Mario Vargas Llosa

Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquis Vargas Llosa (Spanish: Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa (March 28, 1936 - April 13, 2025), commonly known as Mario Vargas Llosa, was a Peruvian writer, critic, politician and journalist. Together with García Márquez, Carlos Fuentes, and Julio Cortázar, he was known as the "Four Leaders of the Latin American Literature Explosion". He was known as the "Master of Structural Realism" for his bizarre novel techniques and rich and profound content. Llosa was born into a wealthy single-parent family in Arequipa, Peru on March 28, 1936. When he was 1 year old, he moved with his mother's family to Cochabamba, Bolivia, where he spent nearly ten years of his childhood. After returning to China in 1946, Llosa's parents remarried and settled in Lima. From 1950 to 1951, Llosa was sent to Leoncio Prado Military School by his father. He developed writing ambitions due to the depressive campus life. From 1953 to 1958, Llosa studied literature and law at the National University of San Marcos, and fell in love with his aunt Julia Urquidi, whom he married for nine years. In 1958, Llosa won an award for his short story "The Challenge" and was able to travel to France. From 1958 to 1960, Llosa studied at the Central University of Madrid. In 1963, Llosa's first novel "The City and the Dog" was published, and immediately won the Castilian Narrative Literature Critics Award the following year. After 1964, because he fell in love with his cousin Patricia, Llosa wrote a letter asking his wife to divorce him, and he married Patricia for 50 years. In 1966, Llosa's second novel "Green House" was published, which brought him the Castilian Narrative Literature Critics Award (1966), the Peruvian National Novel Award (1967) and the first Romulo Gallegos Award (1967). In 1970, Llosa's most proud work "Long Talk in the Bar" was published. The book used various techniques to depict the chaos under the military dictatorship. In 1976, Llosa became the first Latino president of PEN International. Llosa supported socialist ideas in his early years, but later turned to the right and became a liberal. In 1987, Llosa returned to Peru, formed the Democratic Front, and was elected chairman of the party. In the 1990 Peruvian general election, the center-right Llosa competed with the right-wing Alberto Fujimori.