconciled and the family moved to Peru's capital, Lima. Vargas Llosa described his father as a disciplinarian who viewed his son's love of Jules Verne and writing poetry as surefire routes to starvation, and feared for his 'manhood,' believing that 'poets are always homosexuals.' After failing to get the boy enrolled in a naval academy because he was underage, Vargas Llosa's father sent him to Leoncio Prado Military Academy — an experience that was to stay with Vargas Llosa and led to 'The Time of the Hero.' The book won the Spanish Critics Award. The military academy 'was like discovering hell,' Vargas Llosa said later. He entered Peru's San Marcos University to study literature and law, 'the former as a calling and the latter to please my family, which believed, not without certain cause, that writers usually die of hunger.' After earning his literature degree in 1958 — he didn't bother submitting his final law thesis — Vargas Llosa won a scholarship to pursue a doctorate in Madrid. Vargas Llosa drew much of his inspiration from his Peruvian homeland, but preferred to live abroad, residing for spells each year in Madrid, New York and Paris. His early novels revealed a Peruvian world of military arrogance and brutality, of aristocratic decadence, and of Stone Age Amazon Indians existing simultaneously with 20th-century urban blight. 'Peru is a kind of incurable illness and my relationship to it is intense, harsh and full of the violence of passion,' Vargas Llosa wrote in 1983. After 16 years in Europe, he returned in 1974 to a Peru then ruled by a left-wing military dictatorship. 'I realized I was losing touch with the reality of my country, and above all its language, which for a writer can be deadly,' he said. In 1990, he ran for the presidency of Peru, a reluctant candidate in a nation torn apart by a messianic Maoist guerrilla insurgency and a basket-case, hyperinflation economy. But he was defeated by a then-unknown university rector, Alberto Fujimori, who resolved much of the political and economic chaos but went on to become a corrupt and authoritarian leader in the process. Cuban writer Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Vargas Llosa's longtime friend, later confessed that he had rooted against the writer's candidacy, observing: 'Peru's uncertain gain would be literature's loss. Literature is eternity, politics mere history.' Vargas Llosa also used his literary talents to write several successful novels about the lives of real people, including French Post-Impressionist artist Paul Gauguin and his grandmother, Flora Tristan, in 'The Way to Paradise' in 2003 and 19th-century Irish nationalist and diplomat Sir Roger Casement in 'The Dream of the Celt' in 2010. His last published novel was 'Harsh Times' (Tiempos Recios) in 2019 about a U.S.-backed coup d'etat in Guatemala in 1954. He became a member of the Royal Spanish Academy in 1994 and held visiting professor and resident writer posts in more than a dozen colleges and universities across the world. In his teens, Vargas Llosa joined a communist cell and eloped with and later married a 33-year-old Bolivian, Julia Urquidi — the sister-in-law of his uncle. He later drew inspiration from their nine-year marriage to write the hit comic novel 'Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter' (La Tía Julia y el Escribidor). In 1965, he married his first cousin, Patricia Llosa, 10 years his junior, and together they had three children. They divorced 50 years later, and he started a relationship with Spanish society figure Isabel Preysler, former wife of singer Julio Iglesias and mother of singer Enrique Iglesias. They separated in 2022. Vargas Llosa is survived by his children.
