Carlos Fuentes

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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.

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.

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, Columbia and Cambridge. He is currently teaching at Brown University.

"La región mas transparente" Fuentes' first novel; published when he was 28 years old, is a classic contemporary novel. It set groundbreaking work not only on its prose, but also by having the charismatic 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.

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.

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 (July 2006), a cleverly written collection of short stories and chants that depict socially controversial situations typically hidden from mainstream Mexican society.

His son, Carlos Fuentes Lemus, died from complications associated with hemophilia in 1999 at the age of 25. His daughter, Natasha Fuentes, died at the age of 29 on 22 August 2005.

[edit] 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)
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)
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)

[edit] Bibliography

Carlos Fuentes's Terra nostra and the Kabbalah: the recreation of the Hispanic world / Sheldon Penn., 2003
Carlos Fuentes, Mexico and modernity / Van Delden, Maarten., 1998
The postmodern Fuentes / Helmuth, Chalene., 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