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Mario Vargas Llosa

マリオ・バルガス・リョサ

Mario Vargas Llosa

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1936-03-28 （Arequipa, Peru）
Died
2025-04-13 （Lima, Peru） age 89
Nationality
Peru, Spain
Languages
Spanish

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Journalist, Essayist
Active Years
1959-2025
Affiliations
President of International PEN (1976–1979), Member of the Académie française (2021–)
Memberships
Académie française, Real Academia Española, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (member)
Influenced By
Gustave Flaubert, Gabriel García Márquez
Influenced
Claudia Llosa (niece, film director), Many contemporary Latin American writers

Education

National University of San Marcos
Faculty of Law / Faculty of Letters (studied Law and Literature) / Law, Literature
Period: 1950年代
Country: Peru
Studied law and literature in Lima
Complutense University of Madrid
Doctoral studies (Literature) / Literature
Degree: 博士（取得年不明）
Period: 1958〜（取得年不明）
Country: Spain
Entered Complutense University in 1958 and later obtained a doctorate

Awards

Biblioteca Breve Prize
1962
Organization: Biblioteca (publisher)
Result: 受賞
Prince of Asturias Award
1986
Organization: Prince of Asturias Foundation
Result: 受賞
Premio Planeta
1993
Organization: Planeta
Result: 受賞
Cervantes Prize
1994
Organization: Spanish Government / Cervantes Foundation
Result: 受賞
Jerusalem Prize
1995
Organization: Jerusalem International Committee
Result: 受賞
Peace Prize of the German Book Trade
1996
Organization: German Book Trade
Result: 受賞
Príncipe de Asturias / Prizes (Chino del Duca world prize)
2008
Organization: Cini del Duca Foundation
Result: 受賞
Nobel Prize in Literature
2010
Organization: The Swedish Academy
Result: 受賞（「権力構造の地図と、個人の抵抗と反抗、そしてその敗北を鮮烈なイメージで描いた」として授与）

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Time of the Hero (La ciudad y los perros)

1963 Novel (social novel)

A novel set in a military academy exposing institutional hypocrisy and violence; his breakthrough work.

Power and institutionsYouth and violence
Adaptations
  • [Film] The City and the Dogs / Francisco J. Lombardi (1985)
Translations
  • Japanese translation of The Time of the Hero

The Green House (La casa verde)

1966 Novel

An expansive novel intertwining multiple stories set in the Peruvian Amazon and coast; established his literary reputation.

Social contradictionsRegional cultures

The War of the End of the World (La guerra del fin del mundo)

1981 Historical novel

A sweeping historical novel based on the War of Canudos in late 19th-century Brazil.

Violence and fanaticismReligion and politics

Captain Pantoja and the Special Service (Pantaleón y las visitadoras)

1973 Comic novel

A satirical, humorous novel about military society; later adapted to film.

Satire of authorityInstitutional critique
Adaptations
  • [Film] Pantaleón y las visitadoras / José María Gutiérrez Santos / Mario Vargas Llosa (脚本関与) (1975)
  • [Film] Pantaleón and the Visitadoras (2000) / （映画化複数版） (2000)

Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter (La tía Julia y el escribidor)

1977 Semi-autobiographical novel

A semi-autobiographical coming-of-age novel with metafictional elements.

Love and authorshipSelf and fiction
Adaptations
  • [Film] Tune in to Love (film adaptation) / （映画化） (1990)

The Feast of the Goat (La Fiesta del Chivo)

2000 Political novel

A novel about the assassination plot and aftermath surrounding the Dominican dictator Trujillo.

Dictatorship and powerMemory and responsibility
Adaptations
  • [Film] The Feast of the Goat / Luis Llosa (2005)

Bibliography

  • Los cachorros / Los jefes (The Cubs and Other Stories)
  • La ciudad y los perros (The Time of the Hero)
  • La casa verde (The Green House)
  • La guerra del fin del mundo (The War of the End of the World)
  • Pantaleón y las visitadoras (Captain Pantoja and the Special Service)
  • La tía Julia y el escribidor (Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter)
  • La Fiesta del Chivo (The Feast of the Goat)
  • El pez en el agua (A Fish in the Water)

Adaptations

  • The City and the Dogs (film, 1985)
  • Pantaleón y las visitadoras (films, 1975 and 2000)
  • The Feast of the Goat (film, 2005)

Translations of Works

  • Japanese translations of The Time of the Hero
  • Japanese translation of The Green House
  • Japanese translation of The War of the End of the World

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Social realism and historical reconstructionMultiple perspectives and interwoven narrativesIntellectual prose mixing essays and criticism
Recurring Motifs
Power and corruptionIndividual resistance and isolationViolence and morality

Legacy

An internationally prominent representative of Latin American literature. Known for political engagement as well as fiction; awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010 and elected to the Académie française in 2021. Died in 2025.

Academic Societies

  • Académie française
  • Real Academia Española
  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Archives

  • National libraries (holdings in multiple countries)
  • Personal papers / research archives (details unknown)

In Popular Culture

  • The incident of Vargas Llosa punching García Márquez remained a widely discussed cultural anecdote and was even adapted into a comic.

Quotes

  • "For his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt and defeat."
    Source: The Nobel Prize Committee (2010) (2010)

Trivia

  • Became internationally prominent from the 1960s.
  • Served as President of International PEN from 1976 to 1979.
  • Had a famous altercation with Gabriel García Márquez in 1976; they reconciled in 2007.
  • Ran for President of Peru in 1990 and lost in the runoff.
  • Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010; the first Nobel laureate of Peruvian nationality.