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In Praise of Reading and Fiction: The Nobel Lecture
On December 7, 2010, Mario Vargas Llosa was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. His Nobel Lecture is a resounding tribute to fiction’s power to inspire readers to greater ambition, to dissent, and to political action. “We would be worse than we are without the good books we have read, more conformist, not as restless, more submissive, and the critical spirit, the engine of progress, would not even exist,” Vargas Llosa writes. “Like writing, reading is a protest against the insufficiencies of life. When we look in fiction for what is missing in life, we are saying, with no need to say it or even to know it, that life as it is does not satisfy our thirst for the absolute—the foundation of the human condition—and should be better.” Vargas Llosa’s lecture is a powerful argument for the necessity of literature in our lives today. For, as he eloquently writes, “literature not only submerges us in the dream of beauty and happiness but alerts us to every kind of oppression.”
48 pages, Hardcover
First published December 7, 2010
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496 people want to read
About the author
Mario Vargas Llosa
558 books9,225 followersJorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquess of Vargas Llosa, more commonly known as Mario Vargas Llosa, was a Peruvian novelist, journalist, essayist, and politician. Vargas Llosa was one of the Spanish language and Latin America's most significant novelists and essayists and one of the leading writers of his generation. Some critics consider him to have had a more substantial international impact and worldwide audience than any other writer of the Latin American Boom. In 2010, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt, and defeat".
Vargas Llosa rose to international fame in the 1960s with novels such as The Time of the Hero (La ciudad y los perros, 1963/1966), The Green House (La casa verde, 1965/1968), and the monumental Conversation in The Cathedral (Conversación en La Catedral, 1969/1975). He wrote prolifically across various literary genres, including literary criticism and journalism. His novels include comedies, murder mysteries, historical novels, and political thrillers. He won the 1967 Rómulo Gallegos Prize and the 1986 Prince of Asturias Award. Several of his works have been adopted as feature films, such as Captain Pantoja and the Special Service (1973/1978) and Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter (1977/1982). Vargas Llosa's perception of Peruvian society and his experiences as a native Peruvian influenced many of his works. Increasingly, he expanded his range and tackled themes from other parts of the world. In his essays, Vargas Llosa criticized nationalism in different parts of the world.
Like many Latin American writers, Vargas Llosa was politically active. While he initially supported the Cuban revolutionary government of Fidel Castro, Vargas Llosa later became disenchanted with its policies, particularly after the imprisonment of Cuban poet Heberto Padilla in 1971, and later identified as a liberal and held anti-left-wing ideas. He ran for the presidency of Peru in 1990 with the center-right Frente Democrático coalition, advocating for liberal reforms, but lost the election to Alberto Fujimori in a landslide.
Vargas Llosa continued his literary career while advocating for right-wing activists and candidates internationally following his exit from direct participation in Peruvian politics. He was awarded the 1994 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the 1995 Jerusalem Prize, the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature, the 2012 Carlos Fuentes International Prize, and the 2018 Pablo Neruda Order of Artistic and Cultural Merit. In 2011, Vargas Llosa was made the Marquess of Vargas Llosa by Spanish king Juan Carlos I. In 2021, he was elected to the Académie française.
Vargas Llosa rose to international fame in the 1960s with novels such as The Time of the Hero (La ciudad y los perros, 1963/1966), The Green House (La casa verde, 1965/1968), and the monumental Conversation in The Cathedral (Conversación en La Catedral, 1969/1975). He wrote prolifically across various literary genres, including literary criticism and journalism. His novels include comedies, murder mysteries, historical novels, and political thrillers. He won the 1967 Rómulo Gallegos Prize and the 1986 Prince of Asturias Award. Several of his works have been adopted as feature films, such as Captain Pantoja and the Special Service (1973/1978) and Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter (1977/1982). Vargas Llosa's perception of Peruvian society and his experiences as a native Peruvian influenced many of his works. Increasingly, he expanded his range and tackled themes from other parts of the world. In his essays, Vargas Llosa criticized nationalism in different parts of the world.
Like many Latin American writers, Vargas Llosa was politically active. While he initially supported the Cuban revolutionary government of Fidel Castro, Vargas Llosa later became disenchanted with its policies, particularly after the imprisonment of Cuban poet Heberto Padilla in 1971, and later identified as a liberal and held anti-left-wing ideas. He ran for the presidency of Peru in 1990 with the center-right Frente Democrático coalition, advocating for liberal reforms, but lost the election to Alberto Fujimori in a landslide.
Vargas Llosa continued his literary career while advocating for right-wing activists and candidates internationally following his exit from direct participation in Peruvian politics. He was awarded the 1994 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the 1995 Jerusalem Prize, the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature, the 2012 Carlos Fuentes International Prize, and the 2018 Pablo Neruda Order of Artistic and Cultural Merit. In 2011, Vargas Llosa was made the Marquess of Vargas Llosa by Spanish king Juan Carlos I. In 2021, he was elected to the Académie française.
