CARLOS FUENTES

'Carlos Fuentes Macías' (born November 11, 1928) is a Mexican writer and one of the best-known living novelists and essayists in the Spanish-speaking world. Fuentes has influenced contemporary Latin American literature, and his works have been widely translated into English and other languages.

Contents

Biography

Works

Selected works

Further Reading

References

External links

Biography

Fuentes was born in Panama City; his parents were Mexican diplomats. In his childhood, he lived in Quito, Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro, Washington, Santiago and Buenos Aires. In his adolescence, he returned to Mexico, where he lived until 1965. He was married to film star Rita Macedo from 1959 till 1973, although he was an habitual philanderer and allegedly, his affairs -- which he has claimed include film actresses such as Jeanne Moreau and Jean Seberg- brought her to despair. The couple broke up amid scandal when Fuentes eloped with a very pregnant and then-unknown journalist named Silvia Lemus. They were eventually married in Paris in 1976. Rita committed suicide in 1993.
Following in the footsteps of his parents, he also became a diplomat in 1965 and served in London, Paris, and other capitals. He has also taught courses at Brown, Princeton, Harvard, Penn, George Mason, Columbia and Cambridge. He is currently teaching at Brown University.
He fathered three children: Cecilia Fuentes Macedo, born in 1962, now working on TV production and openly gay; a son, Carlos Fuentes Lemus, died from complications allegedly associated with hemophilia in 1999 at the age of 25. His daughter, Natasha Fuentes Lemus, was murdered by drug dealers on a Mexico City slum on 22 August 2005. She was 29.

Works

Fuentes published his first novel, ''La región mas transparente'', at 28 years old, which became a classic contemporary novel. It set groundbreaking work not only on its prose, but also by having a metropolis, Mexico City as its main character. This novel provides an insight into the Mexican culture, which is made up of a mixture with the Spanish, the indigenous and the ''mestizo'': all cohabitating in the same geographical space with completely different universes surrounding them.
His 1960s novels, ''Aura'' (1962) and ''La muerte de Artemio Cruz'' (1962) are widely acclaimed for using experimental modern narrative styles (including the second person form) to explore issues of history, society and identity.
In 1967, during a meeting with Alejo Carpentier, Julio Cortazar and Miguel Otero Silva, Carlos Fuentes launched the project of a serie of biographies depicting Latin American ''caudillos'', which would be called ''Los Padres de la Patria'' ^[1]. Although the project was never completed, it set the bases for Alejo Carpentier's ''Reasons of State'' (''El recurso del método'', 1974) and various other Dictator Novels (''novela del dictador'').
His 1985 novel ''Gringo viejo'', the first American bestseller written by a Mexican author, was filmed as ''Old Gringo'' (1989) starring Gregory Peck and Jane Fonda.
In 1994, he published ''Diana, The Goddess Who Hunts Alone,'' a fictionalized account of his alleged affair with American actress Jean Seberg. However, aunthenticity of this adulterous liaison has been brought up to question several times.
Fuentes regularly contributes essays on politics and culture to the Spanish newspaper ''El País''. He is a stern critic of what he sees as American cultural and economic imperialism, especially with regard to Latin America.
In 1999 he received the Belisario Domínguez Medal of Honor.
His most recent book is ''Todas las Familias Felices'' (2006), a cleverly written collection of short stories and chants that depict socially controversial situations typically hidden from mainstream Mexican society.

Selected works

★ ''Los días enmascarados'' (1954)

★ ''La región más transparente'', ''Where the Air Is Clear'' (1959)

★ ''La muerte de Artemio Cruz'', ''The Death of Artemio Cruz'' (1962)

★ ''Aura'' (1962) (see Aura (Fuentes))

★ ''La nueva novela hispanoamericana'' (1969)

★ ''Zona sagrada'', ''Holy Place'' (1967)

★ ''Cambio de piel'', ''A Change of Skin'' (1967)

★ ''Cumpleaños'' (''Birthday'') (1969)

★ ''El tuerto es rey'' (1971)

★ ''Diana o la cazadora solitaria'', ''Diana, The Goddess Who Hunts Alone'' (1972)

★ ''Terra Nostra'' (1975)

★ ''Una familia lejana'' (''Distant Relations'') (1980)

★ ''Agua quemada'' (''Burnt Water'') (1981)

★ ''Orquídeas a la luz de la luna'' (1982)

★ ''Gringo viejo'' (''The Old Gringo'') (1985)

★ ''Cristóbal Nonato'' (''Christopher Unborn'') (1987)

★ ''Ceremonias del alba'' (1991)

★ ''El naranjo'' (''The Orange Tree'') (1993)

★ ''La frontera de cristal'' (translated by Fuentes' friend and long-time translator Alfred MacAdam as ''The Crystal Frontier'', sometimes translated as ''The Glass Border'' - (1995)

★ "New Time for Mexico"(1996)

★ ''Los años con Laura Díaz'' (''The Years with Laura Díaz'') (1999)

★ ''En esto creo'' (2002)

★ ''Contra Bush'' (2004)

★ ''Todas las Familias Felices'' (2006), ISBN 987-04-0557-6

Further Reading

★ Lifting the obsidian mask : the artistic vision of Carlos Fuentes / Lanin A Gyurko., 2007

★ Carlos Fuentes' The death of Artemio Cruz (Modern Critical Interpretations) / Harold Bloom., 2006

★ Fuentes, Terra nostra, and the reconfiguration of Latin American culture / Michael Abeyta., 2006

★ Carlos Fuentes's Terra nostra and the Kabbalah: the recreation of the Hispanic world / Sheldon Penn., 2003

★ The narrative of Carlos Fuentes : family, text, nation / Steven Boldy., 2002

★ Carlos Fuentes, Mexico and modernity / Van Delden, Maarten., 1998

★ The postmodern Fuentes / Helmuth, Chalene., 1997

★ Specular narratives : critical perspectives on Carlos Fuentes, Juan Goytisolo, Mario Vargas Llosa / Roy Boland., 1997

★ The writings of Carlos Fuentes / Williams, Raymond L., 1996

★ A Marxist reading of Fuentes, Vargas Llosa, and Puig / Durán, Víctor M., 1994

★ Author, text, and reader in the novels of Carlos Fuentes / Ibsen, Kristine., 1993

★ Carlos Fuentes : life, work, and criticism / González, Alfonso., 1987

★ Carlos Fuentes / Faris, Wendy B., 1983

★ Carlos Fuentes, a critical view / Brody, Robert., 1982

★ The archetypes of Carlos Fuentes: from witch to androgyne / Durán, Gloria., 1980

★ Carlos Fuentes (Twayne World Authors Series) / Guzmán, Daniel de., 1972

★ The Mexican novel comes of age / Langford, Walter M., 1971

★ Into the mainstream; conversations with Latin-American writers / Harss, Luis., 1969

References

1. De los orígenes a la nueva novela histórica paraguaya p.43

External links

★ 1992 audio interview of Carlos Fuentes by Don Swaim

★ Making Love in Spanish - Carlos Fuentes and The Eagle's Throne

★ ''In praise of the novel'' Carlos Fuentes' opening speech at the Fifth International Literature Festival Berlin at signandsight.com.

★ 'Sick Culture' A review article that includes a piece on Fuentes's collection of essays, ''Myself With Others'' by William Nericcio, a Latin Americanist who teaches at SDSU.