Author Llosa to visit U. for two days

Last year, Vargas Llosa -- seeking to alleviate Peru's staggering economic problems and political instability -- ran unsuccessfully for president of Peru against Alfredo Fugimora, a landowner of Japanese decent. Author of The Time of the Hero -- a novel depicting life in a Peruvian military academy, Vargas Llosa supported socialism and the Castro regime in Cuba during the early part of his career. In 1971 Vargas Llosa renounced his ties with Cuba. Vargas Llosa also won the Peruvian National Prize for Best Novel, the Spanish Critics Award, and the Venezuelan Romula Gallegos Award in 1967 for his novel The Green House, a work based on his journey in the Andes Mountain range. The writer will make two public appearances at the University, including a discussion with Romance Language Professor Jose Oviedo and a question and answer period afterward. Tomorrow, Vargas Llosa will deliver a speech entitled "Karl Popper, Today" at 3:00 p.m. in room 17 of Logan Hall. English Professor Robert Lucid praised the author last week saying, "Mario Vargas Llosa is one of the most distinguished novelists from the Southern Hemisphere." "He would be celebrated even if he had no political identity at all," Lucid added. "But there's no denying the fact that his political identity is quite compelling." Oviedo said last week that Vargas Llosa "is in favor of democracy in Latin America . . . and out of all Latin American writers, he is the one who has opposed ideological dogmatism the most." Vargas Llosa is a former president of PEN -- Poets, Essayists and Novelists -- as well a former writer-in-residence at the Smithsonian Institute. In 1983, he released his most recent work, Against All Odds, a collection of political and literary essays. Vargas Llosa will appear this evening at 6:00 p.m. in the Benjamin Franklin Room in Houston hall to answer audience questions.

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