Peru's Mario Vargas Llosa: The novels and essays of his colossal literary work

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18:01 | Lima, Apr. 14.

Mario Vargas Llosa wrote 20 novels and around 15 essays, in addition to nine plays, stories, children's tales, and an autobiography. But among his most symbolic titles, there are 10 that are essential to understanding the writer.

1. A Fish in the Water (1993) – To understand the Peruvian writer, what better way than to start by reading his memoir 'The Fish in the Water,' a book in which Vargas Llosa recounts how he discovered fear the day he met his father and how this "shattered" his life.

He tells the origin of his writing, his ethical and social commitment, his political leanings in Peru, and his relationship with his aunt Julia.

2. The Time of the Hero (1962) – "I owe to my father my love for freedom, largely due to the way he imposed his authority, and also, without knowing it, he gave me the subject of my first novel by sending me to a military school, Leoncio Prado, because it was there I became a professional writer," said Vargas Llosa about 'The Time of the Hero,' where he defends his commitment to freedom and against authoritarianism.

3. The Green House (1965) – His second novel is named after a brothel in Piura, northern Peru, and experimental text about misery and violence, where many stories, fables, and plots come together.

A key work to understand the Nobel laureate's narrative, awarded the National Critics Prize in 1966 and the Romulo Gallegos International Prize for the best novel in Spanish.

4. The Cubs (1967) – First published in Spain in 1967, this book originated from a short story by Vargas Llosa.

A critical narrative divided into six chapters that portrays the transition from childhood to adulthood of a group of boys from Lima's high society.

Its protagonist surnamed Cuellar, is attacked and castrated as a child by a school's dog, and goes through the stages of life: childhood, adolescence, youth, and adulthood.

5. Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter (1977) – The work in which Vargas Llosa recounts his relationship with his aunt Julia Urquidi, when he was 19 years old, and whom he married.

A controversial relationship and love story that lasted from 1955 to 1964, and which allowed the author explore the boundaries between reality and fiction.

6. Conversation in the Cathedral (1969) – "At what precise moment had Peru fucked itself up?" With this memorable question begins his third novel. A work the author lists among his favorites. In it, the protagonist, Zavalita, a journalist and a sort of alter ego of the writer, has a four-hour conversation at La Catedral bar with Ambrosio, a black man who works at the dog pound and who was once Zavalita's chauffeur.

7. Captain Pantoja and the Special Service (1973) – A fun, satirical, and critical work set in the Peruvian Amazon, where Army Captain Pantaleon Pantoja is assigned the "delicate mission" of setting up a prostitution service for the Peruvian Armed Forces.

8. The Perpetual Orgy (1975) – A key essay in which Vargas Llosa analyzes one of the novels that shaped his career as a writer, 'Madame Bovary,' which he considers the first modern novel and in which there is also something autobiographical.

9. The Truth about Lies (1990) – Another brilliant essay whose title echoes one of the author's favorite phrases about literature. In it, he gathers essays on 25 novels and stories by various 20th-century authors.

10. The Feast of the Goat (2000) – The novel by the writer about Dominican dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo (1891–1961), one of Latin America's most brutal rulers. A work that took him three years of intense efforts and about which he had been "fantasizing" for 25 years, ever since he spent eight months in the Dominican Republic in 1975.

Following this monumental work, the Nobel laureate published titles such as 'The Bad Girl' (2006), 'The Discreet Hero' (2013), 'The Neighborhood' (2016), a recollection of his native Peru.

He concluded his novelistic production with 'I Give You My Silence' (2023), a title that sparked speculation about whether it might be dedicated to Isabel Preysler, his partner for seven years.

Peruvian writer and Nobel Prize in Literature laureate, Mario Vargas Llosa, passed away at the age of 89 in the capital, Lima, on Sunday.

(END) EFE/CFS/JMP/MVB

Published: 4/14/2025

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Peru's Mario Vargas Llosa: The novels and essays of his colossal literary work

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