Mario Vargas Llosa: La novela como literatura / Mario Vargas Llosa: The Novel as Literature (review)

On October 7, 2010, the Swedish Academy announced that Mario Vargas Llosa had been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Though the Peruvian writer already enjoyed a brilliant international spotlight, the distinction of Nobel laureate has brought with it a new level of engagement with readers worldwide. During an interview with Adam Smith (Editor-in-Chief of Nobelprize.org), Vargas Llosa was asked: "The announcement will expose you to a whole new readership who have never read you before. Would you recommend that they start with one book in particular?" After a hearty laugh, the novelist started to answer, but finally concluded: "I cannot say" ("Mario Vargas Llosa—Interview," Nobelprize.org). Besides noting Vargas Llosa's hesitancy to exaltone book over another, we can also learn something of the challenge of introducing a personal canon consisting of more than a half-century of prolific writing to potential readers who have yet to explore the author's extensive oeuvre. Given the need to satisfy the demands of new readers eager to become familiar with Vargas Llosa's work, publications such as Darío Villanueva's Mario Vargas Llosa: La novela como literatura are increasingly important to introduce an expanding global readership to the writer who has been described as a citizen of the world.

Mario Vargas Llosa: La novela como literatura is the publication of a keynote address given by Darío Villanueva—celebrated scholar and secretary of the Real Academia Española—on April 4, 2011, as part of the Temple University "Spanish and Portuguese Distinguished Lecture Series." The work is divided into two parts, Villanueva's lecture in Spanish (7-108) and an English translation by Hope Doyle D'Ambrosio of the same speech (109-210). This pocket-sized book is nonetheless complete with valuable scholarship that most importantly contextualizes Vargas Llosa's winning of the Nobel Prize within a more expansive history of the award. While describing the evolutionary course of literature's most coveted prize, Villanueva also adeptly guides the reader through the expanse of Vargas Llosa's diverse writings.

Villanueva begins his essay by recognizing Vargas Llosa's earliest international status as one of the preeminent writers of the Spanish American Boom. After receiving the Premio Biblioteca Breve for his debut novel, La cuidad y los perros (1962), Vargas Llosa was awarded subsequent prizes of such esteem as the Premio Rómulo Gallegos (1967), Príncipe de Asturias de las Letras (1986), and Premio Cervantes (1994), among others. Noting these earlier accomplishments, Villanueva then discusses Vargas Llosa's reception of the Nobel Prize in Literature, analyzing the novelist's own words in his acceptance speech and "el significado del premio que . . . la Academia Sueca concede en cumplimento del legado de Alfred Nobel" (14). Villanueva's eloquent recounting of Nobel Prize history is of particular import, as it offers a valuable backdrop for any conversation on the 2010 prize. Moreover, his succinct overview of Vargas Llosa's numerous literary and critical works will undoubtedly be of interest to both experienced Vargas Llosa scholars and his newest readers.

Though there is certainly much to praise in Mario Vargas Llosa: La novela como literatura, the publication could have benefited from more thorough editing. The content of Villanueva's original essay in Spanish is very polished; however, numerous stylistic inconsistencies and typesetting errors remain throughout the work, particularly in the English translation. At times, there are also subtle interpretative gaps in the translation that could potentially mislead readers not familiar with Vargas Llosa's works. Notwithstanding these minor setbacks, D'Ambrosio's contribution is significant, as her translation extends Villanueva's words to a larger and increasingly engaged English-speaking audience.

Due to space limitations—this was originally a lecture after all—Villanueva's discussion necessarily centers only on the most salient aspects of Vargas Llosa's writings. For this reason, experts...