Vargas Llosa: a Spanish Perspective

Abstract

A personal testimony regarding the growing importance of Mario Vargas Llosa in the evolution of Spanish literature since the publication of his early works. An essential factor in the appreciation and esteem for the Peruvian novelist is the still valid power of his narrative aesthetics but also of his ethics. The article recalls Spanish novelist Juan Benet's resistance to the writers of the “boom”, in contrast to the enthusiastic reaction of poet and critic José María Valverde after the publishing of La ciudad y los perros. Lastly, emphasis is given to the constant work and artistic ambition of a writer whose influence, four decades later, is still prevalent in recent generations.