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July 16, 2021
“Reading good literature is an experience of pleasure...but it is also an experience of learning what and how we are, in our human integrity and our human imperfection, with our actions, our dreams, and our ghosts, alone and in relationships that link us to others, in our public image and in the secret recesses of our consciousness.”
― Mario Vargas Llosa
Have you ever reached page 150 in a 400 page novel and asked yourself: Why am I reading this? What will my finishing this book amount to, really? Shouldn't I be doing something important or useful with my time rather than reading a work of fiction? I couldn't imagine a more powerful way of answering these questions then what we find in Mario Vargas Llosa's inspiring, inspiring, inspiring - yes, inspiring x 3 - 2010 Nobel Price acceptance speech entitled `In Praise of Reading and Fiction'. Here are a few quotes along with my brief comments:
"I remember clearly how the magic of translating the words in books into images enriched my life, breaking the barriers of time and space and allowing me to travel with Captain Nemo twenty thousand leagues under the sea, fight with d'Artagnan . . . and stumble through the sewers of Paris, transformed into Jean Valjean carrying Marius's inert body on my back." ---------- This goes back to what Aristotle said about an audience's connection with the tragic hero in his Poetics- we identify with the character up on stage and our emotions are thereby intensified. I recall clearly my own childhood experience of first identifying with a character - the narrator in Poe's tale `The Pit and the Pendulum'. Unforgettable. I suspect many readers can likewise easily remember their first identification experience.
"I have been able to devote most of my time to the passion, the vice, the marvel of writing, creating a parallel life where we can take refuge against adversity, one that makes the extraordinary natural and the natural extraordinary, that dissipates chaos, beautifies ugliness, eternalizes the moment, and turns death into a passing spectacle." --------- Ah! We readers of fiction do live through many lives. When I finished `The Goldfinch' a couple of summers ago, I had the sense that I was saying goodbye to good friend Theo. How many worlds have you entered? You are what you read.
"Good literature erects bridges between different peoples, and by having us enjoy, suffer, or feel surprise, unites us beneath the languages, beliefs, habits, customs, and prejudices that separate us. When the great white whale buries Captain Ahab in the sea, the hearts of readers take fright in exactly the same way in Tokyo, Lima, or Timbuctu." ---------- Literary critics like Sir Philip Sidney never tire of singing the praise of an art form that combines the universality of abstract philosophy with the concreteness of history.
"From the cave to the skyscraper, from the club to weapons of mass destruction, from the tautological life of the tribe to the era of globalization, the fictions of literature have multiplied human experiences, preventing us from succumbing to lethargy, self-absorption, resignation." --------- Indeed! If you need a good dose of fire in your life to rekindle your spirit, pick up a good book! And the book can be to your taste, Fyodor Dostoyevsky or Jo Nesbø or Gillian Flynn - whatever turns you on.
"The lies of literature become truths through us, the readers transformed, infected with longings and, through the fault of fiction, permanently questioning a mediocre reality. Sorcery, when literature offers us the hope of having what we do not have, being what we are not, acceding to that impossible existence where like pagan gods we feel mortal and eternal at the same time, that introduces into our spirits non-conformity and rebellion, which are behind all the heroic deeds that have contributed to the reduction of violence in human relationships." --------- Thanks you, Mario!! No comment needed.
"Ours will always be, fortunately, an unfinished story. That is why we have to continue dreaming, reading, and writing, the most effective way we have found to alleviate our mortal condition, to defeat the corrosion of time, and to transform the impossible into possibility." ---------- Thank you again, sir.
