He had been the star of the Department of Literature at the Catholic University [of Lima], which had never seen a more admired student, nor a more lucid reader of poetry, nor a keener commentator on difficult texts. All indications were that he would graduate having written a brilliant thesis, that he would be a brilliant professor and an equally brilliant poet or critic. But one day, without explanation, he disappointed everyone, cast aside the thesis he was working on, walked away from literature and the Catholic University, and enrolled at the [far less prestigious] University of San Marcos as a student of economics…. Javier worked at the central bank….
— Mario Vargas Llosa, La tía Julia y el escribidor (Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter), middle of chapter 1, my translation