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After 25 years of work, Jaime Bayly will publish one of his most controversial novels. The Peruvian writer and journalist performed on March 21 in Madrid The genius, a work that details the wonderful beginning and abrupt end of the friendship between García Márquez and Vargas Llosa. The affection and brotherhood that the two Nobel laureates maintained for more than a decade ended in the worst possible way.
It was 1962. While Kennedy began the United States' blockade of Cuba, the Rolling Stones were born and Brazil amazed the world of football at the World Cup in Chile, Vargas Llosa discovered romance The colonel has no one to write to him. The Peruvian writer decided to contact the author of this short work, Gabriel García Márquez. They both started sending letters for five years, even though they had never seen each other.
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The first time they met in person was at a literary event in Venezuela, in August 1967. From the first moment, the relationship was fluid and they became true accomplices. “There has been a reciprocal sympathy since we left Caracas together. We were already close friends”, declared Vargas Llosa at a conference at the Complutense University in 2017. The relationship between the two lovers of literature was very strong and apparently inseparable.
Two totally twin lives
Their professional careers were kindred spirits. Vargas Llosa took his first steps in the Peruvian newspaper La Crónica and García Márquez also started in the world of journalism with his reports and columns in the newspaper El Heraldo. Furthermore, the two authors lived rise of Spanish-American literature of the 60s. In that decade, Vargas Llosa published The city and the dogs It is conversation in the cathedraland García Márquez sold thousands of copies of his One hundred years of Solitude. On an ideological level, the two writers were ardent supporters of left-wing movements such as the Cuban Revolution, the military regime of Juan Velasco Alvarado or May 68.
The friendship between the two can also be seen reflected in literature. Vargas Llosa paid homage to Gabo's life and work with the essay García Márquez: story of a deicide. This same essay was the doctoral thesis that allowed Vargas Llosa to obtain the Doctorate in Philosophy and Letters from the Complutense University. Even both writers had in mind write a book together about the war between Colombia and Peru in 1932.
Five years of friendship in Barcelona
The complicity between the Peruvian and the Colombian gained greater strength in Barcelona. Since 1969, Gabo and Vargas Llosa lived just a few meters away. In Barcelona, the writers, their respective partners and Carmen Balcells (both authors' literary agent) They formed a happy group of friends. and they lived through the last blows of the Franco dictatorship together. However, in 1974, Vargas Llosa decided to go to Lima and the group of friends met for the last time to say goodbye to him.
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Although it may seem unimaginable, this cinematic friendship reached its final point on February 12, 1976. Gabriel García Márquez was watching a documentary by Vargas Llosa himself (The odyssey in the Andes) in the Canacine de México auditorium and saw the Peruvian writer arrive. But the moment García Márquez was about to greet him, Vargas Llosa punched him hard. The Peruvian author's ring hit Gabo's nose with tremendous violence. Two days later (in the midst of Valentine's Day celebrations), this photo by Rodrigo Moya showed the bruise that Gabo had on his left eye.
What was the reason for the punch?
The reason this friendship exploded into a thousand pieces was not economic or literary. Nor did this conflict occur because of their recent political differences. While García Márquez continued to enthusiastically support the Cuban Revolution and the dictatorship in Peru, Vargas Llosa began to distance himself from these movements. In fact, today, the Peruvian writer is criticized for his controversial support for José Antonio Kast (a far-right Chilean politician). The real reason for Vargas Llosa's punch was love.
After saying goodbye to his loved ones in Barcelona, Vargas Llosa undertook a boat trip to Lima without Patricia Llosa (Mario's companion and cousin). On that same trip, the Peruvian writer He had a brief relationship with model Susana Diez Canseco. As soon as she learned about this event, Patricia Llosa began to feel a strong thirst for revenge.
One night in 1975, García Márquez, Patricia Llosa and several friends were together at the Bocaccio nightclub. There are several theories about what happened. at this location in Madrid. Many journalists at the time commented that García Márquez fueled the Bolivian's desire for revenge. Gabo could have suggested to Patricia Llosa that they were both lovers for her to take revenge on Vargas Llosa. Other sources suggest that García Márquez advised Patricia Llosa to divorce her husband and promised to pay his lawyers for the trial.
This conversation between Gabo and Patricia Llosa ended up being the trigger for Mario Vargas Llosa's anger. “This is because of what you did to Patrícia”, shouted the Peruvian author at the moment he was about to hit the one who had been his great friend. Finally, despite the scandalous event between the two Nobel Prize winners, the Llosas prolonged their marriage until 2015, when the Peruvian writer was unfaithful to his wife with Isabella Preysler. Although people like Carmen Balcells have tried to reconcile the two literary referents, Former friends and eternal enemies have never found a way to forgive each other.
