books

Nobel Prize Winner Mario Vargas Llosa Doesn’t Know What the Future Holds for Books

At a press conference in New York this afternoon, Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature this morning, was asked what he believes the future holds for the book-publishing industry. The 74-year-old, who has written over 30 books, said: “My idea of books is paper books. I think this will change and keep changing, but my hope is that new technology won’t mean the trivialization of the contents. I hope new technology will keep literature something deeply related to the most essential problems — social, human. The danger is that technology will impoverish the contents of the book, but this also depends on us! If we want literature to keep being what it has been, I think it’s in our hands, not to permit technology to destroy what has been built on the long route of civilization. But we don’t know what will happen in the future with literature and the arts, with technology. It’s an enigma.” [ArtsBeat/NYT]

Nobel Prize Winner Mario Vargas Llosa Doesn’t Know What the Future Holds for Books