with Elie Wiesel, Alejandro Toledo, Jean-Marie Messier and more on Jan 31, 2002
with Mario Vargas Llosa on Nov 28, 2001
Mario Vargas Llosa is a Peruvian writer who is one of Latin America’s leading novelists and essayists.
Vargas Llosa first came to attention as a writer with La Ciudad y los Perros (1962, translated into English as ?The Time of The Hero?, 1963), based on his teenage experiences at Leoncio Prado. The work met with wide acclaim, and its author was hailed as one of the main exponents of the Latin American literature boom, alongside Paraguay’s Augusto Roa Bastos, Argentina’s Julio Cortázar, Mexico’s Carlos Fuentes and Colombia’s Gabriel García Márquez.
He followed ?La Ciudad y Los Perros? by writing ?La Casa Verde? (?The Green House?, 1966), a novel that shows the considerable influence that William Faulkner had on the budding writer. The novel deals with a brothel called the Green House, and how its quasi-mythical presence affects the lives of the characters. His other works include ?Conversation in a Cathedral?, ?Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter? and ?Who Killed Palomino Molero??, among others.
In common with many fellow Latin American intellectuals, Vargas Llosa was initially a supporter of the Cuban revolutionary government of Fidel Castro, but he eventually became disenchanted with the policies of the Cuban government and moved considerably to the right.
During the 1980s, Vargas Llosa became increasingly politically active in his native country, and became known for his staunch neoliberal views. He ran for the presidency of Peru in 1990 as the candidate of the center-right FREDEMO coalition.
