Mario Vargas Llosa

The Profile

Peruvian novelist, essayist, and public intellectual; a leading figure of the Latin American Boom and Nobel Prize in Literature (2010).

Born in Arequipa, Peru (1936); key works include The Feast of the Goat and Conversation in the Cathedral; awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010.

Two DeBaser reviews tackle Vargas Llosa’s political and historical edge: The Feast of the Goat dissects Trujillo’s dictatorship through memory and terror, while The Dream of the Celt follows Roger Casement’s fraught heroism across Congo, Amazon, and Ireland. Themes include power, corruption, torture, colonial atrocities, and conflicted ideals. Overall reception is positive.