Book Summary and Reviews of Mario Vargas Llosa by Gerald Martin

Mario Vargas Llosa by Gerald Martin

Mario Vargas Llosa

A Life

by Gerald Martin

  • Publishes:
  • Jul 28, 2026, 400 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

The long-awaited first biography of Mario Vargas Llosa, Latin America's greatest contemporary writer, from acclaimed biographer Gerald Martin.

Mario Vargas Llosa is often considered not only the greatest contemporary writer from his continent but the most influential intellectual in the entire Hispanic world. This is the first authoritative and comprehensive biography of the brilliant author of Conversation in the Cathedral, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, and The Feast of the Goat, a man who ran for the presidency of Peru in 1990 and in 2010 won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

The long life of Vargas Llosa is one of variety and eccentricity. He has never stopped writing and traveling, and he has certainly never been far from political controversy. Handsome, elegant, and debonair, Vargas Llosa not only is a giant of social influence and literature but has been on a political journey that has taken him across the spectrum. But behind his compelling public story, his personal life is one of deep intrigue. This captivating biography will be the first to unveil the mystery surrounding the personal, literary, and political relationships between Vargas Llosa and the public, his family, and his contemporaries-confidantes and enemies alike-including Gabriel García Márquez.

With privileged access to Vargas Llosa's archives and papers, Gerald Martin brings meticulous research, scrupulous attention to detail, and narrative verve to bear on a life that has towered over global literature for decades.

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This information about Mario Vargas Llosa was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

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More Information

Gerald Martin is Professor of Modern Languages Emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh and a former president of the International Institute of Ibero-American Literature. His publications include Journeys Through the Labyrinth: Latin American Fiction in the Twentieth Century and Gabriel García Márquez: A Life. He has visited or resided in all the nations of Latin America, as well as France, Spain and the United States, and currently lives in Hampshire in the United Kingdom.

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