Making Waves: Essays [Mass Market Paperback]

Mario Vargas Llosa (Author), John King (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1998

Spanning thirty years of writing, these essays trace the development of Mario Vargas Llosa's thinking on politics and culture, and show the breadth of his interests and passions. Featured here are astute meditations on the Cuban Revolution, Latin American independence, the terrorism of Peru's Shining Path, and the presidency of Alberto Fujimoro; brilliant engagements with such towering figures of twentieth-century literature as Joyce, Faulkner, Camus, Sartre, Beauvoir, and Bellows; considerations on the dog cemetery where Rin-Tin-Tin is buried, Lorena Bobbitt's knife, and the failures of the English public-school system, which made Vargas Llosa's son into a Rastafarian. This collection reminds us "that literature is fire, that it means nonconformity and rebellion. . . [that it] is a form of permanent insurrection." Making Waves superbly exemplifies Vargas Llosa's artistic credo.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Mario Vargas Llosa's lively mind alights in all kinds of places, both expected and unexpected: at the 1982 World Cup in Spain; on the Cuban revolution; in Berlin, where the son he meets at the airport has become a Rastafarian. But winding through this engaging collection is an exploration of something closer to the Peruvian novelist's (and one-time presidential contender's) core: his thoughts on the politics of literature and the literature of politics. In the United States, novelists aren't thought of in terms of their contribution to the national good; For Llosa, as for many Latin American writers, these acts most public (politics) and private (the writing of literature) are inextricably linked. "A writer," he says, "has no better way of serving his country than by writing with as much discipline and honesty as he can.... If he writes better in his country, he must stay there; if he writes better in exile, he must leave." And for those who think fiction is divorced from real life, think again: "A nation," writes Llosa, "is a political fiction imposed on a social and geographic reality almost always by force, for the benefit of a political minority." --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

The eminent Peruvian novelist (e.g., Death in the Andes, LJ 10/15/95), whose recent memoir, A Fish in the Water (LJ 5/1/94), recounts his unsuccessful bid for president of his country, lived for many years as an expatriate in Paris and London. He has also produced a substantial body of journalistic writings, and in this omnibus collection covering three decades, selected by his translator King, he addresses topics as diverse as the work of Surrealist filmmaker Bru?el, the World Cup of 1982, and the Lorena Bobbit grotesquerie. While he can stall in laudatory generalities when writing about Isaiah Berlin or John Dos Passos, for example, Vargas Llosa writes most effectively when discussing authors who have profoundly influenced him: Faulkner, Joyce, Sartre. Everywhere his conviction in the value of the writer's metier?"literature is fire"?burns, and the writer's ability to effect social justice in society. He testifies to such a change now taking place in Latin America. Despite a sometimes murky translation, there are some gems here.
-?Amy Boaz "Library Journal"
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (June 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140275568
• ISBN-13: 978-0140275568
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,161,087 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent essay collection by the great Peruvian writer, April 28, 2001

By 

Michael J. Mazza - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Making Waves: Essays (Mass Market Paperback)

"Making Waves," by Mario Vargas Llosa, brings together more than 40 essays by this great writer from Peru. The book has been edited by John King, who also translated these essays into English. Vargas writes about politics, literature, popular culture, the writer's vocation, and other topics. His moods vary greatly throughout the book: outraged, annoyed, sentimental, exasperated, and enthralled.

The book is filled with fascinating insights and memories. It is fascinating, for example, to read how Vargas Llosa's first novel was burned and denounced. He frequently attacks Cuban leader Fidel Castro. One of the best selections, "The Story of a Massacre," tells of the tragic slaying of a group of journalists; this piece takes us into the worlds of the Shining Path guerrillas and the Iquichano Indians.

Another excellent selection is "My Son the Rastafarian," about his son's conversion to the Rastafarian religion while staying at an English school. Many of Vargas Llosa's essays explore the lives and work of other writers: William Faulkner, Doris Lessing, Julio Cortazar, Ernest Hemingway, and others. And there are a few weird surprises, like his essay on Lorena Bobbitt, the woman who cut off her husband's penis.

In an essay on Hemingway, Mario Vargas Llosa writes, "The condition of the writer is strange and paradoxical." He adds that the writer needs to "feed the beast within which enslaves him." Vargas Llosa has been feeding his own "beast" for a long time now, and the world is a richer place because of this. I highly recommend "Making Waves" to all interested in contemporary literature and politics.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful intellectual journey, November 2, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Making Waves: Essays (Hardcover)

I gained a new respect for Vargas Llosa after reading this book. I admit that I've often had trouble finishing his novels, like "The Green House" and the "The War of the End of the World." But this collection of essays is very lucid and insightful. A true joy to read.

The topics vary, and cover everything from the "bad" films of Luis Bunuel to the fading legacy of Che Guevara. In fact, there seems to be an even split here between literary and political themes. I loved, for example, reading a Latin American perspective on the works of David Mamet.

I also enjoyed "Nicaragua at a Crossroads." His description of the capital city is amusing, heartbreaking and gives you a sense that the people of Managua live in a truly surreal world. No writer of magic realism could ever imagine a stranger form of urban chaos than the one depicted in this essay.

"Making Waves" is a brilliant collection -- one that ranks with Umberto Eco's "Travels in Hyperreality" or Octavio Paz's "Labyrinth of Solitude."

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Witty and intelligent random musings, August 14, 2001

By 

G. Goodman (Colorado) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Making Waves: Essays (Mass Market Paperback)

Mario Vargas Llosa is often overshadowed by the more famous Spanish writers such as Garcia Marquez and Fuentes. However, he deserves his place among them and may perhaps be better. "Making Waves" displays the writer's usual quick wit and sarcasm as he muses over everything from Peru's Shining Path to Hemingway to Rastafari to Che. It's a collection of essays spanning many decades, and often they are merely his take on a particular social, political, or literary trend. The book makes for enjoyable reading in bits and pieces. A highly intelligent work!