Mario Vargas Llosa. Terrific choice. Should have happened years ago.
In an interview with The Times in 2002, Mr. Vargas Llosa said that it was the novelist’s obligation to question real life. “I don’t think there is a great fiction that is not an essential contradiction of the world as it is,” he said. “The Inquisition forbade the novel for 300 years in Latin America. I think they understood very well the seditious consequence that fiction can have on the human spirit.’” ...NYT
Good point, Mr. Vargas. We're experiencing a turn in that direction now, in 21st century American politics. Education is suspect here. Education tends to produce people who ask questions.
Vargas Llosa has been controversial. His political move from left to right dismayed a lot of his readers and admirers. But his shifting politics take nothing away from his ability to write extraordinarily moving books with strong characters and a great sense of place. If you haven't read anything he's written and can read Spanish, read him in Spanish. I don't know who has done the English translations*, but they're readily available, too.
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*Rabassa. Perfect. Might want to read "War of the End of the World" for its resonance with our very own, ongoing socio-political disaster up here in el norte. Translated by Helen Lane who's also excellent.