September 13, 2017
"English below"
نیمه اول کتاب ناامید کننده بود و از چنین نویسنده مشهور و تاثیرگذاری انتظار نداشتم که پا را از حوزه فکری خود فراتر بگذارد و به طور آشکار تمام پیشرفتهای دنیا را مرهون لیبرال دموکراسی بداند و غیر از آنرا بربریت بنامد. به نظر من، تنها یک ارزیابی غیرسیستمی و غیرخطی از رژیم های سیاسی می تواند به چنین نتیجه گیری منجر شود و تمام آثار جانبی دخالت ها و اثرگذاری همین لیبرال دموکراسی بر بربریت جدید را فراموش کند. برای نمونه، ملی گرایی را به عنوان ترسناک ترین مسئله در امریکای لاتین معرفی میکند و به دلایل شکل گیری چنین ملی گرایی افراطی اشاره نمیکند، یا از مسئله فروش سلاح به همین ملی گرایان چشم پوشی میکند
نکته عجیب تر جایی است که از دنیا درخواست می کند تا حکومت پرو و کشورهای مشابه مانند ایران را با تحریم اقتصادی و سیاسی تنبیه کند، مسئله ای که آشکارا مردم کشور خودش را فراموش می کند، چرا که تحریم را ابزاری معطوف به حکومت کشورها میداند و نه مردم و زندگی آنها. به علاوه درخواست می کند که برای سرنگونی دیکتاتورها از هر ابزار لازم باید بهره برد، درخواستی که برای من چیزی جز شکل مدرن افراط گری و دلیل اصلی مشکلات مزمن فعلی در خاورمیانه نیست. از طرفی گریزی هم به اسپانیاردها (نام اسپانیایی ها در زمان استعمار) هم میزند و ادعا میکند که تمدن را به پرو آوردند و در واقع اسپانیا و پرو را دو روی یک سکه می داند. اولین بار است که من با چنین تحلیل عجیبی از استعمار مواجه میشوم
به جز این موارد، صفحات پایانی حاوی نکات خوبی است درباره اهمیت داستان و ادبیات در دنیای مدرن و دلایل ضرورت مطالعه ادبیات برای هر انسان در زمانه فعلی و برای رهایی انسان. در کل، کاش انسانها یاد بگیرند تا مرزهای دانش و توانایی خود را بدانند و پا را از حوزه تخصصی خود فرانگذارند تا چنین تصاویر کاریکاتوری بوجود آید. مسئله ای که این روزها به عنوان یکی از بحرانهای معرفتی جدید مطرح است و به نقد علاقه متفکرین به تعمیم نظریاتشان به سایر حوزه ها می پردازد
The first half was disappointing, and I was not expecting such a well-known and influential author attributes all good to liberal democracy and renounces the others as the barbarians. To me, only an unsystematic evaluation of the political regimes can easily divide them without paying attention to the side-effects of interventions by liberal democracy leading to the emergence of new barbarians. He talks about nationalism as the most horrific problem in Latin America, and again does not talk about the forces reinforcing pervert nationalism, by political and cultural interventions, and the ones benefiting from selling weapons.
It was unbelievable to read that he has asked the world to punish the Peruvian government, and other countries including Iran, by economic and political sanctions, and to me it seems he does not care about his own people. Look at the case of Iran for instance, and one can easily see sanction for the regime, is not different from sanction for the public, and their lives. He also mentions dictators in these counties should be fought with ALL means, and again such a reaction is simply another source of extremism, and the main reason behind the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. He even talks about the Spaniards, and the culture they brought to Peru, and mentions Spain and Peru are two sides of the same coin; it is the first time I see such an appreciation of colonialism!
So, his approach towards politics looks quite naive way and his linear view of the modern political problems are even dangerous. He provides examples from Cuba, Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia, but forgets to reflect on the cases such as the Gulf war, Iran/Iraq war or Afghanistan. In addition, he surprisingly evaluates his situation as a celebrity and well-known author living abroad and concludes he feels home everywhere, thanks to liberal democracy, but forgets the fact that it is not the situation for all expats and neglects the fact to evaluate a political system, the situation of the most vulnerable group should be seen, and not a celebrity.
However, the last pages have some inspirational paragraphs about the role and the necessity of fiction and literature in the modern world, and the reason why should everyone read literature, and how it is important for the emancipation of man.
نیمه اول کتاب ناامید کننده بود و از چنین نویسنده مشهور و تاثیرگذاری انتظار نداشتم که پا را از حوزه فکری خود فراتر بگذارد و به طور آشکار تمام پیشرفتهای دنیا را مرهون لیبرال دموکراسی بداند و غیر از آنرا بربریت بنامد. به نظر من، تنها یک ارزیابی غیرسیستمی و غیرخطی از رژیم های سیاسی می تواند به چنین نتیجه گیری منجر شود و تمام آثار جانبی دخالت ها و اثرگذاری همین لیبرال دموکراسی بر بربریت جدید را فراموش کند. برای نمونه، ملی گرایی را به عنوان ترسناک ترین مسئله در امریکای لاتین معرفی میکند و به دلایل شکل گیری چنین ملی گرایی افراطی اشاره نمیکند، یا از مسئله فروش سلاح به همین ملی گرایان چشم پوشی میکند
نکته عجیب تر جایی است که از دنیا درخواست می کند تا حکومت پرو و کشورهای مشابه مانند ایران را با تحریم اقتصادی و سیاسی تنبیه کند، مسئله ای که آشکارا مردم کشور خودش را فراموش می کند، چرا که تحریم را ابزاری معطوف به حکومت کشورها میداند و نه مردم و زندگی آنها. به علاوه درخواست می کند که برای سرنگونی دیکتاتورها از هر ابزار لازم باید بهره برد، درخواستی که برای من چیزی جز شکل مدرن افراط گری و دلیل اصلی مشکلات مزمن فعلی در خاورمیانه نیست. از طرفی گریزی هم به اسپانیاردها (نام اسپانیایی ها در زمان استعمار) هم میزند و ادعا میکند که تمدن را به پرو آوردند و در واقع اسپانیا و پرو را دو روی یک سکه می داند. اولین بار است که من با چنین تحلیل عجیبی از استعمار مواجه میشوم
به جز این موارد، صفحات پایانی حاوی نکات خوبی است درباره اهمیت داستان و ادبیات در دنیای مدرن و دلایل ضرورت مطالعه ادبیات برای هر انسان در زمانه فعلی و برای رهایی انسان. در کل، کاش انسانها یاد بگیرند تا مرزهای دانش و توانایی خود را بدانند و پا را از حوزه تخصصی خود فرانگذارند تا چنین تصاویر کاریکاتوری بوجود آید. مسئله ای که این روزها به عنوان یکی از بحرانهای معرفتی جدید مطرح است و به نقد علاقه متفکرین به تعمیم نظریاتشان به سایر حوزه ها می پردازد
The first half was disappointing, and I was not expecting such a well-known and influential author attributes all good to liberal democracy and renounces the others as the barbarians. To me, only an unsystematic evaluation of the political regimes can easily divide them without paying attention to the side-effects of interventions by liberal democracy leading to the emergence of new barbarians. He talks about nationalism as the most horrific problem in Latin America, and again does not talk about the forces reinforcing pervert nationalism, by political and cultural interventions, and the ones benefiting from selling weapons.
