The Swedish Academy has awarded Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa the 2010 Noble prize for literature. According to an article by the Associated Press, Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez, who won the prize in 1982, tweeted Vargas Llosa 'cuentas iguales' meaning 'now we are equal', but there are many who will argue that point.

There is no denying that Vargas Llosa is a brilliant writer, but to put him in the same class as García Márquez is going a bit far. He has not, in my opinion, progressed since his early work but has, rather, lost much of the clarity of his first novels. It was kind, and forgiving, of García Márquez to say 'now we are equals' but I suspect that privately both men know it's not true.

The Associated Press article points out that the Swedish Academy has been criticised for being too Euro-centric in awarding the prize for literature, and that may have played a big part in the decision to give the prize to Vargas Llosa.

The AP article also mentions the time in Mexico City when García Márquez and Vargas Llosa had a fight and Vargas Llosa called García Márquez, according to the AP writer, 'Castro's courtesan'. That's an extraordinarily mild euphemism for the words actually used. Insults of that nature are rarely forgiven by men of Iberian descent.

Regardless of our personal feelings about the man, we must accept the fact that on December 10th Mario Vargas Llosa will stand where William Faulkner and Gabriel García Márquez have stood. Given what we know of the man, he may feel superior to both and believe the honour to be long overdue.