Andreas Jeninga/The Hoya Visiting professor Vargas Llosa spoke well of his time at Georgetown.

Colleagues and students gathered in an open forum Wednesday night to recognize the end of acclaimed Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa’s fall residency at Georgetown University.

“He is such a wonderful writer,” Serafina Hager, chair of the Italian Department and special assistant to the provost for international initiatives, said. “For him to spend a semester here is an unprecedented experience”

Vargas Llosa, who has written 15 novels as well as numerous critical essays, articles and plays, said he could not choose a favorite novel, likening it to choosing a favorite child.

“Even if I had a preference, I would not say it,” Vargas Llosa said. “For me writing a novel is very special. It’s never easy but it’s always exciting.”

He cited various authors that influenced his view of literature and the world. While growing up, he enjoyed reading adventure novels by Alexander Dumas. Later in life he was inspired by Jean Paul Sartre’s ideas about writers changing society for the better.

Vargas Llosa said that writers have not only an artistic commitment, but a social and political one as well. While growing up in the 1950s, he was influenced by the prevalent concept that writers have a civic duty to their society.

“I am convinced that good literature helps readers develop a critical attitude towards the world which is crucial to the evolution of society, particularly a democratic society,” he said.

Vargas Llosa, who lost the 1990 Peruvian presidential election to Alberto Fujimori, reflected on his brief experience as a politician saying that he had been excited about defending ideas of democracy and liberalism in the classical sense

“The experience was not very pleasant but very instructive,” Vargas Llosa said. “One thing I learned is that I am not a very good politician.”

His latest work, The Way to Paradise, focuses on the lives of French post-impressionist painter Paul Gauguin and his half-Peruvian feminist grandmother Flora Tristan. In the novel, he analyzes human beings’ pursuit of paradise.

“It has been a dream of humankind to build this kind of early paradise with no hardships or needs,” Vargas Llosa said. “However, in all cases in which a perfect society has tried to materialize, the result has been apocalypse.”

Vargas Llosa also wrote The Feast of the Goat, a novel of dictator Rafael Trujillo’s regime in the Dominican Republic in the mid-20th century. As one of his most famous works, it was the focus of this year’s First Year Academic Workshop.

Vargas Llosa has been an active member of the Georgetown community for over a decade. He became the first Distinguished Writer in Residence in 1994. In addition, he was inaugurated as Georgetown’s first chair of the Ibero-American Literature and Culture Chair in the Spanish and Portuguese Department.

“I think it’s wonderful that the students have the experience to interact with him since he’s one of the most famous writers of his time,” Laura De Sole (COL ’04) said. “It’s nice for us to be able to ask him questions about his work.”

“I thought the forum was very informative,” Leslie cLaughlan (SFS ’07) said. “I read one of his books and it’s interesting to know how a writer thinks.”