CARLOS FUENTES: BIOGRAPHY, STYLES, WORKS AND PHRASES - LITERATURE - 2025

Carlos Fuentes Macías (1928-2012) was a Mexican writer and diplomat, who has been considered one of the most relevant intellectuals of his nation. His literary work was abundant, and was part of the so-called Latin American boom, which consolidated several writers in the sixties.

Fuentes's work was abundant and was divided into various genres. Among them, the essay, the novel and the stories stand out. It was characterized by being within modernism, also by developing and deepening issues related to the history and society of Mexico.

Carlos Fuentes. Source: Abderrahman Bouirabdane, via Wikimedia Commons

His life passed between literature and politics. He served on several occasions as a representative of the Mexican government abroad, and his role as a writer was exercised until the end of his life. His best known works were: Aura, Terra nostra, and The most transparent region.

Biography

Birth and family

Carlos Fuentes was born on November 11, 1928 in Panama. The writer came from a Mexican family, educated, of good economic position and related to diplomacy. His parents were Rafael Fuentes Boettiger and Bertha Macías Rivas.

Font Education

Carlos Fuentes studied the first years of teaching in the United States and different Latin American countries. However, his parents worried that he maintained contact with Mexico, so during the summers he studied at institutions in that country.

Coat of arms of the UNAM, Carlos Fuentes' study house. Source: Both, the shield and the motto, José Vasconcelos Calderón, via Wikimedia Commons

In 1944, when he was sixteen years old, he settled in Mexico City, studied high school at the Colegio México, at the same time he started at Hoy magazine, and won his first literary award. Later, she decided to enter the National Autonomous University of Mexico to study law.

University education

Fuentes began studying law in 1949, but soon after decided to put university training aside to devote himself to exploring the city. In the early 1950s, she went to Geneva, Switzerland and graduated in economics from the Institute of Higher International Studies.

When he returned to Aztec land, he resumed his studies in law and began to interact with a group of young people from the well-known Generation of the Middle Century. In addition, during that time he was part of the press section of the United Nations headquarters in Mexico.

Literary steps

Carlos Fuentes began to make his way into literature together with a large group of intellectuals in the second half of the 20th century. In 1953 he created the publication Medio Siglo, in the company of Enrique González, Víctor Flores Olea, and other renowned authors of the time.

A year later, his work Los Días enmascarados, a book of short stories, came to light. Later he became a contributor to the magazine Universidad de México, and founded the Mexican Literature. Between 1958 and 1959 he published two novels, the first was The Most Transparent Region, which was followed by Good Consciences.

First marriage

Along with his steps in the literary world, Fuentes also opened the doors to love. In 1957 the writer married the Mexican actress María de la Concepción Macedo Guzmán, artistically known as Rita Macedo. In their union they conceived a daughter: Cecilia. The couple remained married for twelve years.

Passion for cinema

Fuentes was passionate about cinema, a taste he shared with his father. In 1964 he had the opportunity to be part of the team in charge of the script for El gallo de oro. In that same year he participated in a film competition made by young people, and worked on two projects: Los bien amados and Amor, amor, amor.

The National College (Mexico), of which Carlos Fuentes was a member. Source: Thelmadatter, via Wikimedia Commons

From that time on, his participation in the cinema was active, this was due to the fact that many of his works were taken to the big screen. Such was the case of Un alma pura, in 1965. Seven years later, Muñeca reina was released, and between 1981 and 1988, La cabeza de la hidra, Vieja moralidad and Gringo viejo.

Second matrimony

Among so many activities, Carlos Fuentes always had time for love. At the beginning of the seventies he met Silvia Lemus, who was his life partner, and he married her in 1972. The couple had two children: Carlos, in 1973, and Natasha, in 1974, both of whom died while still young.

Sources and politics

Carlos Fuentes' life was always related to politics, so, in addition to writing about it, he also practiced it. In 1973, the current Mexican president, Luis Echeverría, offered him the position of ambassador, and from 1975 to 1977 he served in France.

During his diplomatic work in France, he expressed solidarity with the political affiliates of America and Spain. He was a strong critic of the Cuban government, sometimes for and sometimes against. Having been in the service of Mexico also allowed him to make friends with important personalities, such as: Jacques Chirac and Bill Clinton.

