-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
A Life
by Gerald Martin
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.
Media reviews not yet available.
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.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
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.
If you liked Mario Vargas Llosa, try these:
by Ruben Reyes
Published 2025
From the author of There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven, a piercing debut novel following two families in alternative timelines of the Salvadoran civil war—a stunning exploration of the mechanisms of fate, the gravity of the past, and the endurance of love.
by Wade Davis
Published 2021
A captivating new book from Wade Davis--award-winning, best-selling author and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence for more than a decade--that brings vividly to life the story of the great Río Magdalena, illuminating Colombia's complex past, present, and future.
by Marie Arana
Published 2020
Against the background of a thousand years of vivid history, acclaimed writer Marie Arana tells the timely and timeless stories of three contemporary Latin Americans whose lives represent three driving forces that have shaped the character of the region: exploitation (silver), violence (sword), and religion (stone).
Theo of Golden by Allen Levi
One spring morning, a stranger arrives in the small southern city of Golden. No one knows where he has come from…or why…
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
