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Peru's Eminent Novelist and Former Presidential Candidate Mario Vargas Llosa

Peru's eminent novelist and former presidential candidate Mario Vargas Llosa. Llosa is the author of many books including "Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter," (which was made into a movie, based on his own relationship with his 32-year old aunt, who he married at the age of 19), "The Storyteller," and "In Praise of the Stepmother." A London Times writer says of Llosa's novels that they are "among the finest coming out of Latin America." Llosa lived for many years in Europe. He said of his country, "Peru is for me a kind of incurable disease, and my feeling for her is intense, bitter, and full of violence that characterizes passion." In 1990 he ran an unsuccessful bid for the Presidency of Peru. Running on a reformist platform, LLOSA was threatened by the Shining Path guerrillas whose "violent terrorism" Llosa pledged to thwart. Llosa has a new memoir about his personal and political life, "A Fish in the Water." (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux).

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Other segments from the episode on May 11, 1994

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, May 11, 1994: Interview with Sekou Sundiata; Interview with Mario Vargas Llosa; Review of Boz Scaggs's album "Some Change."
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Performance Poet Sekou Sundiata.

Performance poet Sekou Sundiata. Often he performs with his music ensemble, "Dadahdoodahda." A Village Voice critic wrote of Sundiata, ". . . like Billie Holiday, Sundiata surprises with images and tumbling phrases that blend with subtle rhythmic variations. Dadahdoodahda provided enough familiar riffs and melodies to fill a dance floor. . .

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The Latin American Fiction "Boom."

Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa. He is one of the leading figures in the recent boom in Latin American fiction. His novels include Aunt Julia and The Scriptwriter and The War of the End of the World. The latter won the Ritz Paris Hemingway Award. Vargas Llosa's books were banned and burned in Peru by the military in the late 60s.

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