14 DAY TRIAL // The Nobel Committee announced earlier today, October 7, that the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature goes to Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa. The announcement came as a shock, as he was not among the “official” favorites.
According to the public announcement, the award was given to Llosa “for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt, and defeat.”
The writer is one of the most acclaimed authors in the Spanish world, and also a former political figure in his native homeland, where he ran for presidential office in the past.
His bibliography contains more than 30 novels, plays and essays, including works such as Conversation in the Cathedral and The Green House.
Llosa is no stranger to prestigious awards. Some 15 years ago, he wom the most distinguished literary honor in Span, the Cervantes Prize.
“I am very surprised, I did not expect this. It had been years since my name was even mentioned,” the author told the Spanish National Radio when he was contacted about the decision.
“It has certainly been a total surprise, a very pleasant surprise, but a surprise nonetheless,” he said, adding that he thought the call was a joke at first.
The 74-year-old writer was defined as “a divinely gifted storyteller” by Peter Englund, who is the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy.
“He was very, very happy. And very moved.” Englund said of how Llosa behaved when he learned about receiving the prestigious award, with comes together with a $1.5 million cash prize.
“His books are often very complex in composition, having different perspectives, different voices and different time places,” the official said, quoted by The Star.
“He is also doing it in a new way, he has helped evolve the art of the narration,” he added, saying that Llosa is the the first South American winner of the Prize since Gabriel Garcia Marquez, in 1982.
The two used to be friends, but they stopped talking to each other many years ago, after Garcia Marquez continued to maintain ties with former Cuban president Fidel Castro.
Llosa has had numerous conflicts with both the former Cuban dictator and with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.