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Vargas Llosa, Mario (Translated by Helen R. Lane) : A Fish In The Water: A Memoir

Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York City, NY, 1994

ISBN 0374155097

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 532 pages. The author's debut memoir. One of the most important political memoirs of the 20th century. The first appearance of the title in English and in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Mario Vargas Llosa's "A Fish In The Water" in a felicitous English translation. About his failed Presidential candidacy and evolving political philosophy. In 1990, the greatest Peruvian novelist of our time ran for President of his country. Naively idealistic, he ultimately lost, to the guns, goons, and gold of his opponent, Alberto Fujimori. Every country gets the leader it richly deserves: Subsequently unmasked as not even a natural-born Peruvian (he forged his birth certificate), Fujimori methodically robbed his country blind and then fled to Japan when corruption charges surfaced against him. Vargas Llosa's account makes for gripping reading because unlike other politicians who write memoirs (with the indispensable help of a professional writer), he happens to be a real writer who wrote every word himself. "A Fish In The Water" is his masterly and illuminating account of his baptism of fire. Embittered by his defeat, Vargas Llosa became a Spanish citizen in 1993, but returns for private visits to Peru every year. He has since adopted a pragmatic, anti-ideological political position and distanced himself from partisan politics. An absolute "must-have" title for Mario Vargas Llosa collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Mario Vargas Llosa. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a classic. This is one of few such signed copies of the First American Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a beauty. Please note: Among "Boom" writers, Mario Vargas Llosa has been grossly under-valued for the longest time. The collectible value of his books will not only keep but keep going up. A rare signed copy thus. Winner of the Cervantes Prize, awarded to the greatest living writers in Spanish by the Spanish Government, in 1994. Winner of the Jerusalem Prize in 1995. Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2010. One of the greatest writers for our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER MARIO VARGAS LLOSA TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0374155097.

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