Posted on 10/08/2010 8:18:19 PM PDT by La Lydia
The Nobel Prize in literature brings a long-awaited accolade to Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa, and also a new platform for him to assail leftist leaders Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Fidel Castro of Cuba. The 74-year-old writer has been a combative political activist in denouncing what he views as threats to democracy and freedoms in Latin America. As he basked in praise for winning the prize Thursday, he pointedly singled out Venezuela and Cuba during a news conference in New York, saying those two countries represent a step backward for a hemisphere emerging from an era of strongman leaders.
"That trend, which is an authoritarian, anti-democratic trend, is a trend that seems on its way out, for which there is less support all the time," Vargas Llosa told reporters.
"I'm going to keep defending the ideas I have, the defense of democracy, the defense of freedom ... criticisms of all forms of authoritarianism," he said.
Vargas Llosa has regularly directed barbs at Chavez, denouncing him as autocratic...
The author, who made an unsuccessful run for Peru's presidency in 1990, said Thursday that he has felt an obligation as a writer to participate in public debates.
"I think literature is an expression of life and you cannot eradicate politics from life," he said.
The usually loquacious Chavez did not have anything to say publicly about the Nobel announcement. But an article in the Cuban Communist Party newspaper Granma criticized the choice, saying Nobel commitee members "should have chosen him for the Anti-Nobel" in ethics..."What he has built with his writing he has destroyed with his moral bearing, his conservative tantrums, the denial of his roots and his obeisance to the dictates of the empire," a reference to the United States.
Chile's conservative president, Sebastian Pinera, praised the selection of his friend, who supported his political candidacy. Pinera saluted Vargas Llosa for his contribution to Latin American literature, "but also for his strong commitment to the values of freedom."... Vargas Llosa's writing is celebrated throughout Latin America, but his gradual shift from the left toward an embrace of the free market has put him at odds with left-leaning Latin American intellectuals...
Yes! Interesting that he made the journey from left to right. I’ve only read Aunt Julia and the scriptwriter.
Vargas Llosa is the first worthy Nobel lit prize winner since V.S. Naipaul.
I guess the Nobel committee will let an occasional man of the Right slip through, provided he has a Third World background. In this respect, Vargas Llosa’s prize is consistent with Naipaul’s.
On the other hand, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for, say, Tom Wolfe to become the next American Nobel literature laureate.
Really, the Nobel literature and peace prizes are a bad joke, but occasionally the committee screws up and selects someone of actual merit.
Actually, neither Vargas Llosa or Naipaul needed the Nobel prize. Ask yourself — if you were a world-class novelist, would you want your work mentioned along with that of left-wing loonies like Elfriede Jelinek, Gunter Grass, and Harold Pinter?
If anything, Vargas Llosa and Naipaul make the Nobel bureaucrats look good by accepting it.
The only commie who deserved it (that I know of) was Garcia Marquez. His writing is so superior to his politics.
And Borges was never awarded the prize, when he of all Latin American writers certainly deserved it. But then these are the same useful idiots that gave a peace prize to the dishonest Rigoberta Menchu.
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