The Death of Mario Vargas Llosa; A Writer Who Never Had a 'Political Career'

Mario Vargas Llosa, the renowned Peruvian writer and Nobel Prize laureate, passed away at the age of 89. Alvaro Vargas Llosa, the son of the famous writer, announced on the evening of Sunday, April 14, that his father died peacefully in Lima, the capital of Peru, surrounded by his family. Alvaro, Gonzalo, and Morgana, Mr. Llosa's three children, stated in a notice that their father's body would be cremated at his request and no public ceremony would be held. Mario Vargas Llosa was one of the most famous Spanish-language writers and, according to Reuters, was the last living member of the great giants of the Latin American literary boom of the 1960s and 1970s, a period when writers like Colombian Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Argentine Julio Cortazar, and Mexican Carlos Fuentes shone. Mario Vargas Llosa was born in 1936 in the city of Arequipa, Peru, and his five-decade literary career, filled with insight and lyrical prose, captivated many readers in various countries. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010. Dozens of novels and plays remain from this writer, many of which have been translated into Persian, including 'Conversation in the Cathedral', 'The Feast of the Goat', 'Death in the Andes', 'Who Killed Palomino Molero?', 'The Dream of the Celt', and 'The Hard Times'. Unlike many of his Latin American peers, Mr. Llosa became a staunch opponent of socialist beliefs. He ran for the presidency of Peru in 1990, stating he wanted to save his country from economic chaos and Marxist rebellion. However, years later he said he never had a political career and only participated in politics 'under very special circumstances' and 'always said that whether I win or lose the election, I will return to my literary and intellectual work.' After losing the election in Peru, he moved to Spain but remained an influential figure in Latin America; his verbal attacks and criticisms against the new wave of leftist leaders in the region, led by then-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, are notable. His outspoken positions on issues such as defending free markets, the Iraq War, and other matters faced opposition in Latin America and from some of his admirers worldwide. According to the New York Times, Llosa's personal life was like a novel, and the story 'Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter' was based on the events of his first marriage at the age of 19 to Julia Urquidi, who was ten years older than him.