Vargas Llosa’s Self-Definition as “The Man Who Writes and Thinks”

Abstract

“Love his fiction, hate his politics”—this statement could sum up the attitude held by many readers of Mario Vargas Llosa’s novels on the one hand and, on the other, his comments on current affairs that he publishes in journals in Europe and the Americas. Or in the words of the official Cuban newspaper Granma, “Vargas Llosa sigue siendo un canalla que escribe bien” (“Vargas Llosa is still a rogue who writes well”) (“Diario Granma: ‘Vargas Llosa sigue siendo un canalla que escribe bien’”).¹ There was a time when Vargas Llosa vigorously defended what he saw as a necessary split, or indeed a vital tension, between the two roles he ascribed to the writer: his total freedom in creating a fictional world that would reflect his own inner conflicts with the world (his “demons,” as he used to call them), regardless of any moral or political restrictions; and his responsibility toward society as an intellectual whose duty it is to question preconceived ideas, to encourage debate, and to provide some kind of guidance on social and political, cultural and moral issues by his comments. These are two rather old-fashioned concepts, some might object—they will indeed require further comment. They represent, however, the most consistent ideas throughout Vargas Llosa’s fifty years of writing on literature, the creative process and the role of the writer. All through his career he has assumed both roles in parallel, always claiming that they are two sides of his vocation that do not necessarily have to be in tune with each other at all times.