Cheap Intellectuals | Mario Vargas Llosa | Granta Magazine

Cheap Intellectuals

Mario Vargas Llosa

Translated by Margaret Jull Costa

‘Europeans want a fictitious Latin America on to which they can project their own desires. They want a Latin America which satisfies a longing for political engagement that is not possible in their own countries.’

Mario Vargas Llosa

Mario Vargas Llosa was born in Peru in 1936. His most recent books in English include a novel, The Bad Girl, and Touchstones, a collection of essays on literature, art and politics.

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Translated by Margaret Jull Costa

Margaret Jull Costa has worked as a translator for over thirty years, translating the works of many Spanish and Portuguese writers, among them novelists: Javier Marías, Bernardo Atxaga, José Saramago and Eça de Queiroz; and poets: Fernando Pessoa, Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, Mário de Sá-Carneiro and Ana Luísa Amaral.

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