It was unbelievable to read that he has asked the world to punish the Peruvian government, and other countries including Iran, by economic and political sanctions, and to me it seems he does not care about his own people. Look at the case of Iran for instance, and one can easily see sanction for the regime, is not different from sanction for the public, and their lives. He also mentions dictators in these counties should be fought with ALL means, and again such a reaction is simply another source of extremism, and the main reason behind the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. He even talks about the Spaniards, and the culture they brought to Peru, and mentions Spain and Peru are two sides of the same coin; it is the first time I see such an appreciation of colonialism!
So, his approach towards politics looks quite naive way and his linear view of the modern political problems are even dangerous. He provides examples from Cuba, Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia, but forgets to reflect on the cases such as the Gulf war, Iran/Iraq war or Afghanistan. In addition, he surprisingly evaluates his situation as a celebrity and well-known author living abroad and concludes he feels home everywhere, thanks to liberal democracy, but forgets the fact that it is not the situation for all expats and neglects the fact to evaluate a political system, the situation of the most vulnerable group should be seen, and not a celebrity.
However, the last pages have some inspirational paragraphs about the role and the necessity of fiction and literature in the modern world, and the reason why should everyone read literature, and how it is important for the emancipation of man.
February 3, 2019
040717: there is nothing more to say in arguing the value of reading and fiction. i agree with llosa that there must be pleasure in our reading but that pleasure is different for everyone. i try to read much world literature, thus much translation, and would like to believe that this act by itself is its own justification. if you readers have a sense of personal history, remember when you first read, do you even need someone to laud reading? not if you use this website...
January 7, 2021
In Praise of Reading and Fiction is Mario Vargas Llosa's Nobel Prize speech. Books helped me get through 2020, so it resonated with me when Llosa talked about how they were both escape,
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/lit...
breaking the barriers of time and space and allowing me to travel with Captain Nemo twenty thousand leagues under the sea, fight with d’Artagnan, Athos, Portos, and Aramis against the intrigues threatening the Queen in the days of the secretive Richelieu, or stumble through the sewers of Paris, transformed into Jean Valjean carrying Marius’s inert body on my back.and solace,
We invent fictions in order to live somehow the many lives we would like to lead when we barely have one at our disposal.There's more, of course, and not just limited to books, both as a reader and a writer. I'm not going to presume that I'm in any position to critique or even summarize it; it's a deeply personal (and hella eloquent) speech on his life as he receives a Nobel Prize. Instead, you should read the translated speech here:
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/lit...
January 31, 2018
Pa dobro. U govoru koji pročitaš za pola sata, ima svetlih i tamnih strana.
Ono na šta bi trebao i da se odnosi, bar prema naslovu, je svetlo. Iako ne uvek originalno. "Bili bi lošiji bez knjiga koje smo pročitali", "čitanje je protest protiv manjkavosti života" ili "stvorili smo fikciju kako bi živeli mnoge živote koje bi voleli da živimo, iako imamo samo jedan na raspolaganju". Sve su to lepe rečenice, ništa previše filozofski, ali nekako feel-good za nas koji volimo da čitamo.
S druge strane, bar pola govora odnosi se na njegove političke stavove, promene u političkim shvatanjima koje je doživeo. Nisam siguran da spada ovamo, pogotovo ne pod naslovom koji je izabrao. Naročito kad priča o "krutom osvajanju Amerike" i koje nekako opravdava ("ipak ne zaboravimo, to su bili naši dedovi i pradedovi"), a samo nekoliko strana kasnije sam sebi uskače u usta i priča o "balkanizaciji" Latinske Amerike. Bez obzira na našu nesrećnu prošlost, gledajući i veliku sliku istorije, kao i njegovo objašnjenje, nisam siguran ko bi bio pogodniji za korišćenje tog glagola.
