Letters to a Young Novelist Quotes

“That is one thing I am sure of amid my many uncertainties regarding the literary vocation: deep inside, a writer feels that writing is the best thing that ever happened to him, or could ever happen to him, because as far as he is concerned, writing is the best possible way of life, never mind the social, political, or financial rewards of what he might achieve through it.”
― Mario Vargas Llosa, Letters to a Young Novelist

“Why would anyone who is deeply satisfied with reality, with real life as it is lived, dedicate himself to something as insubstantial and fanciful as the creation of fictional realities? Naturally, those who rebel against lie as it is, using their ability to invent different lives and different people, may do so for any number of reasons, honorable or dishonorable, generous or selfish, complex or banal. The nature of this basic questioning of reality, which to my mind lies at the heart of every literary calling, doesn't matter at all. What matters is that the rejection be strong enough to fuel the enthusiasm for a task as quixotic as tilting at windmills – the slight-of-hand replacement of the concrete, objective world of life as it is lived with the subtle and ephemeral world of fiction.”
― Mario Vargas Llosa, Letters to a Young Novelist

“It is rare and almost impossible for a novel to have only one narrator.”
― Mario Vargas Llosa, Letters to a Young Novelist

“الأدب هو أفضل ما تم اختراعه من أجل الوقاية من التعاسة”
― ماريو بارغاس يوسا, Letters to a Young Novelist

“My impression is that life—a big word, I know—inflicts themes on a writer through certain experiences that impress themselves on his consciousness or subconscious and later compel him to shake himself free by turning them into stories.”
― Mario Vargas Llosa, Letters to a Young Novelist

“التفاصيل الصغيرة في تراكمها هي التي تحسم روعة أو بؤس الصنعة الفنية”
― ماريو بارغاس يوسا, Letters to a Young Novelist

“إن الأدب هو خدعة كبيرة و لكن الأدب العظيم يتمكن من إخفاء ذلك ، بينما الأدب الرديء يكشفه و يفضحه.”
― ماريو بارغاس يوسا, Letters to a Young Novelist

“Cu toate acestea, jocul de-a literatura nu e unul inofensiv. Rod al unei intime insatisfacții față de viața așa cum este, ficțiunea e la rândul ei prilej de nemulțumire, de frustrare. Iar asta se întâmplă fiindcă cel ce, prin lectură, trăiește o mare ficțiune revine la viața reală cu o sensibilitate mult mai ascuțită față de limitările și imperfecțiunile ei, aflând din acele mărețe fantezii că lumea reală, viața trăită sunt infinit mai mediocre decât cele inventate de romancieri.”
― Mario Vargas Llosa, Letters to a Young Novelist

“We do so many things together. We go to theatres, exhibitions, bookstores, we spend hours and hours discussing politics, books, films, friends. And you think I do these things for the same reason you do, because I enjoy them. But you're wrong. I do them all for it, for the tapeworm. That's how it seems to me: that my whole life is no longer for my sake but for the sake of what I carry inside me, of which I am now no more than a servant.”
― Mario Vargas Llosa, Letters to a Young Novelist

“La literatura es puro artificio, pero la gran literatura consigue disimularlo y la mediocre lo delata.”
― Mario Vargas Llosa, Cartas a un joven novelista

“الرواية الرديئة تفتقر إلى قوة الإقناع”
― ماريو بارغاس يوسا, Letters to a Young Novelist

“فهو لا يكتب ليعيش بل يعيش ليكتب”
― ماريو بارغاس يوسا, Letters to a Young Novelist

“الكتابة هي طريقة في الحياة”
― ماريو بارغاس يوسا, Letters to a Young Novelist

“Ce-mi place mie este să citesc romanele, nu să le fac autopsia.”
― Mario Vargas Llosa, Letters to a Young Novelist

“La vocación literaria no es un pasatiempo, un deporte, un juego refinado que se practica en los ratos de ocio. Es una dedicación exclusiva y excluyente, una prioridad a la que nada puede anteponerse, una servidumbre libremente elegida que hace de sus víctimas (de sus dichosas victimas) unos esclavos.”
― Mario Vargas Llosa, Letters to a Young Novelist

“Querido amigo: estoy tratando de decirle que se olvide de todo lo que ha leído en mis cartas sobre la forma novelesca y de que se ponga a escribir novelas de una vez.
Mucha suerte.”
― Mario Vargas Llosa, Letters to a Young Novelist