Essay on "Letters to a Young Novelist" by Mario Vargas Llosa, a Primer for the Aspiring Novel Writer

Essay on Letters to a Young Novelist
by Mario Vargas Llosa
Student: Eric Kasum
Advisor: Rachel Pollack
Goddard College
Revised February 23, 2004 - Winter/Spring
"Fiction is a lie uncovering a deep truth ... Rebellion lies at the heart of every literary calling ... the desire to change reality, the questioning of real life, which is the secret raison d'être of literature ... They don't imagine themselves as plotting secretly to dynamite the world ... The difficult and thrilling moment you decide whether you will go beyond amusing yourself ... leads you into servitude, into nothing…