Kako god, vredi pročitati i sačuvati neku rečenicu. Da se podsetimo kako je fino čitati fikciju.
Ono na šta bi trebao i da se odnosi, bar prema naslovu, je svetlo. Iako ne uvek originalno. "Bili bi lošiji bez knjiga koje smo pročitali", "čitanje je protest protiv manjkavosti života" ili "stvorili smo fikciju kako bi živeli mnoge živote koje bi voleli da živimo, iako imamo samo jedan na raspolaganju". Sve su to lepe rečenice, ništa previše filozofski, ali nekako feel-good za nas koji volimo da čitamo.
S druge strane, bar pola govora odnosi se na njegove političke stavove, promene u političkim shvatanjima koje je doživeo. Nisam siguran da spada ovamo, pogotovo ne pod naslovom koji je izabrao. Naročito kad priča o "krutom osvajanju Amerike" i koje nekako opravdava ("ipak ne zaboravimo, to su bili naši dedovi i pradedovi"), a samo nekoliko strana kasnije sam sebi uskače u usta i priča o "balkanizaciji" Latinske Amerike. Bez obzira na našu nesrećnu prošlost, gledajući i veliku sliku istorije, kao i njegovo objašnjenje, nisam siguran ko bi bio pogodniji za korišćenje tog glagola.
Kako god, vredi pročitati i sačuvati neku rečenicu. Da se podsetimo kako je fino čitati fikciju.
July 22, 2016
This is so beautiful, so outstanding! I could have written his words. I'm from South America but lived elsewhere all my adult life. There's no describing this speech. Read it. Feel it. If you are human you will get it. If you are a foreigner in another land and has become every bit a citizen of your adoptive land as you were from your homeland your heart will be moved. And you will, as I did, feel sometimes nearly without words. Nearly in tears. And every bit grateful that someone who loves literature as much as you, could so well describe the life you lead. I loved this. It will feature in my dissertation. 5 stars. I wish there were 500000000 that could be given....
April 26, 2025
“Por eso, las dictaduras deben ser combatidas sin contemplaciones, por todos los medios a nuestro alcance, incluidas las sanciones económicas”.
Elogio de la lectura y la ficción (2010), Mario Vargas Llosa (Literatur-Nobelpreisträger 2010)
Hay ideas que me han parecido terribles y decepcionantes como esta, donde se hace evidente un pensamiento egoísta y desapegado de las clases más desfavorecidas que son las que sufren verdaderamente este tipo de acciones.
Siempre es interesante conocer las ideas de un escritor sobre todo cuando recibe un premio como el nobel, aun más Vargas Llosa, que además de escritor se ha vuelto un personaje tan mediático. Me ha parecido admirable el tema de la lectura y su valor.
Sin embargo, este breve discurso tiene más ideas bizarras y aberradas asociadas, lastimosamente, a la lectura de las que puedo admitir. Desde su prisma personal, Vargas Llosa da ciertos tema por sentado; los categoriza con un tono más parecido a un político que a alguien que escribe Literatura, y recuerdo, la literatura es ARTE algo para mí sagrado; es el estado en el que tienen espacio todos los diálogos posibles, pero nunca las imposiciones, mucho menos de un intelectual, los cuales creo deben tener el umbral del entendimiento y el humanismo mucho más alto que cualquier otra persona. Eso dejémoselo a los políticos.
Me gusta leer, pero también me gusta saber que hay detrás de quien escribe y este breve discurso me ha bastado para calar un poco al ser humano detrás del escritor. Es un ensayo plagado de incitación a la violencia. Esto que quede claro, también es violencia. Aunque es innegable su valor literario, esta vez voy a puntuar más por el contenido que por la forma.
¿Y me pregunto son estos los modelos que queremos para nuestra sociedad?
Elogio de la lectura y la ficción (2010), Mario Vargas Llosa (Literatur-Nobelpreisträger 2010)
Hay ideas que me han parecido terribles y decepcionantes como esta, donde se hace evidente un pensamiento egoísta y desapegado de las clases más desfavorecidas que son las que sufren verdaderamente este tipo de acciones.
Siempre es interesante conocer las ideas de un escritor sobre todo cuando recibe un premio como el nobel, aun más Vargas Llosa, que además de escritor se ha vuelto un personaje tan mediático. Me ha parecido admirable el tema de la lectura y su valor.
