Magdy reported from Cairo, and Goldenberg from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman contributed to this report from Tel Aviv.
That, and subsequent novels such as “Conversation in the Cathedral,” (Conversación en la Catedral) in 1969, quickly established Vargas Llosa as one of the leaders of the so-called “Boom,” or new wave of Latin American writers of the 1960s and 1970s, alongside Gabriel García Márquez and Carlos Fuentes.Vargas Llosa started writing early, and at 15 was a part-time crime reporter for La Crónica newspaper. According to his official website, other jobs he had included revising names on cemetery tombs in Peru, working as a teacher in the Berlitz school in Paris and briefly on the Spanish desk at Agence France-Presse in Paris.
Mario Vargas Llosa is interviewed at his home in Lima, Peru in 1978. (AP Photo/Hank Ackerman, File)Mario Vargas Llosa is interviewed at his home in Lima, Peru in 1978. (AP Photo/Hank Ackerman, File)He continued publishing articles in the press for most of his life, most notably in a twice-monthly political opinion column titled “Piedra de Toque” (Touchstones) that was printed in several newspapers.
Vargas Llosa came to be a fierce defender of personal and economic liberties, gradually edging away from his communism-linked past, and regularly attacked Latin American leftist leaders he viewed as dictators.Although an early supporter of the Cuban revolution led by Fidel Castro, he later grew disillusioned and denounced Castro’s Cuba. By 1980, he said he no longer believed in socialism as a solution for developing nations.
In a famous incident in Mexico City in 1976, Vargas Llosa punched fellow Nobel Prize winner and ex-friend García Márquez, whom he later ridiculed as “Castro’s courtesan.” It was never clear whether the fight was over politics or a personal dispute, as neither writer ever wanted to discuss it publicly.
As he slowly turned his political trajectory toward free-market conservatism, Vargas Llosa lost the support of many of his Latin American literary contemporaries and attracted much criticism even from admirers of his work.During the late 1970s and early ’80s, the band had eight Top 40 hits, including four No. 1s: “Heart of Glass,” “Call Me,” “The Tide Is High” and “Rapture,” which is regarded as the first No. 1 hit to feature rap. There’s also a five-track 1975 album demo that includes “Platinum Blonde,” a sort of band mission statement. But Burke’s mark was especially solidified with his rapid, powerful drumming at the start of “Dreaming” in 1979.
In 2022, after unearthing a New Wave treasure trove of reel-to-reel tapes, cassettes and records, the band created the box setwith 124 tracks and 36 previously unissued recordings, demos, outtakes and remixed versions of Blondie’s initial six studio albums.
Burke reflected on the discovery in an Associated Press article: “We never would have thought that we would still be here today. Looking back at our archives, it’s pretty amazing.”The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame described Burke in a post Monday on the social platform X as “a versatile and distinctive drummer who played exactly what each song required – and, when called for, let loose with blistering punk rock energy.”