[HN Gopher] Mario Vargas Llosa has died
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Mario Vargas Llosa has died
Author : funkaster
Score : 200 points
Date : 2025-04-14 03:52 UTC (19 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.nytimes.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.nytimes.com)
| wslh wrote:
| https://archive.is/O9z7U
| treetalker wrote:
| I can recommend his _Los cachorros_ ( _The Cubs_ ).
| forinti wrote:
| I've read many of his books and I could certainly recommend all
| of them.
|
| He was an extraordinary writer.
| Mainan_Tagonist wrote:
| I acquired that one in Argentina last year, will probably read
| it next week. I only ever read Lituma en Los Andes and El Sueno
| del Celta, they were nice enough.
| flobosg wrote:
| My mind was blown when I read it as a teenager.
| agigao wrote:
| The War of the End of the World, unfortunately the only book I
| read, but it left a lasting impression.
|
| Rest in peace.
| yaur wrote:
| Give feast of the goat a shot. It's still great and a much
| quicker read.
| agigao wrote:
| Will do, thanks for the recommendation.
| alanvillalobos wrote:
| Probably my favorite author of fiction. The feast of the goat (la
| fiesta del chivo) is at the top of my list if you have not read
| him.
| svara wrote:
| I agree, and I agree with that recommendation.
|
| It's the first one of his books that I read and I remember
| being completely in awe at his ability to write a novel as if
| he had a machine that allowed him to look into the minds of
| anyone at any time or place and then document what he saw.
|
| That novel is about a totalitarian system, that of Trujillo in
| the Dominican Republic, and it's eerie how I started seeing the
| little details of human behavior that enable it in the story
| elsewhere later as well.
| hybrid_study wrote:
| "La Fiesta del Chivo" brilliantly captures the vibrant essence
| of Dominican mannerisms and the melodic rhythm of the Spanish
| accent, instantly transporting me back to the DR. Beyond its
| rich cultural portrayal, the novel masterfully unfolds its
| gripping subject matter with unforgettable power.
|
| Que en paz descanze.
| ErneX wrote:
| *descanse
| hybrid_study wrote:
| zhank you
| nomdep wrote:
| He was a hugely talented writer, but I hate all his books
| because of how depressing they are.
| DeathArrow wrote:
| One of my favorite authors and one of the best novelists of all
| times. I am grateful he existed and that he wrote so much amazing
| books. I am sad that he's gone.
|
| May he rest in peace!
| brunorsini wrote:
| He once punched Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I remember learning about
| this while reading Vargas Llosa as an adolescent, still sounds
| hard to believe:
| https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/03/06/when-mario-va...
| solarexplorer wrote:
| More details here: https://archive.ph/vabvA (Spanish)
| moomin wrote:
| Conversation in the Cathedral absolutely blew my mind when I
| first read it. Honestly, just the first section would have made a
| great book all on its own.
| codingbot3000 wrote:
| muy triste :(
| l3x wrote:
| Recent article on him in the London Review of Books, exploring
| his rightward turn as he grew older:
|
| https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v47/n05/tony-wood/why-did-he...
| briandear wrote:
| Fairly biased article:
|
| "In 2018, he celebrated Lula's imprisonment in Brazil on
| dubious corruption charges, and the following year exulted in
| the right-wing coup that deposed Evo Morales in Bolivia. Since
| then he has voiced his support for far-right candidates such as
| Jose Antonio Kast in Chile and Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil..."
|
| "Dubious" charges against Lula? -- He was convicted of
| accepting a seaside apartment as a bribe for helping the OAS
| construction company get lucrative deals with state oil firm
| Petrobras.
|
| Did Lula not do that? The claim is that Lula was targeted to
| keep him out of the election. Seems exactly the motivation for
| the various charges against Trump. Are charges dubious only
| when the right does that against the left? Marine Le Pen is
| another recent example of "dubious" charges being ok as long as
| it's only going left against right.
|
| Also Bolsonaro was termed "far right," but Lula not called "far
| left?"
