Vargas Llosa, Mario

Vargas Llosa, Mario (mär'yō vär'gäs yō'sä) [key], 1936–, Peruvian novelist and politician. Although his works contain much external realism emphasizing the ugly and grotesque, he also often explores the minds of his characters, overcoming barriers of time and space. In his fiction, Vargas Llosa paints a portrait of Peruvian society that is both severe and tender. His novels include The Time of the Hero (1962; tr. 1966), The Green House (1966; tr. 1968), Conversation in the Cathedral (1969; tr. 1975), Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter (1977; tr. 1982), The War of the End of the World (1981; tr. 1982), Death in the Andes (1993; tr. 1996), The Notebooks of Don Rigoberto (1997, tr. 1998), and The Feast of the Goat (2000, tr. 2001). He is also the author of criticism, including The Perpetual Orgy: Flaubert and Madame Bovary (1975; tr. 1986) and Writer's Reality (1991), and essays, such as those in Making Waves (1996). Vargas Llosa was an unsuccessful candidate for Peruvian president in 1990; he described the vagaries of his campaign in A Fish in the Water: A Memoir (1993, tr. 1994).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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