Mario Vargas Llosa, acclaimed Peruvian author and Nobel laureate in literature, has passed away at the age of 89, The Associated Press reported. His death was confirmed on Sunday, and he died peacefully in Lima, surrounded by his family.
Vargas Llosa was one of the most significant figures in Latin American literature, known for wide-ranging works, including novels, essays, and plays. His best-known works, such as The Time of the Hero (La Ciudad y los Perros) and Feast of the Goat, explored themes of power, corruption, and the individual’s struggle against oppressive systems.
In 2010, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his “cartography of structures of power” and his powerful depictions of “the individual’s resistance, revolt, and defeat.” The Nobel Committee lauded him for his “trenchant images” that revealed the complexities of the human condition and the political landscape in Latin America.
“It is with deep sorrow that we announce that our father, Mario Vargas Llosa, passed away peacefully in Lima today, surrounded by his family,” his children Álvaro, Gonzalo, and Morgana said in a statement posted by Álvaro on social media platform X.
“His departure will sadden his relatives, his friends and his readers around the world, but we hope that they will find comfort, as we do, in the fact that he enjoyed a long, adventurous and fruitful life, and leaves behind him a body of work that will outlive him,” the post further read.
Vargas Llosa’s legacy stretches far beyond the pages of his novels, the report said, adding that he was also a key political figure in Latin America, advocating for democratic values and human rights throughout his life. His literary career spanned more than six decades, during which he established himself as a central figure in the Latin American Boom, a literary movement that brought international attention to writers from the region.
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