|
| Does anyone actually do any neutral reporting or analysis? It
| seems that anyone to the right of JFK is "far right" while
| anyone to the left of Marx is "left leaning."
|
| More importantly, does anyone care any more? Seems like
| tribalism has gotten much worse over the past few years. The
| truth is, in the example of Lula is that is is/was very
| corrupt, but that he's a leftist seems to excuse that.
| noobr wrote:
| Lula "far left" lol I wish...
| ggus wrote:
| Bolsonaro termed "far right" seems to be on the mark though.
| The guy praises military dictatorship, with many military
| figures in his government. He targeted the press and
| judiciary as enemies of the nation, and so on.
|
| Lula hasn't nationalized industries, hasn't seized wealth, or
| even tried to, so "far left" doesn't seem to be as fitting.
| Where are the burnt churches?
|
| Now, about corruption, I'm pretty sure neither shine, but
| that's Brazil for you. Wasn't the Bolsonaro family found to
| have bought around 50 properties in cash? Smells about as
| corrupt as the other side, sadly.
| next_xibalba wrote:
| The media's use of the the term "far right" for
| democratically elected politicians is actually a really
| useful tell. They are unintentionally signaling how biased
| they are.
|
| Either: "This politician, who received millions of votes is
| very far right _of me_ (I am very far to the left). "
|
| Or: "I am the center of the left-right spectrum, and this
| politician who received millions of votes is quite a ways to
| the right of me (the center), so they are obviously far
| right."
| pasquinelli wrote:
| so, it doesn't tell you much.
| ses1984 wrote:
| if someone is democratically elected they can't have en
| extreme ideology?
| next_xibalba wrote:
| Extreme relative to what? The left-right framework is
| purely arbitrary and relative. I would argue the center
| should be set at the political views of the average
| voter. If 50% of voters elect a politician, I would then
| argue the candidate is quite close to the "center".
| ses1984 wrote:
| Since most presidential elections are basically 50/50,
| every president and their opposition are all basically in
| the center, I guess.
| MaxHoppersGhost wrote:
| Are there any conservative leaders that the media doesn't
| call "far right"?
| wklauss wrote:
| the majority of them.
| SettembreNero wrote:
| there's nothing dubious about Le Pen, she was found guilty of
| embezzlement for EUR3millions of public funds.
| billfor wrote:
| It's not dubious but it's not equal justice. The head of
| the IMF, Christine Lagarde, was found guilty of
| transferring EUR403 million from EU taxpayers to a certain
| tycoon, but she did not receive a verdict and now runs the
| ECB.
| vault wrote:
| Don't forget Salvini's party, that stole at least 49M
| between 2008 and 2010. Nothing bad happened: they just
| have to return them, 600k per year, for 70 years. It's
| calculated that the final real value of the returned
| money will be less than 20M. Absolute scandal.
| CalChris wrote:
| Le Pen was convicted of embezzlement for transferring
| European Parliament funds to run her National Front.
|
| Legarde was convicted of negligence for approving the
| payout of the two decade long Tapie arbitration.
|
| These are not the same.
| JadeNB wrote:
| > Seems exactly the motivation for the various charges
| against Trump.
|
| I think that you can conspiracize both, or regard both as
| normal judicial process, but, if you say that it's just fair
| play against Lula and conspiracy against Trump, then I think
| that you are just aiming the hypocrisy in the other
| direction.
| simiones wrote:
| Lula's convictions were all overturned by the Supreme Court,
| so no, we shouldn't believe that he did the things he is
| accused of. Note that Bolsanaro was already in power when
| this happened, so there is little reason to suspect him of
| wielding power over the courts or anything like that.
|
| And just because you're opposing a far right extremist like
| Bolsanaro doesn't make you a far left politician. For
| example, Le Pen is a far right extremist politician, but
| Macron is definitely not far left (though Jean-Luc Melanchon,
| the third place in the previous election, could rightly be
| called a far left candidate).
