Feature Articles

Too European to Win the Nobel Prize
by Ernesto Gordon

What can I say about Mario Vargas Llosa that hasn't been said before?

I met him in person in my native Peru in 1986 while working as a news camera operator for one of the main TV stations of Lima. Had I known that my news crew was going to be sent to interview him I would have brought one of his books to ask for an autograph, or I would have brought a photo camera to have my picture taken standing next to him. But I did not know, and it came to me as a surprise. A reporter of conservative political views, who belonged to the upper middle class, was assigned to interview him. Our news director made sure not to send a leftist reporter, to avoid any controversial questions, and to make the interview a pleasant experience. By writing that, I am admitting that I was also considered suitable for that interview. And yes, I admit that I belonged to the upper middle class, was widely traveled, with right-center political views - in the Peruvian political spectrum that is - and held an open-minded worldview; definitely not an extreme leftist, extreme nationalist, or indigenist. Having said that, it is obvious now that Mario Vargas Llosa was part of that social class. In Peru, everything is about social class.

It is important to bring out this subject, because Vargas Llosa's writings were judged and criticized most of the time more because of his social class than the quality of his writing itself. I saw this in coworkers, college classmates, friends and family - the more they leaned to the left politically, the lower was the appreciation for his writings or ideas. Those on the extreme right did not favor him either. Even the news that he had won the Nobel Prize was accepted with a smirk, or a disdainful or resigned exhaling. I saw some of these reactions, and with others I could hear it in their voices when talking on the phone. I also saw the comments posted online by people I know, and the reaction varied based on their political leanings. In the end, though, both camps were happy that he won, sometimes because they thought he deserved it, and other times simply because of national pride.

I do not remember what the interview was about when I met him. He had just won some prize or another - a routine event in his life - or maybe he had just been nominated for the Nobel Prize. I honestly do not recall.

Mario Vargas Llosa deserved the Nobel Prize in Literature long ago, but it was most likely because of his political and economic views for Latin America that he had not won before. He was too European to represent the stereotypical, almost cliché, and perhaps Orientalist image that the rest of the world has of Latin Americans writers and intellectuals. From that skewed point of view he does not meet expectations. And that is oftentimes confusing, and sometimes even troublesome. What do the judges of the Nobel Prize, the critics, and the publishing industry think of him and his works? It is easier to recognize works like One Hundred Years of Solitude, The House of the Spirits or Like Water for Chocolate as Latin American literature because they were written in the style of real maravilloso - a more precise style within the all-encompassing style of magical realism. Even Borges and Cortazar utilize in their writings supernatural elements of some kind or another, which without being real maravilloso still fall in the realm of magical realism.

Vargas Llosa is a modernist and a postmodernist. His books are either bathed in somber realism or in lighthearted parody and ridiculous exaggeration of reality. His themes are contemporary and urban, and definitely part of the western world. Many of his stories could have taken place in an urban setting in the United States or in Western Europe. This is because - unlike Latin American nationalists and leftists - he considers Latin American culture to be an heir to Shakespeare and Cervantes. While other writers and intellectuals were trying to create a separate unique identity for Latin America, Vargas Llosa emphasized that Latin Americans are children of the world, and that their cultural lineage descends in direct line from the great European masters - from all of Europe, and not only from Spain. He wrote about those authors whom he admires, and who have been influential in his literary development. Besides some obscure Peruvian writers, he admired Faulkner, Flaubert, Hemingway, Sartre and Camus. In fact, this is a point that was brought up by many of those who disliked his political views. He was accused of not caring for and neglecting the indigenous side of Latin America. Once again, he was considered to be too European.

Ernesto Gordon is a Peruvian-born American educator. He speaks English, German and Spanish, and resides in DeBary, Florida.

Below please find a list of books by Mario Vargas Llosa available in English. For your convenience, this list is also available in a MS Excel spreadsheet.



AUNT JULIA AND THE SCRIPTWRITER; TRANS. BY HELEN R. LANE.

• AUTHOR: VARGAS LLOSA, MARIO, 1936-
• PUBLISHER: PICADOR USA ST MARTIN'S
• CONTENT LEVEL: GEN-AC
• LC CLASS: PQ8498.32.A65T513
• $15.00 PAPER 374 P.
• ISBN: 9780312427245
• B&T   •    YBP

• AUTHOR: LLOSA, MARIO VARGAS, 1936-
• PUBLISHER: FARRAR, STRAUS & GIROUX
• CONTENT LEVEL: GEN-AC
• LC CLASS: PQ8498.32.A65T7313 2007
• $25.00 CLOTH 276 P.
• ISBN: 9780374182434
• B&T   •    YBP

• AUTHOR: VARGAS LLOSA, MARIO, 1936-
• PUBLISHER: HARPERCOLLINS
• CONTENT LEVEL: GEN-AC
• LC CLASS: PQ8498.32.A65C613 2005
• $14.99 PAPER 601 P.
• ISBN: 9780060732806
• B&T   •    YBP

