Vargas Llosa wins literature Nobel
Source: Agencies |
October 8, 2010, Friday
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PERUVIAN Mario Vargas Llosa, one of the most acclaimed writers in the Spanish-speaking world, a man of letters who also braved the violence and political divisions of his homeland to run for president, won the 2010 Nobel Prize in literature yesterday.
Vargas Llosa has written more than 30 novels, plays and essays, including "Conversation in the Cathedral" and "The Green House." In 1995, he was awarded the Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-speaking world's most distinguished literary honor.
The Swedish Academy said it honored the 74-year-old author for mapping the "structures of power and (for) his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt and defeat."
The Swedish Academy's permanent secretary, Peter Englund, called Vargas Llosa "a divinely gifted story-teller" whose writing touches deeply into the reader.
"His books are often very complex in composition, having different perspectives, different voices and different time places," Englund said. "He is also doing it in a new way, he has helped evolve the art of the narration."
Vargas Llosa is the first South American winner of the prestigious 10 million kronor (US$1.5 million) Nobel Prize in literature since it was awarded to Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez in 1982.
After the announcement, Garcia Marquez tweeted: "cuentas iguales" - a poetic way of saying "now we're equals" in Spanish.
In the previous six years, the academy had rewarded five Europeans and one Turk with the literature Nobel, sparking criticism that it was too euro-centric. Last year's award went to German writer Herta Mueller.
Vargas Llosa has lectured and taught at a number of universities in the US, South America and Europe, and was spending this semester at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey.
Englund said he reached him in New York.
"He was very, very happy," Englund said. "And very moved."
Vargas Llosa emerged as a leader among the so-called "Boom" or "New Wave" of Latin American writers, bursting onto the literary scene in 1963 with his groundbreaking debut novel "The Time of the Hero" (La Ciudad de los Perros), which builds on his experiences at the Peruvian military academy Leoncio Prado.
The book won the Spanish Critics Award and the ire of Peru's military. One thousand copies of the novel were burned by military authorities.
Vargas Llosa drew his inspiration mostly from his Peruvian homeland, but preferred to live abroad in near self-imposed exile for years at a time.
In 1990, he ran for the presidency in Peru but lost the election to Alberto Fujimori.
In 1994, he was the first Latin American writer to be elected to the Spanish Academy, where he took his seat in 1996.
Disheartened by the broad public approval for Fujimori's iron-fisted rule, Vargas Llosa again left his homeland and took Spanish citizenship, living in Madrid and London.
He earned some of the Western world's most prestigious literary medals for his works, which were translated in 31 languages, including Chinese.
Vargas Llosa has written more than 30 novels, plays and essays, including "Conversation in the Cathedral" and "The Green House." In 1995, he was awarded the Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-speaking world's most distinguished literary honor.
The Swedish Academy said it honored the 74-year-old author for mapping the "structures of power and (for) his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt and defeat."
The Swedish Academy's permanent secretary, Peter Englund, called Vargas Llosa "a divinely gifted story-teller" whose writing touches deeply into the reader.
"His books are often very complex in composition, having different perspectives, different voices and different time places," Englund said. "He is also doing it in a new way, he has helped evolve the art of the narration."
Vargas Llosa is the first South American winner of the prestigious 10 million kronor (US$1.5 million) Nobel Prize in literature since it was awarded to Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez in 1982.
After the announcement, Garcia Marquez tweeted: "cuentas iguales" - a poetic way of saying "now we're equals" in Spanish.
In the previous six years, the academy had rewarded five Europeans and one Turk with the literature Nobel, sparking criticism that it was too euro-centric. Last year's award went to German writer Herta Mueller.
Vargas Llosa has lectured and taught at a number of universities in the US, South America and Europe, and was spending this semester at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey.
Englund said he reached him in New York.
"He was very, very happy," Englund said. "And very moved."
Vargas Llosa emerged as a leader among the so-called "Boom" or "New Wave" of Latin American writers, bursting onto the literary scene in 1963 with his groundbreaking debut novel "The Time of the Hero" (La Ciudad de los Perros), which builds on his experiences at the Peruvian military academy Leoncio Prado.
The book won the Spanish Critics Award and the ire of Peru's military. One thousand copies of the novel were burned by military authorities.
Vargas Llosa drew his inspiration mostly from his Peruvian homeland, but preferred to live abroad in near self-imposed exile for years at a time.
In 1990, he ran for the presidency in Peru but lost the election to Alberto Fujimori.
In 1994, he was the first Latin American writer to be elected to the Spanish Academy, where he took his seat in 1996.
Disheartened by the broad public approval for Fujimori's iron-fisted rule, Vargas Llosa again left his homeland and took Spanish citizenship, living in Madrid and London.
He earned some of the Western world's most prestigious literary medals for his works, which were translated in 31 languages, including Chinese.
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