A new biography of Mario Vargas Llosa by Gerald Martin
Llosa crossed a shorter ideological distance than is often imagined. He never truly belonged to the left. His brief flirtation was not with socialism so much as with a socialist: the dazzling, unattainable Lea Barba.. Vargas Llosa never ceased to be a “Lima posh boy
At first a declared socialist, he changed his mind about the meaning of 'freedom', made the long march through the ideologies and renounced collectivism of every kind until he ended up as a fiery and provocative supporter of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and the neoliberal individualism they espoused. He wrote on the encounter with Margaret Thatcher as a fanboy adoration in a piece titled The Lady Among the Wild Beasts.
Llosa’s greatest novels were written under Jean-Paul Sartre’s spell, before the French philosopher’s indulgence towards revolutionary regimes finally alienated him.
I have read almost all his books including his autobiography "A fish in the water".
Llosa is not just a writer. He is a writer´s writer. In his book ¨letters to a young novelist¨ he gives advice to aspiring writers how to write novels. He gives a Latino definition of writing novels saying that it is the equivalent of reverse striptease.
In another book, A writer´s reality he explains what provoked or motivated him to write some of his novels. He describes in detail the process of his writing the novels and the influences and inspiration behind them.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/jul/30/mario-vargas-llosa-by-gerald-martin-review-the-passions-and-politics-of-perus-nobel-laureate
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