Sin embargo, este breve discurso tiene más ideas bizarras y aberradas asociadas, lastimosamente, a la lectura de las que puedo admitir. Desde su prisma personal, Vargas Llosa da ciertos tema por sentado; los categoriza con un tono más parecido a un político que a alguien que escribe Literatura, y recuerdo, la literatura es ARTE algo para mí sagrado; es el estado en el que tienen espacio todos los diálogos posibles, pero nunca las imposiciones, mucho menos de un intelectual, los cuales creo deben tener el umbral del entendimiento y el humanismo mucho más alto que cualquier otra persona. Eso dejémoselo a los políticos.
Me gusta leer, pero también me gusta saber que hay detrás de quien escribe y este breve discurso me ha bastado para calar un poco al ser humano detrás del escritor. Es un ensayo plagado de incitación a la violencia. Esto que quede claro, también es violencia. Aunque es innegable su valor literario, esta vez voy a puntuar más por el contenido que por la forma.
¿Y me pregunto son estos los modelos que queremos para nuestra sociedad?
November 23, 2014
I was eleven years old, and from that moment everything changed. I lost my innocence and discovered loneliness, authority, adult life, and fear. My salvation was reading, reading good books, taking refuge in those worlds where life was glorious, intense, one adventure after another, where I could feel free and be happy again. And it was writing, in secret, like someone giving himself up to an unspeakable vice, a forbidden passion. Literature stopped being a game. It became a way of resisting adversity, protesting, rebelling, escaping the intolerable, my reason for living. From then until now, in every circumstance when I have felt disheartened or beaten down, on the edge of despair, giving myself body and soul to my work as a storyteller has been the light at the end of the tunnel, the plank that carries the shipwrecked man to shore.
October 11, 2023
io piangendo così random
March 23, 2013
I bought this book, used from Fireside Books in Palmer, Alaska, when I picked it up and read on the first page that Mario's mother was moved to tears reading Pablo Neruda.
Llosa is humble and honest in his writing. "If in this address I were to summon all the writers to whom I owe a few things or a great deal, their shadows would plunge us into darkness. They are innumerable. In addition to revealing the secrets of the storytelling craft, they obliged me to explore the bottomless depths of humanity, admire its heroic deeds, and feel horror at its savagery." We can all relate to him, but it's how he thinks that makes this book highlighted in a rainbow of colors, with notes in the margins.
Llosa is humble and honest in his writing. "If in this address I were to summon all the writers to whom I owe a few things or a great deal, their shadows would plunge us into darkness. They are innumerable. In addition to revealing the secrets of the storytelling craft, they obliged me to explore the bottomless depths of humanity, admire its heroic deeds, and feel horror at its savagery." We can all relate to him, but it's how he thinks that makes this book highlighted in a rainbow of colors, with notes in the margins.
March 6, 2021
«Saremmo peggiori di quello che siamo senza i buoni libri che abbiamo letto»
leggere porta solo dei benefici o può in qualche modo produrre anche un effetto negativo?
Questo è il discorso che Llosa fece quando ritirò il premio Nobel per la letteratura. Descrive il suo percorso come lettore, e solo dopo come scrittore. Delinea tutti i vantaggi che la lettura e la finzione ci portano: l’immaginazione ci permette di pensare ad una realtà alternativa e di cambiare quindi la nostra, ma anche di sviluppare un pensiero critico.
Leggiamo anche aneddoti biografici e ci chiediamo in che misura la lettura porta beneficio non solo in paesi più ricchi e sviluppati, ma anche in quelli dilaniati da guerra e povertà.
leggere porta solo dei benefici o può in qualche modo produrre anche un effetto negativo?
Questo è il discorso che Llosa fece quando ritirò il premio Nobel per la letteratura. Descrive il suo percorso come lettore, e solo dopo come scrittore. Delinea tutti i vantaggi che la lettura e la finzione ci portano: l’immaginazione ci permette di pensare ad una realtà alternativa e di cambiare quindi la nostra, ma anche di sviluppare un pensiero critico.
Leggiamo anche aneddoti biografici e ci chiediamo in che misura la lettura porta beneficio non solo in paesi più ricchi e sviluppati, ma anche in quelli dilaniati da guerra e povertà.
December 6, 2016
Those were good times, when writer got the Nobel Literatur prize and were happy to oblige. This year Mr. Dylan was too busy but I don't really care as he is a singer and not a writer to me. So it was good to go back to 2010 and one of my favorite author ever.
Erano bei tempi quando gli scrittori ricevevano i premi Nobel per la letteratura e ne erano felici. Quest'anno il signor Dylan era troppo impegnato, ma personalmente me ne importa proprio poco considerato che dall'inizio mi é sembrata una pessima idea. Quindi é stato bello, anche se per poco, tornare al 2010 e alle parole di uno dei miei autori preferiti.
Erano bei tempi quando gli scrittori ricevevano i premi Nobel per la letteratura e ne erano felici. Quest'anno il signor Dylan era troppo impegnato, ma personalmente me ne importa proprio poco considerato che dall'inizio mi é sembrata una pessima idea. Quindi é stato bello, anche se per poco, tornare al 2010 e alle parole di uno dei miei autori preferiti.
