Mario Vargas Llosa receives the Umbral Award for the best novel of 2019 for 'Hard times'

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A vibrant, addictive and necessary book. "This is how Manuel Llorente, president of the Francisco Umbral Prize jury, referred to

(Alfaguara), the novel for which the Spanish-Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa was

this Monday at the headquarters of the Madrid's community.

The jury highlighted at the time, back in January, when its decision was announced and the pandemic had not yet caused havoc, that

meant the "return to one of the scenarios in which [Vargas Llosa] is more comfortable and more knows ", which has allowed him to delve into" the line of historical research and alternation between private life and public life "that he already exhibited in

and

.

In fact, the novel can be understood as a continuation and extension of those, since it rescues the same tone and some characters to portray the turbulent reality of Guatemala in the mid-1950s, when the CIA supported the coup against Jacobo Árbenz.

The award ceremony, delayed on several occasions due to the coronavirus, was presented by Fernando R. Lafuente, Editorial Secretary of the

member of the jury and in charge of presenting the appearing parties, starting with

, widow of Francisco Umbral.

Suárez praised the career of Vargas Llosa,

and described the award as "one more way to worship the Spanish language."

Then Manuel Llorente took the podium to remember, among other things, the historic speech of Vargas Llosa's admission to the Royal Spanish Academy, in which the author of

spoke about the reader and his hope that a novel "Amuse and dizzy him, excite and intrigue

and, for a few hours, tear him away from the mediocrity of the real world and transport him to the exalting regions of illusion".

Vargas Llosa himself dedicated his words of acceptance of the award to the aspects in which "

, is a source of progress, of change. A society that is deeply immersed in literature is less difficult to manipulate than that other one in which literature fulfills a minor or secondary function ".

In this sense, the Peruvian Nobel Prize winner also spoke of books as "germ of nonconformity, testimony of insubordination and rebellion when a society is not free. Freedom is always precarious, and in this era we have discovered it better than our ancestors. Reality in which we live can change suddenly and transform and

, as literature. "

There was also time for a relaxed discussion between Juan Cruz, deputy director of

and member of the jury, and Vargas Llosa himself, in which the writer recalled his arrival in Madrid in 1958, that

and in which" nobody feels foreign ".

In addition, he portrayed the unique character of Umbral itself when he recalled his first and only meeting, a lunch in which the journalist and writer from Madrid asked him, "

", An author for whom Vargas Llosa felt "pure sociological interest, not literary, "he clarified.

Finally, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, president of the Community of Madrid, praised the winner's ability to "rewrite history with the fidelity of a witness and lift fiction with the literary pulse of a teacher", in an event that was also attended Antonio Fernández-Galiano, president of the Editorial Unit, Francisco Rosell, director of EL MUNDO, in addition to public positions such as Ignacio Aguado, vice president of the Community, Marta Rivera de la Cruz, Minister of Culture, and José Luis Álvarez Ustarroz, mayor of Majadahonda .

MADRID, CAPITAL OF SPANISH IN THE WORLD

Isabel Díaz Ayuso took advantage of her speech to denounce what she considers "the

in the sensitive field of education and, in this case, language", in reference to the educational reform of the LOMLOE, also known as the Celaá law , which will not include in its text that Spanish is the vehicular language in teaching nor will it appear as the official language of the State.

"A nation that marginalizes its language is doomed to disappearance, it is an

political and cultural

," warned the president of the Community of Madrid.

To combat what he described as "nonsense", Díaz Ayuso announced "an ambitious project to make Madrid the capital of Spanish in the world and thus contribute to making our language more and more universal."

It is a plan that will cover areas such as education, the arts or tourism, and to which it has invited to participate "great intellectuals such as Vargas Llosa, one of the best writers in the Spanish language, who has always demonstrated his commitment to the democracy, justice and, above all, freedom. "

To which Vargas Llosa himself replied, "

."

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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