Although born in Arequipa, Peru, in 1936, Vargas Llosa spent his early boyhood with his mother, Dora Llosa Ureta, in Cochabamba, Bolivia, where his grandfather was the Peruvian consul. Vargas Llosa attended a series of schools and led a normal middle- class boy's life until his parents reunited and his father, Ernesto Vargas Maldonaldo, discovered his talent for writing poetry. Fearing for the boy's masculinity, Ernesto moved the family to Lima and sent the boy, in 1950, to attend Leoncio Prado Academy. His two years at the academy formed the basis for a novella as well as his famous first novel, The Time of the Hero.

His first work, however, was a three-act play published in 1952 while finishing high school in Piura. For the next few years, Vargas Llosa published short stories in Peruvian literary reviews. He also coedited several journals and attended San Marcos University in Lima...