December 28, 2016
"Non bisogna confondere il cieco nazionalismo e il suo rifiuto dell’«altro», sempre seme di violenza, con il patriottismo, sentimento sano e generoso, di amore per la terra in cui si è nati, in cui sono vissuti i propri avi e si sono forgiati i primi sogni, paesaggio familiare di geografie, esseri amati ed episodi divenuti pietre miliari della memoria e scudi contro la solitudine. La patria non sono le bandiere né gli inni, né apodittici discorsi su emblematici eroi, ma una manciata di luoghi e di persone che popolano i nostri ricordi e li tingono di malinconia, la calda sensazione che, non importa dove ci troviamo, esiste un posto in cui possiamo tornare."
August 5, 2016
Accesible. Asombroso. Conmovedor. No dejo de sorprenderme cada vez leo este texto, al que vuelvo una y otra y otra vez en busca de sentido, inspiración y consuelo, por el poder de emocionar que tienen tan breves palabras. Es una lectura obligatoria para entender el por qué de la literatura en nuestros contexto. Propagar la inconformidad, por medio de la lectura y la escritura, mejora nuestro entorno, y nos hace menos peores de lo que seríamos si no lo hiciéramos.
Un texto digno de difusión. Por favor, compártanlo con la mayor cantidad de personas posibles.
Un texto digno de difusión. Por favor, compártanlo con la mayor cantidad de personas posibles.
December 22, 2016
الكتاب يحوي مقابلة الاتصال الهاتفي لماريو لمن فاز بجائزة نوبل عام ٢٠١٠ و يتبعه رسالة القبول او سميها شنو تريد.
بالرسالة يحجي ماريو عن الأدب، القراءة و الكتابة و شلون صنعوا، هلشغلتين، ماريو فارغاس يوسا الروائي الطاگ.
بالاضافة للسياسة، الفَن، الدين و المجتمعات و سلوكياتها.
الرسالة شيقة جدا، و ممتعة، كل سطر يكاد يكون كووت.
بالرسالة يحجي ماريو عن الأدب، القراءة و الكتابة و شلون صنعوا، هلشغلتين، ماريو فارغاس يوسا الروائي الطاگ.
بالاضافة للسياسة، الفَن، الدين و المجتمعات و سلوكياتها.
الرسالة شيقة جدا، و ممتعة، كل سطر يكاد يكون كووت.
January 26, 2023
შესანიშნავი სანობელე ლექცია გამოუვიდა მარიო ვარგას ლიოსას, რომელშიც არც თავისი წარსული, სამშობლო, დიდებული მწერლები დავიწყებია და არც იმის აღნიშვნა, თუ რამხელა მნიშვნელობა აქვს ლიტერატურასა და კითხვის პროცესს.
April 18, 2025
Más bien Elogio a mí mismo, al colonialismo y a la falsa libertad.
April 17, 2018
Este discurso fue tan bueno como se podría imaginar de tal autor como Vargas Llosa. Al recrear para el lector el poder de la literatura de darnos más vidas para vivir y permitirnos imaginar un mundo mejor, Vargas Llosa enfatiza porque es importante que esta maravillosa creación humana continúe. El comparte, en una manera que todo joven lector puede entender visceralmente, como la lectura se convirtió en su escape y al mismo tiempo le dio alas para ver un futuro más allá de sus problemas. Igualmente, Vargas Llosa estresa el poder de la literatura de cruzar barreras de etnicidad o religión, permitiéndonos simpatizar y conmovernos con los sufrimientos y victorias de cualquier otro ser humano. La verdad es que fuera del ya grande valor que tiene las obras de Vargas Llosa, este ensayo debe ser leído simplemente por la defensa apasionada que el da al poder de la lectura – que es en su aspecto más básico solo una serie de mentiras – para cambiar nuestra vida, y a través de nosotros, cambiar el mundo.
June 21, 2011
Vargas Llosa mengingatkan kita tentang apa itu sastera, dan apa itu membaca serta mengapa kita tidak akan pernah jemu atau berhenti membaca karya sastera. Sebagai seorang sasterawan besar, idea gagasan pemikiran Vargas Llosa sangat merakyat. Kita tidak akan menemui istilah-istilah rumit dalam syarahan Hadiah Nobelnya ini, sebaliknya, kita akan lebih mengenali sosok peribadi Vargas Llosa daripada zaman anak-anaknya di di Peru, tentang gelisah jiwanya apabila bertemu kembali bapa yang selama ini jauh sehinggalah kehidupan dengan isterinya yang tidak janggal mengatakan, "Mario, kamu hanya tahu menulis!"
