MACATIGUIB, DINA M.

BS ECE
Dear Mr. Mario Vargas Llosa,
I just finished reading Literature and Life and wanted to tell you how much an
eye-opener your work was. I admire the way your arguments were really revealing
and compelling. Your topics were thought-provoking and clearly stated. However,
how agreed and disturbed I was when I read the lines, We are faced with the awful
truth that the fantasy life of the novel is better- more beautiful and more diverse,
more comprehensible and more perfect- than the life we lead when we are awake,
a life that is weighed down by the limitations and obligations of our existence. It
was such an apparent depiction of fantasy life of novels since it state ideas of the
actual circumstances of life allowing the reader to internalize and establish the truth
and eventually looking for the way of escaping reality. The truth of this goes away
beyond the meaning of its words extending to our imagination to a better life. When
we read novels, there is a world waiting for us where we can be boundless and
infinite. We unconsciously wish we were there in that world but real life must be so
terrible that it pounds its fist so hard to wake you up and be taken away from your
dreams. Ironically, how can our real life that is wonderfully made be an intoxicating
little one? On the other side, I also believe that reality makes the whole things
substantial. The happenings inside us are steadily changing as they inhale the new
atmosphere. These undertakings quite naturally form a new guide for us to know
the life we are facing. Perhaps fantasy life in novels is what we are dreaming of but
it is just a part of our life that we shape of and improve on in our reality. Though it is
really painful and tedious to accept the reality, we would have simply learned that it
is supposed to be that way and that literature is just a guide to us. Fantasy life is
better but isnt it real life more convincing and best? And upon looking closer, it is
not perfect at all because it is shutting your eyes in the real world. Sometimes, it
also becomes selfish and demanding because it whispers you words with affections
leading you to be disappointed and worse, to not coming back in the world of reality.
After I read your work, I have a feeling that I am finally getting your terms.
Perhaps literature gives necessity in constructing our society. And also accepting
that fantasy life and real life can be a pair in understanding the world. I may be too

assured but the world with an idea of fantasy life and real life will surely grasp a
new change and the world will certainly find a solution because, finally, the real
world and fantasy world have already traversed.
Respectfully yours,
Dina Macatiguib