A prep course for the month-long World Cup soccer tournament, a worldwide pheno

n the Water , '' the writer admits : `` Perhaps saying that I love my country is

 not true . I often loathe it . '' -0- The youngest of the so-called `` Boom '' 

writers to emerge from Latin America into international prominence during the '6

0s , Vargas Llosa , now 58 , is one of the few to reject the fantastical style o

f magic realism . His masterpiece , the 1981 epic `` The War of the End of the W

orld '' based on a 19th-century uprising in northern Brazil is as solidly built 

as anything by Stendhal or Tolstoy , the masters with which it deserves comparis

on . Nearly all his other fiction is set in Peru . `` Aunt Julia and the Scriptw

riter '' is a marvelous comic tale of a young man married to his aunt ( at 19 , 

Vargas Llosa wed 32-year-old Julia Urquidi , his uncle 's wife 's sister . They 

were divorced nine years later ) . These books and many others , plus countless 

articles , were written during a period of self-imposed exile that began in 1958

 , when the writer received a scholarship to study in Madrid , and lasted for mo

st of the next three decades . But if exile , as Paredes Castro says , is a defi

ning characteristic of the greatest Peruvian intellectuals , it doesn't fit into

 the basic resume of politicians in Peru or anywhere else . Compounding his trou

bles as a candidate was his political identity . Just as he 's one of the few re

alists among Latin American writers , he 's also one of the few who are not left

ists . To his enemies , this usually gets translated into : He 's not a democrat

 . `` If you 're a Latin American writer , '' Vargas Llosa complains , `` you 'r

e immediately labeled . If you 're not a revolutionary , you 're a reactionary .

 '' Ronald Wright , a Canadian who has written extensively about Peru , is one o

f Vargas Llosa 's most caustic critics . `` He either was running as an ego trip

 , or he was trying to gain material to write about . '' Wright cites an anti-Va

rgas Llosa slogan he saw emblazoned on a wall during the campaign : `` Peru is n

ot a novel . '' Even the writer 's wife has questioned his intentions . She once

 told her husband he was drawn to the presidency less for idealistic reasons tha

n by the prospect of `` writing the great novel in real life . '' There you have

 it : isolated by his artistic temperament , alienated from the left , full of t

he sort of despair and yearning for his country that politicians learn never to 

express , and criticized for impure motives . The surprise isn't his failure to 

be elected ; it 's that he got , in the end , 34 percent of the vote . Fujimori 

instituted financial reforms , but in April 1992 he closed the Congress and the 

courts and suspended the constitution . The fact that these actions have been ge

nerally popular hasn't changed Vargas Llosa 's mind . His basic argument : Destr

oying democracy in order to improve the welfare of the people is a horrible idea

 . `` What is happening now in Peru is that you have economic reforms , which ar

e good , and at the same time you have monstrous crimes , terrible abuses in hum

an rights , '' he says , specifically referring to the abduction of nine student

s and a teacher in July 1992 . Suspected of being collaborators with the Shining

 Path terrorists , all 10 were shot in the back of the head , their bodies throw

n into an unmarked grave . Anne Manuel , acting director of Human Rights Watch/A

mericas , confirms that `` the situation in Peru after Fujimori 's self-imposed 

coup has worsened dramatically . Hundreds of people are being accused of terrori

sm and imprisoned for life based on little or no evidence . '' `` Torture withou

t inflation ? That 's what we want for Latin America ? Human rights crimes with 

open markets ? We have the right to demand from Latin America the same standards

 that the United States expects from its own society and its own politicians . '

' Maybe , for his sake , it 's better he lost . He 's told that everyone intervi

ewed for this story , no matter how withering his opinion of Vargas Llosa person

ally or politically , said he was a great novelist . A delighted laugh . `` A gr

eat novelist ! This is already something , you know ? ''

 WASHINGTON Mario Vargas Llosa , who has been Distinguished Writer in Residence 

at Georgetown University this past semester , and his wife Patricia rented a fur

nished town house on the edge of the university . Besides some books , the only 

personal touch is some family photos . There 's a particularly charming snap of 

the couple and their three children : Gonzalo , who works with the United Nation

s in Pakistan ; Alvaro , Op-Ed page editor for the Miami Herald 's Spanish-langu

age edition ; and Morgana , a student at the London School of Economics . No suc

h happy photos exist of Vargas Llosa 's own childhood . His just-released autobi

ography `` A Fish in the Water '' reveals that underneath his suave air was a ha

rdscrabble , semi-desperate youth . His father , Ernesto Vargas , abandoned his 

wife , Dora , when she was five months pregnant with the boy . For the first 11 

years of Mario 's life he believed his father was dead . Later , when the couple

 reunited , he merely wished it . Sometimes Ernesto beat his wife ; every so oft

en he beat his son . The paradox is , if Ernesto hadn't been so opposed to his s

on 's literary vocation writing was something homosexuals did ; besides , how co

uld you make a living at it ? Mario wouldn't have persevered . `` He sent me to 

a military school because he thought that was a good antidote against literature

 , and he gave me through this experience the raw material for my first novel wh

ich was so successful I was able to become a writer . '' After that , when it ca

me to his own children , he knew just what to do . `` I renounced any kind of au

thority with them , '' he says blandly . `` My wife took total control . She was

 the authoritarian , so they love me ! I was the most stupidly passive father in

 history , so terrified was I that they could feel about their father the way I 

feel about mine . ''