| derektank wrote:
| >Bolsanaro was already in power when this happened, so
| there is little reason to suspect him of wielding power
| over the courts or anything like that.
|
| Bolsonaro had only made one appointment to the Supreme
| Federal Court at the time of the judgement in favor of Lula
| in 2021, while 7 of the 11 had been appointed by Lula or
| Dilma Rousseff. Yes, Lula was not in a position to pressure
| the supreme court as president but I don't think one should
| assume he had zero influence either. I'm not intimately
| familiar with Brazilian politics though and wouldn't want
| to unfairly imply any of the judges were in any way corrupt
| so I'll just leave it at that.
| pasquinelli wrote:
| > Does anyone actually do any neutral reporting or analysis?
|
| no, of course not, what a silly question. you think people
| are falling over themselves to tell you how things are for
| your sake?
| caioariede wrote:
| You lost it at the far left/right part. Lula is far left only
| for the people who believe in the fight the communism plot.
| For the majority, he is much more aligned with the center, so
| called "centrao", so much that neither the leftists are
| pleased with him anymore.
| gota wrote:
| Lula is not far left by any reasonable definition of both
| "far" and "left"
|
| > Did Lula not do that?
|
| I'm not an expert and not that knowledgeable about the case
| but it seems to me the accusation -famously- stated things
| like "We have no hard proof" (...) "(but) we are convinced he
| did it"
|
| Again - if the accusation states 'We have no proof', under
| assumption of innocence, yeah; he "didn't do it"
| scythe wrote:
| >Also Bolsonaro was termed "far right," but Lula not called
| "far left?"
|
| Bolsonaro was such an unbelievably terrible president that
| _The Economist_ , that infamous right-wing rag (full
| disclosure: I am a long-time subscriber), endorsed Lula
| against him in 2018. If you're going to complain "does anyone
| care any more?" about a loss of common sense in politics, you
| probably shouldn't pair that complaint with a defense of Jair
| Bolsonaro, of all people.
| thiagoharry wrote:
| > Dubious" charges against Lula? -- He was convicted of
| accepting a seaside apartment as a bribe for helping the OAS
| construction company get lucrative deals with state oil firm
| Petrobras.
|
| Yes, since nobody yet proved that the apartment was Lula's
| apartment. And tt was discovered several problems with Lula's
| charges, which was judged by a person that later was rewarded
| by Bolsonaro with a job as minister.
|
| > Also Bolsonaro was termed "far right," but Lula not called
| "far left?"
|
| Lula is not far left, but center left. He is a social
| democrat at best, not a communist.
| owebmaster wrote:
| > "Dubious" charges against Lula? -- He was convicted of
| accepting a seaside apartment as a bribe for helping the OAS
| construction company get lucrative deals with state oil firm
| Petrobras
|
| is it also called a bribe when someone pay for it? I think it
| is called lawfare
|
| > Also Bolsonaro was termed "far right," but Lula not called
| "far left?"
|
| Is lula exalting Stalin and trying to install a proletariat
| dictatorship?
| tirant wrote:
| Many prominent figures in Latin America and Spain turned away
| from socialist and communist positions after experiencing their
| effects: Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Octavio Paz (also Nobel
| Prize), Fernando Savater, Jorge Edwards, Jorge Luis Borges,
| Teodoro Petkoff...
| ghostDancer wrote:
| Savater has not experienced socialism, Spain has never been
| socialist, Savater has been always someone in great need of
| attention and joins anyone who gives him that. And the
| Spain's fascism has give him that. I've seen it since He was
| teaching in University In San Sebastian and was easier to
| find him in certain bars and in the horse races than at his
| work.
| harperlee wrote:
| > Spain has never been socialist
|
| This seems like a no true scotsman argument, Spain has been
| mostly governed by a socialist party since it became a
| democracy:
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Socialist_Workers%27_
| P...
