October 7, 2010

Mario Vargas Llosa wins the Nobel Prize in literature.

His "deeply political work vividly examines the perils of power and corruption in Latin America."

Here's a quote of his about writing:
"The first draft is always very difficult -- a kind of fight against demoralization... I feel I'll never get over the difficulties. What I like most is rewriting. To correct, to suppress, to add, to rebuild the story -- this process is the most exciting for me."
And:
"It's so rewarding to produce this artificial life, which can enrich the life of others."

16 comments:

Scott M said...

After finding out that he was nominated for the Nobel Prize, he authorized sending 30,000 books to Afghanistan.

traditionalguy said...

Those quotes make Llosa sound like Dr. Frankenstein talking. News Flash:Novelists are still people exposing themselves publicly hoping to win disciples. There is nothing else to say about that.

Scott M said...

Ever see the Family Guy where Stewy is riding Brian about finishing a novel he's been "working" on for years?

My wife does that to me all the time...in character.

The Dude said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
MadisonMan said...

Jonathan Franzen was screwed again!

Anonymous said...

"Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter" is just funny. But "The Feast of the Goat" is grim and definitely political. I'll bet there are people around here who wish they cut cut off the testicles of their opponents and stuff them down their throats.

Robert Cook said...

"Novelists are still people exposing themselves publicly hoping to win disciples. There is nothing else to say about that."

Except that this is a pretty nutty view of what novelists are up to.

ricpic said...

What's with the need of all these Latin American great men of the arts to skeedaddle over to Paris in their youth? I guess it's where they go to pick up that international socialist sheen. Lacking that they KNOW they'll never be honored by THOSE WHO COUNT. Pathetic provincials to this day.

MadisonMan said...

What's with the need of all these Latin American great men of the arts to skeedaddle over to Paris in their youth?

Parisian women are easy?

Amexpat said...

From the AP story that might stop, for awhile, the right wing whining about the left wing bias of the Nobel awards.

... his gradual shift from the left toward an embrace of free-market capitalism has put him at odds with much of the hemisphere's intellectual elite.

Vargas Llosa has feuded with Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez and often tosses barbs at Cuba's Fidel Castro.

In a famous incident in Mexico City in 1976, Vargas Llosa punched out Garcia Marquez, whom he would later ridicule as "Castro's courtesan."

Crimso said...

My first thought wasn't to ask whether he's left or right, but rather to think it an unfair advantage to have such an enormous source of raw material with which to work.

lemondog said...

The perils of power and corruption in Latin America.

With a change of names, places and some tactics employed, it probably could be reflective of, and located in, Government, Anyplace.

Henry said...

I don't read much fiction, but Vargas Llosa's memoir A Fish in the Water is both engrossing and illuminating. Highly recommended.

Randy said...

Reason provides links to a couple of articles Vargas Llosa wrote for their magazine in the past.

Prominent intellectuals continue to cast a shadow of doubt and skepticism on liberty and democracy, but this is an aberration. Liberty is nothing to be ashamed of. It ought to be cherished with the fervor of those who have lost it, or have just regained it.

Wise words.

William said...

I had actually heard of him and have personally known people who have read his books. The Nobel people are slipping. Are there no more Albanian poets worthy of the honor?

Anonymous said...

I was hoping they would award it to Rejean Ducharme.

The Nobel Committee's great fear is that a winner will spurn the award (as Sartre did long ago). So I suspect that the recipients are all writers who actively campaigned for the recognition.

Has there ever been a Canadian winner? (Bellow was born in Canada, but his professional career was spent in the US.) You would think this is becoming an annual day of disappointment for Margaret Atwood.