 WASHINGTON Right now , Mary Chapin Carpenter 's favorite song is one nobody has

 written yet . `` Off the Road Again . '' After `` 18 months of being out there 

all the time touring , '' Carpenter is taking serious time off for the first tim

e in five years . Actually , when her tour ended in November , she was just goin

g to hibernate through the winter and stir awake in the spring . But in January 

Carpenter decided `` no more in '94 . '' `` I feel like I 'm just starting to ge

t used to it , '' she said last week over coffee at an Alexandria , Va. , cafe .

 `` Now it 's great to call a friend on a Saturday night and be able to go out a

nd have dinner , as opposed to ` Well , I have to work tonight .. . and I 'm acr

oss the country. ' ' ' Carpenter seems to have reacted to her success with a lev

el head . For instance , wearing jeans and a sweat shirt , Carpenter still looks

 more the down-to-earth singer-songwriter than the star whose latest album , `` 

Come On Come On , '' has sold 2.2 million copies and produced seven hit singles 

, including the No. 1 country hit `` He Thinks He 'll Keep Her . '' `` That noti

on of people changing is imposed on you by other people , '' scoffs Carpenter , 

though she concedes that `` there 's elements of my life that have changed , and

 obligations . '' For one thing , she now lives in Northern Virginia , convenien

t to National Airport . Carpenter , who recently set a record with three consecu

tive Grammys as top female country vocalist , did just buy a house in Nashville 

`` I was going down so much and hotel stuff was getting kind of old , '' she say

s . `` It 's an experiment like a second home so it 's not like I 'm just workin

g down there but this is where I live . I feel like I have the best of both worl

ds . '' Carpenter 's producer and longtime musical partner , John Jennings , has

 moved down to Nashville full time . `` There 's just so many things you can do 

when you 're touring , '' Carpenter explains . `` This is the year to do a lot o

f things I haven't been able to do . '' Right now , she 's keeping mum on detail

s . Meanwhile , Carpenter 's new single is titled `` I Take My Chances . '' Of t

he seven singles from `` Come On Come On , '' have gone Top 10 and two Top 5 . T

his is astounding , since the album has been out 97 weeks and remains in the Top

 100 . `` It 's got great shelf life ! '' says Carpenter , as much with amazemen

t as pleasure . As for the album 's double-platinum status rare in country , eve

n rarer among women artists Carpenter can only say : `` Unbelievable . '' Provin

g that time off is not a synonym for vacation , Carpenter will soon start on her

 new album , due out at the end of September . It will feature all originals , r

eflecting some of her `` free time . '' Only one song is old `` Stones in the Ro

ad , '' which Joan Baez cut for her last album after hearing Carpenter 's studio

 recording . At the request of Columbia Records , citing confusion , Carpenter a

greed to separate Mary and Chapin , hyphenated all her 36 years . `` But they ha

ve visiting rights , '' says their surname . `` God bless people who don't proof

read . I know they 'll get back together again . '' Carpenter concedes , though 

, that the punctuation has been `` the bane of my existence . One writer in Ohio

 wasn't sure , and put hyphens between all three names . And when your own recor

d company doesn't know what the deal is , you know you 're in trouble ! ''

 WASHINGTON Firms that tap into an estimated $ 105 billion a year in fees for co

unseling federal workers on retirement planning , sensitivity training or estima

ting the costs of proposed regulations might have a tougher time getting work un

der a bill introduced Wednesday . Del . Eleanor Holmes Norton , D-D.C. , propose

d legislation that would shed light on what she calls the `` shadow government '