January 12, 2012
"Get your nose out of that book," is what my mother said to me numerous times when I was a child, but never would have if she had read "In Praise of Reading and Fiction." Those of us on Goodreads know subjectively why we read, but Mario Vargas Llosa articulates it and gives it a voice. Anyone who does not read, or thinks he/she does not need to read books, fiction, would be well-served by reading this book. I have read most of what Vargas Llosa has written, he being my first introduction to Latin American Literature when I started studying Spanish, however, I like this short Nobel Prize for Litereature acceptance speech more than everything he has previously written.
January 18, 2016
Llosa's Nobel lecture delivers all the extraordinary and epic qualities of a writer's reminisces pertaining to the value of his craft, his humanitarian efforts, his ethnic/national pride, and the combination of all of these. Llosa brilliantly acclaims the prestige of the Latin American writer and adamantly asserts the indispensability of the fiction novel as a ladder with which to loft mankind to ever higher levels of moral attainment.
The opening record of his phone call in which he learned of the awarding grants him a semi-intimate and touching dimension. Despite a handful of editorial oversights, the lecture skips delightfully just like a writer's Nobel lecture should.
The opening record of his phone call in which he learned of the awarding grants him a semi-intimate and touching dimension. Despite a handful of editorial oversights, the lecture skips delightfully just like a writer's Nobel lecture should.
January 29, 2014
Llosa makes the reading of fiction seem noble and an integral part of developing as a intellectual, fair person. He praises fiction for helping keep people tempered by seeing a world outside the one they see and the one that is fed to them. I especially found his few paragraphs on the danger of nationalism fascinating, but wished he would have related it back to reading fiction in a less round about way. His style of writing was engaging to say the least. It flows smoothly and passionately, giving this subject life that few writers could give this subject.
August 10, 2016
The best part is where the author makes the difference between nationalism and patriotism. While nationalism is defined traits that are negative exclude people - xenophobic, full of superior complexes and boundaries; patriotism is simply love of one's homeland. Never thought of it that way.
Can be found here:
https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_priz...
Can be found here:
https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_priz...
June 8, 2015
Well, so far I'm 100% rocked by Nobel Lectures by Literature laureates. The other one I've read is Toni Morrison's "Language Alone Protects Us," which — what a phrase. It's up there on the list of words I'd have tattooed on my body except it seems like overkill because they're already so stuck in my brain.
July 5, 2011
It's a lovely lecture on the importance of literature, of reading and writing, and of fiction. He delves into politics a bit but I found it all to be an important piece of work for any one who enjoys reading books. Very short. Recommended.
August 27, 2012
Perché la nostra sarà sempre, per fortuna, una storia inconclusa. Per questo dobbiamo continuare a sognare, leggere e scrivere, la maniera più efficace che abbiamo trovato per alleviare la nostra condizione mortale, per sconfiggere il tarlo del tempo e trasformare in possibile l'impossibile
June 30, 2011
This paen to the power of literature is heady stuff indeed. Well said.
August 26, 2016
So many ideas, so much beauty, in such little piece.
September 30, 2025
Mario Vargas Llosa’s Defense of Fiction: A Nobel Reflection
Mario Vargas Llosa’s In Praise of Reading and Fiction is a lyrical meditation on the transformative power of literature. Delivered as his Nobel Prize lecture in 2010, the essay blends personal memoir with a passionate defense of storytelling. Vargas Llosa recounts his early love of books in Peru, tracing how fiction shaped his worldview, moral imagination, and political consciousness. He argues that literature is not a luxury but a necessity. It is an act of rebellion against injustice, a refuge from mediocrity, and a means of understanding human complexity.
This address also pays tribute to the writers who shaped him, including Flaubert, Faulkner, and Cervantes. It affirms the ethical and emotional depth that fiction can offer. Vargas Llosa insists that reading cultivates empathy and sharpens our sense of reality, even as it invites us into imagined worlds. Literature is a civilizing force and a source of joy.
Mario Vargas Llosa’s In Praise of Reading and Fiction is a lyrical meditation on the transformative power of literature. Delivered as his Nobel Prize lecture in 2010, the essay blends personal memoir with a passionate defense of storytelling. Vargas Llosa recounts his early love of books in Peru, tracing how fiction shaped his worldview, moral imagination, and political consciousness. He argues that literature is not a luxury but a necessity. It is an act of rebellion against injustice, a refuge from mediocrity, and a means of understanding human complexity.
This address also pays tribute to the writers who shaped him, including Flaubert, Faulkner, and Cervantes. It affirms the ethical and emotional depth that fiction can offer. Vargas Llosa insists that reading cultivates empathy and sharpens our sense of reality, even as it invites us into imagined worlds. Literature is a civilizing force and a source of joy.
November 9, 2017
“I carry Peru deep inside me because that is where I was born, grew up, was formed, and lived those experiences of childhood and youth that shaped my personality and forged my calling, and there I loved, hated, enjoyed, suffered, and dreamed. What happens there affects me more, moves and exasperates me more than what occurs elsewhere. I have not wished it or imposed it on myself; it simply is so.”
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