| esaiohotpvld wrote:
| Despite the name and its history, today they are just the
| Spanish socialdemocrats, from that same link:
|
| > Historically Marxist, it abandoned the ideology in 1979
| owebmaster wrote:
| Where were they from? As a South American I'm having
| difficult figuring out which country is socialist in this
| continent. Venezuela?
| nomdep wrote:
| Most (all?) the terrorist groups of Latin America were
| self-declared marxist/communist, like "Shining Part" in
| Peru: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shining_Path
| owebmaster wrote:
| That's true. Which just prove the government of those
| countries were never marxist/communist.
| antithesizer wrote:
| Not even close. For example:
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-
| wing_paramilitarism_in...
| NoTeslaThrow wrote:
| This is much more revealing of how western media reports
| on Latin America than anything.
| pitpatagain wrote:
| Jorge Luis Borges neither started from a socialist position
| nor ever experienced the effects of socialism, so I don't
| know what he's doing on this list.
| andrepd wrote:
| It's just the basic anti-left trope, "intellectual defends
| theory but changes mind when experiencing its
| implementation".
| vixen99 wrote:
| You mean bang on.
| andrepd wrote:
| That's pretty much the least interesting thing you could
| possibly say about the author.
| iamjs wrote:
| What are a few of the most interesting things you could
| possibly say?
| culebron21 wrote:
| Read him while learning Spanish. Conversacion en la Catedral is
| very saddening, but left long lasting impressions and made me a
| hint to read on history of South America.
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Vargas_Llosa
| dhosek wrote:
| I realized last night that I've never read anything by him in
| translation (there was one book in English-- _A Writer's Reality_
| --which was in English, but that book was based on lectures given
| in English and there is no Spanish original. As my ex-wife often
| says, "No good reason to read the translation if you can read the
| original." _La Fiesta de la Chivo_ influenced the form of the
| novel I'm currently querying (which, despite having had three
| excerpts published as short stories, appears destined to be yet
| another trunked work). The biggest challenge I found reading
| Vargas Llosa is that section and chapter breaks tend to be
| infrequent giving fewer opportunities to pause while reading.
| JadeNB wrote:
| > The biggest challenge I found reading Vargas Llosa is that
| section and chapter breaks tend to be infrequent giving fewer
| opportunities to pause while reading.
|
| I don't mean to be snarky, but, seriously, can't you just pause
| whenever you want? I understand that the lack of breaks mean
| that the book doesn't define _natural_ points to pause, but it
| still seems that one can impose such breaks oneself.
| solarexplorer wrote:
| Yes, in theory you can pause at any point, but in practice it
| is not that easy to stop. I remember not hearing the boarding
| call and losing a flight while reading La fiesta del chivo...
| froidpink wrote:
| that good eh
| dhosek wrote:
| I prefer to pause reading at chapter breaks or, if necessary
| section breaks. Of course, with some authors you may be
| looking for paragraph breaks (and in the case of Proust, even
| those might be dozens of pages apart). Natural breaks in the
| narrative just make the most sense for stopping off and
| resuming a read.
| bbqfog wrote:
| The War of The End of The World is one of the best books I've
| ever read:
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_End_of_the_Wo...
| outside1234 wrote:
| For folks reading in Spanish here, what is his most accessible
| work? (I am a ~B2 in Spanish and have wanted to read a novel of
| his for a while.)
| seizethecheese wrote:
| I found his memoir much more readable in Spanish than his
| fiction.
| icar wrote:
| Also a fascist.
| m0llusk wrote:
| But first a Communist revolutionary. Interesting and also kind
| of unfortunate that those who seek fundamental change in
| political formulations seem frequently to thrash about like
| this. Moderate incrementalism doesn't get as much attention or
| press but seems a highly competitive alternative.
| diego_sandoval wrote:
| He was never an outright fascist. The closest that he was to it
| was when he was young and supported the Cuban Revolution, which
| he later regretted.
|
| After that, he was a classic liberal through the last 50 years
| of his life.
| urda wrote:
| Gift link: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/13/books/review/mario-
| vargas...
| jpfdez wrote:
| "Four, said the Jaguar"
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