Nobel Prize-winning writer contemplates Real Madrid

The Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa, who will receive the Nobel Prize for Literature on Friday, has spoken out from his hotel in Stockholm against the decadent "culture of entertainment" which he believes has led to the "banalization, frivolization and superficiality" of contemporary life. From AP (via the LA Times):

"I think the audiovisual revolution, which is fantastic from a technological point of view, has introduced the idea that the main goal of culture is entertainment," he said.

"Of course culture is also entertainment, but if it is only entertainment, the result is the disappearance of long-range vision and deep preoccupation for basic questions," he said. "I think it is a major, major problem."

Three days before he said all this, Vargas Llosa, who was cited by the Nobel committee for his "cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt, and defeat," was in Madrid, where he delivered the ceremonial kickoff at the Real Madrid-Valencia match. There, after receiving a warm ovation from the 80,000 like-minded intellectuals on hand to experience the evening's bracing alternative to the stupidity of mass entertainment, Vargas Llosa furrowed his brow, cleared his mind of the detritus of a million half-glimpsed Kate Hudson interviews and Queen Latifah movies, addressed himself to long-range vision and deep preoccupation for basic questions, silently cursed the iPod Touch, squared himself at the ball as if preparing to direct a kick at the banalization and frivolization of culture itself, swung back his powerful leg, and.....

*plink!*

Afterwards, asked which Real Madrid player he would like to write a novel about, Vargas Llosa responded that Cristiano Ronaldo is a "novelistic character." Ronaldo, looking up from the copy of Plato's Parmenides that he likes to study after a win, tucked his quill pen behind his ear, frowned thoughtfully, and said, "Yes, it's true. I am."

Brian Phillips blogs about soccer at The Run of Play. You can follow him on Twitter.

Images: AP, Real Madrid

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/blog/dirty-tackle/post/Nobel-Prize-winning-writer-contemplates-Real-Mad?urn=sow-293929

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