Author Vargas Llosa Provokes, Inspires

Campus News

by Sherri Kimmel

April 1, 2010

Two very different sides of an international literary lion were on display late Dec. 3, 2008, when Mario Vargas Llosa came to campus as the fourth recipient of The Harold and Ethel L. Stellfox Visiting Scholars and Writers Program award.

The novelist, essayist, journalist, critic, playwright—and former candidate for president of his native Peru—gave two public addresses, signed books and met with students over lunch and coffee.

Vargas Llosa entertained a full house in the Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium on Dec. 3, relating, in a humorous, conversational style, how his experience as a cub radio reporter in 1950s Lima provided material for his 1977 novel, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter. He then read the first chapter of the novel in Spanish and in English.

The following afternoon, in Rubendall Recital Hall, Vargas Llosa offered a more-formal reading of his essay, “The Civilization of Spectacle.” He equated such a civilization to “a world in which entertainment occupies the first place on the chart of current values, where having a good time, escaping boredom, is a universal passion.” He traced back the deterioration of thought from the end of World War II to the present, focusing on popular culture, giving examples of ways in which the discourse in politics, literature, art and film have been watered down and stripped of intellectual content for the sake of easy digestion and entertainment value.

Jorge Sagastume, associate professor of Spanish and chair of the Stellfox committee, noted that while some students and faculty reacted negatively to the essay, others felt “he caused us to rethink our own values. He pushed us, denounced us, in a way, for embracing certain forms of entertainment” that aren’t intellectually challenging.
 
He also inspired. Two Carlisle book groups have now chosen to study his works, and faculty members who were unfamiliar with Vargas Llosa’s work are reading his books, said Sagastume. After leaving Dickinson, the author flew to Venezuela to receive an honorary degree at the University of Caracas. In Caracas, according to Sagastume, Vargas Llosa mentioned Dickinson as a place where “education is doing what it is supposed to do.”

Dickinson students who had the opportunity to meet the latest Stellfox recipient would second that assessment. English major Caroline Peri ’10 remarked, “As an aspiring writer, I cannot express how valuable it is for me to be able to connect with published authors and to hear both their artistic and personal stories. I enjoyed learning about Mr. Vargas Llosa’s creative process and how he put his novels together. I also enjoyed hearing him read aloud from his novel. There is something magical about hearing written work in the original language.

“I had a chance to talk with him and other students about the perils of translation and how he feels about having his works translated for him,” Peri added. “I am interested in linguistics and enjoy experimenting with the literature of other countries, as well as writing in Spanish and Arabic myself, so hearing about his experience was both personally inspiring and very practical.”

Abigail Frackenpohl ’09, a Spanish major, also valued her chance to interact with a prestigious writer. It was “intense, inspiring and educational—definitely one of the more memorable events I’ve attended at Dickinson in my three years here,” she said.

Vargas Llosa’s visit was funded by the Harold and Ethel L. Stellfox Visiting Scholars and Writers Program, endowed by their daughter, Jean Louise Stellfox ’60. Stellfox was inspired to become an English teacher after meeting Robert Frost when he visited Dickinson in 1959, and when she died suddenly in 2003, her estate provided $1.5 million to the college to continue her mission of inspiring students through literature. That core endowment spins out funds yearly to defray the costs of bringing a major literary figure to campus. Previous awardees are novelist Ian McEwan, poet Rita Dove and playwright Edward Albee.