Letters to a Young Novelist

Mario Vargas Llosa condenses a lifetime of writing, reading, and thought into an essential manual for aspiring writers. Drawing on the stories and novels of writers from around the globe--Borges, Bierce, Celine, Cortazar, Faulkner, Kafka, Robbe-Grillet--he lays bare the inner workings of fiction, all the while urging young novelists not to lose touch with the elemental urge to ...

Mario Vargas Llosa condenses a lifetime of writing, reading, and thought into an essential manual for aspiring writers. Drawing on the stories and novels of writers from around the globe--Borges, Bierce, Celine, Cortazar, Faulkner, Kafka, Robbe-Grillet--he lays bare the inner workings of fiction, all the while urging young novelists not to lose touch with the elemental urge to create. Conversational, eloquent, and effortlessly erudite, this little book is destined to be read and re-read by young writers, old writers, would-be writers, and all those with a stake in the world of letters.

马里奥・巴尔加斯・略萨（1936―），出生于秘鲁阿雷基帕。1959年以故事集《首领们》初获文名，1963年出版成名作《城市与狗》。他还著有《塔克纳小姐》、《琼加》和《阳台上的疯子》等多部戏剧作品。2002年又有长篇新作《天堂在另外的街角》问世。他于1986年和1994年先后获得阿斯图里亚斯王子文学奖和塞万提斯文学奖。