Discover / Book
Letters to a Young Novelist

Letters to a Young Novelist

Mario Vargas Llosa, Natasha Wimmer · 2011

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Some book links are affiliate links; you pay the same price and we may earn a small commission.

About this book

The Nobel Prize–winning author's classic on the craft of novel writing "distills [the great works] brilliantly, revealing an architecture to their greatness" ( The W ashington Post Book World). In Letters to a Young Novelist, Mario Vargas Llosa condenses a lifetime of writing, reading, and thought into an essential manual for aspiring writers. Drawing on the stories and novels of writers from around the globe—including Borges, Bierce, Céline, Cortázar, Faulkner, Kafka, Robbe-Grillet and others—he lays bare the inner workings of fiction, all the while urging young novelists not to lose touch with the elemental urge to create. Conversational, eloquent, and effortlessly erudite, this little book is destined to be read and re-read by young writers, old writers, would-be writers, and all those with a stake in the world of letters.

Appears in these reading paths

Reader reviews

Ratings and notes from readers — tagged with how deep into the subject they were.

Loading reviews…

Discussion