Nationalism in a Novel

23 Those cases showed that Llosa tried to reveal his different views on things. Sometimes people question his nationalism and also loyalty to his own country. However, he argued in this way. I never felt like a foreigner in Europe or, in fact, anywhere. In all the places I have lived, in Paris, London, Barcelona, Madrid, Berlin, Washington, New York, Brazil, or the Dominican Republic, I felt at home. I have always found a lair where I could live in peace, work, learn things, nurture dreams, and find friends, good books to read, and subjects to write about. It does not seem to me that my unintentionally becoming a citizen of the world has weakened what are called ―my roots,‖ my connections to my own country – which would not be particularly important – because if that were so, my Peruvian experiences would not continue to nourish me as a writer and would not always appear in my stories, even when they seem to occur very far from Peru http:www.nobelprize.org, May 24, 2012. His different view on things is, no doubt, influenced by his experiences living across his city, even across his country. The experiences have enabled him to be aware that there are several perspectives to see a problem that should be respected even in the case of showing his loyalty and nationalism to his country. Thus, many people consider him as a cosmopolitan. One of them is Geordie Williamson, Australians chief literary critic, who argued in this way . ‗Vargas Llosa is a cosmopolitan figure, a man whose political conservatism is almost at odds with his liberated fiction. Hes a radical Tory with an amazing imagination ,‘ Romei, 2010.

D. Review on Peruvian Society

Peruvian society is so multicultural. This is a result of its historical background and also geographical conditions. There were at least two big 24 civilizations, the Incas and the Spaniards, which contributed their inheritances and systems among Peruvian people. The Incas used to place their capital in ancient Cuzco mostly in high Andean terrain where jungles and high lands. After the Spaniards‘ coming to Peru, they remained stable dwelling in highlands for the geographical condition could protect them from Spanish civilization. While the Incas dwelled in high terrain, the Spanish conquerors, who used to place their capital in Lima, occupied coast areas and lowlands for there were the entrance to this island Garcia, 1985: 402. That historical background brought many impacts for the Peruvian people nowadays. The Incas seemed to contribute some remains of their civilization in highland. However, they could not cover all areas of the Andean sierra due to its ruggedness. As a result, there are still many natives Indians that remain living in their traditional ways and far from civilization until now. One of them is Matsigenka or Machiguenga community that dwells in upper part of Amazon jungle surrounded by Andes Mountains, Urubamba River, and Madre de Dios River, in Cuzco region, southeastern part of Peru as a result of the Incas civilization and also the Spaniards civilization which disturbed their areas. However, as time went by, they could be touched by modernization. Some of them nowadays are educated in Pucallpa where Summer Institute of Linguistics trains literacy to the natives Johnson, 1996. Compared to the Incas who affected the highland natives, the Spaniards seemed to bring quite big impacts to rest of Peruvian societies nowadays. Their coming had forced other inhabitants to move to the highland for they applied