' of contractors and make it tougher for agencies to disguise costs by replacing

 civil service with consultants . It is the sort of thing that will unnerve Belt

way Bandits the disparaging nickname for corporations , think tanks , experts an

d mom-and-pop consulting practices . The firms are often founded or staffed by f

ormer feds . Consultants include the proverbial smooth-talking expert who borrow

s your watch and charges you $ 50 to tell you the time and specialized groups th

at provide complex and necessary data at a lower cost and with less political sp

in than the government . The General Accounting Office recently said about half 

the contracts it studied could have been done better or at less cost by federal 

employees . Consultants can save taxpayers a bundle by rounding up experts to do

 quick , accurate studies without creating a permanent bureaucracy that qualifie

s for benefits and lifetime pensions . But they also can be costly by marketing 

services that aren't vital to the national interest or that indulge the pet proj

ect , peeve or fantasy of a division chief or political appointee who may have a

 brother-in-law contractor or who may be looking for future employment . Norton 

says contractors are often invisible and unsupervised . Last week she proposed c

utting $ 1.9 billion from such personal service contracts . The savings would fu

nd full national and locality raises next January for white-collar federal worke

rs . President Clinton has proposed a 1.6 percent raise , although government da

ta indicates workers are due an across-the-board 2.6 percent national increase p

lus locality adjustments that could range from 2 percent to 4 percent depending 

on hometown private salaries . Norton 's new bills would bar agencies from contr

acting out work performed by employees given buyouts to quit or retire and would

 set up guidelines that agencies must use to justify retaining outside contracto

rs . It would also assure an accurate headcount on contractors with its annual r

eporting to Congress . If the latter becomes law , some agency is certain to hir

e a contractor to count its contractors . -0- The Federal Retirement Thrift Inve

stment Board says Tuesday 's Federal Diary item about the tax-deferred thrift sa

vings plan underestimated the number of participants . About 75 percent of the e

mployees in the new Federal Employees Retirement System and 44 percent of those 

under the old Civil Service Retirement System are contributing to the savings pl

an . But all FERS employees , whether or not they contribute , have accounts tha

nks to an automatic employer contribution of 1 percent of pay . The savings plan

 is now worth more than $ 22 billion , and the average CSRS contributors account

 is $ 10,092 . The average FERS contributors ' account is $ 15,043 , and the ave

rage account for noncontributing FERS employees is $ 1,679 . Retirees cannot joi

n the savings plan or contribute to it . But workers who have accounts when they

 retire can remain in the savings plan subject to age rules set by the IRS .

 BRUSSELS , Beligum Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev called Wednesday for 

the creation of a `` full-blooded strategic relationship '' between his country 

and the Western military alliance that was formed to contain its territorial amb

itions . During a meeting with his counterparts from 16 NATO nations and Russia 

's former Warsaw Pact allies in Eastern Europe , Grachev reiterated Moscow 's re

adiness to join , with no conditions attached , the NATO program to enhance mili

tary cooperation with its former enemies that is known as the Partnership for Pe

ace . But Grachev emphasized that the partnership was `` not a complete answer ,

 but only a first step '' toward dealing with the post-Cold War security environ

ment in Europe . He said Russia 's status as Europe 's biggest nuclear power req

uires a broader `` consultative mechanism '' with NATO that would encompass disa

rmament , conversion of defense industries and global threats such as terrorism 

, nuclear proliferation and environmental pollution . While expressing some caut

ion about Russia 's ambitions to create a special relationship with the Western 

alliance , NATO ministers warmly welcomed Moscow 's willingness to join the part

nership program after months of ambivalent and contradictory statements . U.S. .

 Defense Secretary William J. Perry praised the `` historic nature '' of the mee

ting with his Russian counterpart and said `` we are very pleased that he announ

ced the unconditional decision for joining Partnership for Peace . '' But severa

l NATO officials were less enthusiastic about Grachev 's proposal to expand the 

relationship into areas not covered under the terms of the military partnership 

. One alliance official said Grachev appeared to be proposing that Russia become

 a virtual member of NATO , something that would not be acceptable to most membe

r nations . Before the session , senior NATO officials said they feared Grachev 

would make unacceptable political demands that would scuttle hopes for a Russian

 role in the partnership . But they said he gave everyone `` a pleasant surprise

 '' by producing a lengthy document that included a long list of projects , incl

uding joint efforts at peacekeeping , technical training , military field exerci

ses and strategic planning . `` It 's looking very good , '' said British Defens

e Minister Malcolm Rifkind . `` Russia clearly wants to play a constructive role

 working with NATO on matters of common interest . But there will be no right fo

r Russia to take part in NATO 's decision making . '' Germany 's Volker Ruehe sa

id `` we are definitely on the right track . Parternship for Peace is a common p

osition for everybody , but beyond that there is scope for a partnership between

 Russia and NATO . But it still needs to be worked out . '' The Russian defense 

minister gave no indication when his country would join the program , which was 

formally launched by NATO leaders in January as a way to satisfy demands from Ea

st European countries for a closer security relationship with the West without f

ully incorporating them into the alliance . A total of 18 countries from Eastern

 Europe and the former Soviet Union have now signed up for the program . Grachev

 insisted that Russia is not seeking `` a warmer place in the sun '' than NATO '