• AUTHOR: LLOSA, MARIO VARGAS
• PUBLISHER: PICADOR USA ST MARTIN'S
• CONTENT LEVEL: GEN-AC
• LC CLASS: PQ8498.32.A65L5813
• $15.00 PAPER 275 P.
• ISBN: 9780312427252
• B&T   •    YBP

• AUTHOR: LLOSA, MARIO VARGAS
• PUBLISHER: PICADOR USA ST MARTIN'S
• CONTENT LEVEL: GEN-AC
• LC CLASS: PQ8498.32.A65F5413
• $16.00 PAPER 404 P.
• ISBN: 9780312420277
• B&T   •    YBP

• AUTHOR: LLOSA, MARIO VARGAS
• PUBLISHER: PENGUIN BOOKS
• CONTENT LEVEL: GEN-AC
• LC CLASS: PQ8498.32.A65P4913
• $14.95 PAPER 544 P.
• ISBN: 9780140248906
• B&T   •    YBP

• AUTHOR: VARGAS LLOSA, MARIO
• PUBLISHER: HARPERCOLLINS
• CONTENT LEVEL: GEN-AC
• LC CLASS: PQ8498.32.A65C413 2005
• $14.99 PAPER 405 P.
• ISBN: 9780060732790
• B&T   •    YBP

• AUTHOR: VARGAS LLOSA, MARIO, 1936-
• PUBLISHER: PICADOR USA ST MARTIN'S
• CONTENT LEVEL: GEN-AC
• LC CLASS: PQ8498.32
• $15.00 PAPER 149 P.
• ISBN: 9780312421304
• B&T   •    YBP

• AUTHOR: VARGAS LLOSA, MARIO
• PUBLISHER: PICADOR USA ST MARTIN'S
• CONTENT LEVEL: GEN-AC
• LC CLASS: PQ8498.32.A65L4613
• $14.00 PAPER 292 P.
• ISBN: 9780312422547
• B&T   •    YBP

• AUTHOR: VARGAS LLOSA, MARIO, 1936-
• PUBLISHER: NOONDAY FARRAR, STRAUS
• CONTENT LEVEL: GEN-AC
• LC CLASS: PQ8498.32.A65H513 1985
• $26.00 PAPER 309 P.
• ISBN: 9780374525552
• B&T   •    YBP

• AUTHOR: VARGAS LLOSA, MARIO, 1938-
• PUBLISHER: PICADOR USA ST MARTIN'S
• CONTENT LEVEL: GEN-AC
• LC CLASS: PQ8498.32.A65H3413 2001
• $15.00 PAPER 245 P.
• ISBN: 9780312420284
• B&T   •    YBP

• AUTHOR: VARGAS LLOSA, MARIO, 1936-
• PUBLISHER: PRINCETON UNIV PRESS
• CONTENT LEVEL: GEN-AC
• LC CLASS: PQ2286.V3713 2007
• $24.95 CLOTH 196 P.
• ISBN: 9780691131115
• B&T   •    YBP

• AUTHOR: VARGAS LLOSA, MARIO, 1936-
• PUBLISHER: FABER AND FABER
• CONTENT LEVEL: GEN-AC
• LC CLASS: PQ8498.32.A65
• $39.95 CLOTH 353 P.
• ISBN: 9780571214990
• B&T   •    YBP

• AUTHOR: VARGAS LLOSA, MARIO, 1936-
• PUBLISHER: PICADOR USA ST MARTIN'S
• CONTENT LEVEL: GEN-AC
• LC CLASS: PQ8498.32.A65G813
• $16.00 PAPER 568 P.
• ISBN: 9780312427986
• B&T   •    YBP

• AUTHOR: LLOSA, MARIO VARGAS
• PUBLISHER: PICADOR USA ST MARTIN'S
• CONTENT LEVEL: GEN-AC
• LC CLASS: PQ8498.32.A65P3713
• $14.00 PAPER 373 P.
• ISBN: 9780312424039
• B&T   •    YBP

• AUTHOR: VARGAS LLOSA, MARIO, 1936-
• PUBLISHER: HARVARD UNIV PRESS
• CONTENT LEVEL: GEN-AC
• LC CLASS: PQ7081.V38 2007
• $17.95 CLOTH 202 P.
• ISBN: 9780674028364
• B&T   •    YBP

• AUTHOR: VARGAS LLOSA, MARIO, 1936-
• PUBLISHER: NOONDAY FARRAR, STRAUS
• CONTENT LEVEL: GEN-AC
• LC CLASS: PQ8498.32.A65Q513 1987
• $16.00 PAPER 151 P.
• ISBN: 9780374525569
• B&T   •    YBP