Vargas Llosa’s Fiction and the Demons of Politics

Much praised as a writer, but highly contoversial as political commentator, Mario Vargas Llosa’s fiction is often regarded as reflecting his notorious political development, from a leftwing to a (neo)-liberal postition. This study makes a critical evaluation of theinterrelations within his fictional and non-fictional work from the 1960s to the present day, revaling a surprising continuity in his fictional creation and is his ideas about literature. Politics being one of the most persistent demons which, according to hsi theory, provoke his creativity, the book offers a detailed reading of three political novels from different periods of his writing career. Conversacion en la catedral (1969), La guerra del fin del mundo (1981), and La fiesta del Chvo (2000) are analysed in relatin to his works of literary theory, political commentary, memoirs, and other fictional texts. Despite considerapble shifts in political and literary matters, Vargas Llosa’s writings show a continuous and unchanged concern for two interrelated issues: the impact of political problems such as authoritarianism, corruption, ideology, and violence on the individual, and the question of literature and the role of writers and intellectuals in society. Contents: Narrative and historical reality–Truth and fiction–Narrative structure and meaning–Intellectuals and power–Writing and storytelling as anti-ideological practices–Exorcising one’s demons: Vargas Llosa’s doubles.