s other partners to the east , but merely a relationship `` adequate to its weig

ht '' as a nuclear superpower with territory stretching from Europe to the Pacif

ic Ocean . `` Russia has an interest in wider forms of cooperation than envisage

d in this program , '' Grachev said . `` What we suggest is not to limit the sph

ere of partnership , but to enrich it with cooperation between Russia and NATO ,

 not only in military areas but on other important issues . '' In calling for a 

new strategic relationship with the Western alliance , Grachev noted that many R

ussians still fear the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as a hostile military 

alliance that treated Russia as an enemy . He said such `` bloc-oriented percept

ions '' must be surmounted by enhanced cooperation or they would eventually trig

ger a new arms race in Europe . In spelling out Russia 's new military doctrine 

, Grachev made clear to the Western ministers that Moscow still envisions the pa

rtnership chiefly as a stepping stone to a new `` collective security system in 

Europe . '' He said Russia still regards the 53-nation Conference on Security an

d Cooperation in Europe as the basis for this system , in which NATO would play 

a subordinate role . Grachev acknowledged that Russia wants to strengthen the Co

mmonwealth of Independent States , the loose confederation of republics that cam

e into being after the breakup of the Soviet Union . He said Russia 's military 

presence in some republics known as its `` near abroad '' should be seen in term

s of `` peacekeeping objectives '' that pose no security threat to its neighbors

 . In response , Perry said any regional peacekeeping role should be carried out

 through a U.N. mandate and that `` Russia 's role should be kept compatible '' 

with goals approved by the U.N. . Security Council .

 NON-FICTION `` A VALLEY IN ITALY : The Many Seasons of a Villa in Umbria , '' b

y Lisa St. Aubin De Teran ( HarperCollins : $ 21 , 224 pp . ) One of the grand d

ifficulties accompanying books about people who find the perfect fixer-upper vil

la in some gorgeous , flavorful but not too remote part of the world is that you

 must hate them with all your heart . The other , more interesting problem is : 

How they fit into the culture they invade and admire ? What do they give back ? 

Are their observations evidence that they travel with their own culture and expe

rience keeping them afloat and apart like water wings ? Or are they porous and d

ignified in their differentness ? Having heaped so many caveats on these obnoxio

us pilgrims , let me now say that Lisa St. Aubin de Teran gets it right . Sure ,

 she 's a bit of a poseur , `` instructed in the art of buying houses by Ted Hug

hes , our Poet Laureate , who explained to me that first I should find the house

 I wanted and then I should buy it , and only later worry about how to pay for i

t , '' and in our American culture delusions of grandeur , visions of loggias an

d balustrades and cantilevered thises and thats can be off-putting . You 're sup

posed to know your place and what you can afford and keep your ego in check . Li

sa St. Aubin de Teran takes her two children ; 6-year-boy Allie , and 15-year-ol

d future super-model `` the child Iseult '' with her to set up house in the Vill

a Orsola in the little village of San Orsela in the Umbrian hills . Her Scottish

 painter husband comes later . She has patience and imagination and a wonderful 

sense of humor . She has a kind of courage and equanimity , and her observations

 of her own cast of characters is gracious and generous and respectful . After v

isiting this long with her , it was hard to leave a compliment to any hostess ( 

or writer ) . `` VOICE LESSONS : On Becoming A Woman Writer , '' by Nancy Mairs 

( Beacon , $ 15 , 166 pp . ) Where would we be without Nancy Mairs , vigilant ch

ronicler of a woman 's life , a writer 's life ? We 'd be stuck trying to conver

t the five hundred pounds a year Virginia Woolf told us we 'd need to write into

 billable hours , like immoral lawyers calculating backward , that 's where . It

 has been said already that she is fearless , can write about anything : depress

ion , sex , adultery , religion and now , now writing ( in true life order of de

gree of risk ) . Which means that these essays look more to the the stories writ

ers write ( in particular , Virginia Woolf , Montaigne , and Hele ne Cixous , am

ong others ) , the text , than they do to immediate life experience , as in Mair

s ' other books . `` What has interested me particularly , '' she writes , `` is

 the crucial role that learning to decipher texts both my own experiences and th

e works of other writers has played in my writerly evolution . '' Often asked , 

`` How did you find your voice ? '' Mairs responds : `` In the beginning was the

 Word . Not me . And the question , properly phrased , should be asked of my voi

ce : How did you find ( devise , invent , contrive ) your Nancy ? '' This may se

em rhetorical , out of context , but it relieves an enormous burden to find one 

's voice , as distinct from others ' and from the experience of others ; a voice

 with some critical authority and a great deal of distance from real-life suffer

ing a quest Mairs believes is uniquely male in nature . Having grown up believin

g that men could fill emptiness in women , for a long time Mairs wrote , she tel

ls us , `` out of yearning . '' Filling voids with men is replaced , as she grow

s older and more confident ( with the help of other women , writers and friends 

) , by filling voids with ideas , bringing the same ardor to this yearning as to

 the first : `` I could feel them in my flesh , quickening my breath , itching m