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importance that, without taking it fully into account, we will find it difficult to probe the obs
cure genesis of nationalism.‘ However, the main learning from that case is that people from different time or era with their own conditions can feel
nationalism because the previous generation had taught about this spirit to their children Anderson, 1991: 22-30.
b. Nationalism in a Novel
Anderson continued the explanation about simultaneity in the word meanwhile
by exemplifying through literature. He explored how José Rizal‘s
novel Noli Me Tangere clearly describe that simultaneity of events in different time can create nuance of nationalism 1991: 22-30. In Spectre of Comparisons,
he also described how Noli Me Tangere can create the imagination The Philippines people. The author put several characters in different settings to create
a story containing series of events that seem separated but actually are closely related to each other. By looking at the description of different events put in Noli
Me Tangere , the readers‘ minds are brought to the imagination of what-so-called
The Philipinos. Yet the geographical space of the novel is strictly confined to the
immediate environs of the colonial capital, Manila. The Spain from which so many of the characters have at one time or another arrived is always off
stage. This restriction made it clear to Rizal‘s first readers that ―The Philippines‖ was aa society in itself, even though those who lived in it had
as yet no common name. That he was the first to imagine this social whole explains why he is remembered today as the First Filipino Anderson,
1998: 230.
Thus, Anderson exemplified how nationalism is created by imagining series of events in a novel. Characters coming
from ‗every stratum of late colonial
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society, from liberal-minded peninsular Captain-General down through the racial tiers of colonial society−creoles, mestizos, chinos ―pure‖ Chinese to the
illiterate‘ and limited with the place named Manila, he described as the beginning of imagining a nation of The Philippines. Noli Me Tangere finally brought other
people in The Philippines to realize that they are in one community and have a communion until later they reached their sovereignty.
All this examples are to explain that nationalism is coming from the ability to imagine that certain people in certain places and in whatever circumstances
belong to a certain community. The analogy of the word meanwhile is to emphasize that the communion is also built in diversity. Some may realize that
they are connected with other members in a community because of certain similarities but the example of Noli Me Tangere gives an understanding that a
nation may also contain of ‗different‘ people as long as they can imagine their communion.
C. Mario Vargas Llosa’s Life Background
Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa or known as Mario Vargas Llosa is well- known as Peruvian novelist. He was born in Arequipa, Peru, 1936, but spent his
childhood in Cochabamba, Bolivia. During his childhood, Llosa lived only with his mother since she hid him from knowing his father because of their separation.
However, it was ten years after he was born that he finally met his father. Llosa was then brought by his father to live in Lima, Peru http:www.centrorisorse.org,
July 23, 2012.
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After leaving Cochabamba, he continued his fifth grade in Lima. In his adolescence, Llosa had ever entered military school for two years but then
continued his high school in Piura. In 1953, he went back to Lima and took Law and Literature in San Marcos University. It did not please his father though
http:www.centrorisorse.org, July 23, 2012. Despite the fact that his father did not agree with his studying Law and
Literature, it would finally be revealed that he could make a living from what he had learned in San Marcos. He experienced several jobs that were not too far from
law and literature. He used to write news for in Peruvian local radio. In the early of 1960, he began ‗travelling‘ in some European countries. He went to Madrid in
1959 and then encountering quite difficult life in Paris a year after. Fortunately, he got an opportunity to teach Spanish in that city. His speaking in the French ORTF
and his being journalist in France Press, apparently made his relation to literature was getting closer and closer. One of his starting points might be his writing a
play entitled The Flight of the Inca. Later, he went back to Peru to get data about Amazonians, travelled to Havana and Cuba, and in 1967 he started living again in
Europe with his family from the secondary marriage until 1971 http:www.centrorisorse.org, July 23, 2012.
Although he travelled a lot, he has been making so many writing until now. Some of his works are The Time of the Hero 1963, The Green House
1966, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter 1977, The Storyteller 1987, and The Dream of the Celt
2010. Despite the fact that his works are like autobiographical writings, he has articulated his concerns in politics especially the things related to
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Latin America. He used to encounter with socialism world by supporting Cuban revolution. Later, when the movement showed authoritarian characteristics, he
started exposing his own views by leaving Fidel Castro‘s ways. Llosa put ‗liberal pluralism, democracy, and free market‘ as the things he struggled for the people.
This turning of view was remarked ‗His changing political inclination brought with it a new way of understanding Latin American problems.‘ In 1990, he was
the candidate for the President election in Peru but apparently it was Alberto Fujimori who won it http:www.nobelprize.org, May 24, 2012.
In 2010, Mario Vargas Llosa was awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature. His works are considered as his reflections on problems in Latin America and his
upholding democracy for the people. It is not only about political issues that have decorated his works but also his concerns to the inhabitants in Amazon.
Moreover, his different perspectives on reflecting the problems might be another reason why he deserved to get the award Stavans, 2010.
His decision to get Spain citizenship and to live only three years after he failed the presidential
election might be one of the ways he articulated his ‗own views‘ on problems. This decision, no doubt, became a controversy. He was
considered as a traitor to his own country. Another case is showed in the below quotation.
He also analyzed the case of Vladimiro Montesinos Torres, Fujimoris right-hand man, whose own corruption, when revealed, helped bring down
his mentor by showing the Peruvian people the extent of Fujimoris political excesses. In Vargas Llosas reflections, Montesinoss actions,
outrageous as they were, offered a precious opportunity for Peruvian democracy to cleanse and reform itself Stavans, 2010.
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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
