Mario+Vargas+Llosa

= Mario Vargas Llosa  =

In 1936, Mario Vargas Llosa was born in the second largest city of Arequipa, Peru. During his childhood he was told his father was dead, but later found out that his mother was lying and his father had just separated from the family. In 1946, his father appeared unexpectedly and made him live with both his parents in Lima. This caused a fast change in Llosa’s life, transitioning from the spoiled feminine environment of his grandparents' home, to the awful treatment of a strict father who introduced him to fear, injustice, and violence.

Llosa ended up going to University of San Marcos to study law and literature. There he had trouble maintaining a social life, a time of his life that later inspired his novel __Conversation in the Cathedral__ published in 1969. His strict and abusive father made Llosa seek individuality and personal freedom. His father sent him to Leoncio Prado Military Academy to influence him to follow a path to the military, instead of writing. However, Llosa managed to rebel and stick to his own goals. Not only did he pursue his writing career, he also married his maternal uncle’s sister-in-law Julia Urquidi, who was eleven years older than him and divorced. He used these experiences to write Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter published in 1977.

In 1987, Mario brutally refused the Peruvian president, Alan Garcia’s idea to nationalize the banking industry. He saw this idea as a way to gain power and turn the media and business to the hands of the government. Vargas Llosa organized marches in protest with a good amount of people, which then catapulted into the political arena. As the leader of these protests, he decided to run for president 3 days later in 1990. However he lost the election to an engineer named Alberto Fujimori, who later corrupted his presidency into a dictatorship. Fujimori is now serving a sentence for his mistakes in his political position. His memories of this time can be found in his book __A Fish in the Water.__

Mario Vargas Llosa is now 81 years old and has published a fortnightly column called El Pais which is printed in different media sources all over the world. He also teaches classes in American Universities and writes literary essays and plays.

By: Joanna James