A revolutionary [sic] with fire in his heart

[Nicholas Siemensma <nsiemensma@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

As we cheer Christopher Hitchens in his courageous
attempt to resurrect Rudyard Kipling for the new
century, let's not forget the rather sad case of
another personal and political apostasy.  Mario Vargas
Llosa is currently in Australia.

The Age
October 04 2002

A Revolutionary with Fire in his Heart

Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa is a dedicated
defender of the role of literature in exploring how we
are to live.  Peter Ellingsen reports.

[...]
But just as Sartre proved unreliable, so did the
revolution he proposed and, after years as a
firebrand, Llosa abandoned communism and support for
Castro's Cuba, to embrace democracy. It was a change
that spilt over into his work. His novels became more
playful, though still an incisive tool, and he
switched his attention to combating exploitation and
tyranny. It meant that, unlike other Latin American
"magical realist" writers, such as Gabriel Garcia
Marquez, his stories were gritty and severe, as well
as tender.

But Llosa did not just write about politics, he
entered it, standing unsuccessfully for the presidency
of Peru in 1990. It was a utopian gesture from a man
who expected to tell the truth and win. He lost to
Alberto Fujimori, who later fled the country in a
blaze of corruption allegations.

The experience has not turned him off politics. While
he won't participate again, like Aristotle, he
believes politics can be, even must be, ethical. "You
can have honest, decent and well-motivated
politicians," he says. When asked to name one, he
doesn't say Nelson Mandela. In lightly accented
English, he says Tony Blair.

"I've great respect for Tony Blair. He's a realist,"
he says.

[...]
In his current work, however, he is leaving tyranny
for a different sort of politics. The soon to be
published Paradise Around the Corner looks at the life
of Flora Tristan, a women's rights activist and the
grandmother of French artist Paul Gauduin [sic -
Gaugin].

It is a journey into the notion of utopia. "We can't
live without the idea of a perfect society but it is
not a realistic approach to history," he says. "The
novel is about the two faces of utopia."

It does not answer the big question: "How are we to
live?", but then the asking is what counts. After
jumping into politics, Llosa is less inclined to
search for certainty. Like William Faulkner, who
believed the only thing worth writing about was the
human heart in conflict with itself, he is comfortable
with being uncomfortable.

"I'm not satisfied with the world, but I don't think
you can make it better through some system or other,"
he says. "I'm in favour of revolution in art,
literature and morals, all the realms of creativity,
but not in politics."




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