Professor and Professor

In addition to being a diplomat and writer, Carlos Fuentes also served as a professor and professor at various American and English universities. In the 1970s he was a professor at Columbia, Pennsylvania, and Princeton. He also served as a professor at Cambridge and Harvard.

This stage of university teaching was combined with the publication of several works, and the receipt of some recognitions. Works such as Cervantes or the critic of reading came to light, and he was also awarded the Rómulo Gallegos and the International Alfonso Reyes awards.

Last years of life and death

The last two decades of Carlos Fuentes' life were dedicated to expanding his literary work. Between 1980 and 2012, he published a large number of works, of which the following stand out: A distant family, The orange tree, The Eagle's chair, Against Bush and Adam in Eden.

Tomb of the Carlos Fuentes family, located in the Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris. Source: Pacha J. Willka, via Wikimedia Commons

However, the writer began to present health problems related to the heart and gastric ulcers. Carlos Fuentes passed away on May 15, 2012 in Mexico City, when he was eighty-three years old. His remains were buried in the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris, along with those of his two children.

Awards and honours

- Brief Library Award, in 1967, for Change of skin.

- Member of El Colegio Nacional, since 1972.

- Mazatlán Prize for Literature, in 1972, for Mexican Time.

- Xavier Villaurrutia Award, in 1976, for Terra nostra.

- Rómulo Gallegos Award, in 1977, for Terra nostra.

- Alfonso Reyes International Award, in 1979.

- Doctor Honoris Causa from Harvard University, in 1983.

- National Prize for Literature of Mexico, in 1984.

- Cervantes Prize, in 1987.

- Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Cambridge, in 1987.

- National Order of the Legion of Honor, in 1992.

- Menéndez Pelayo International Award, in 1992.

- Grizane Cavour Award, in 1994.

- Prince of Asturias Award, in 1994.

- Picasso Medal from Unesco, in 1994.

- Doctor Honoris Causa from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, in 1996.

- Belisario Domínguez Medal, in 1999.

- Doctor Honoris Causa from the Universidad Veracruzana, in 2000.

- Doctor Honoris Causa from the Autonomous University of Sinaloa, in 2000.

- Honorary member of the Mexican Academy of Language, in 2001.

- Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Salamanca, in 2002.

- Robert Caillois Award, in 2003.

- Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor, in 2003.

- Royal Spanish Academy Award, in 2004.

- Doctor Honoris Causa from the Freie Universität Berlin, in 2004.

- Don Quijote de La Mancha International Award, in 2008.

- Doctor Honoris Causa from the Quintana Roo University, in 2009.

- Knight Grand Cross of the Isabel La Católica Order, in 2009.

- González Ruano Award for Journalism, in 2009.

- Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Veracruz, in 2009.

- National Tribute, in 2009.

- Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Puerto Rico, in 2010.

- Fomentor de las Letras Prize, in 2011.

- Doctor Honoris Causa from the Michel de Montaigne University.

- Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of the Balearic Islands, in 2012.

Style

The literary style of Carlos Fuentes was framed in modernism, so his most outstanding features were the cultured, innovative and elegant and refined with a broad respect for letters and their proper use. The language used by the writer was clear and precise, of wide intensity and depth.

Signature of Carlos Fuentes. Source: Zukovsky, via Wikimedia Commons

Fuentes's work was complex, due to the vast knowledge he had; he brilliantly mixed mythology, philosophy and history. The topics that interested the writer were those related to Mexico and its idiosyncrasy, as well as its politics and social development.

Plays

Stories

- The masked days (1954).

- Sing of the blind (1964).

- Burned water (1981).

- The orange tree (1994).

- The glass frontier (1996).

- Restless company (2004).

- All happy families (2006).

- Collection of short stories by Carolina Grau (2010). It was made up of several stories by the author, including:

- "The prisoner of the castle of If".

- "Sparkly".

- "The tomb of Leopardi".

Brief description of your most representative storybooks

The masked days

It was the first book by Carlos Fuentes. In this manuscript fantasy was present through six stories. The main themes developed by the author were related to the end of existence, the presence of the past and time.

The stories that made up this work were:

- “Tlactocatzine, from the garden of Flanders”.

- "Chac Mool".

- "In defense of Trigolibia".

- "The one who invented gunpowder."

- "Litany of the orchid".

- "By the mouth of the gods."

Brief description of "Chac Mool"

It is the first story in the book. The author began by narrating a true story, about the death of a wealthy man named Filiberto, and then goes on to the fantasy. The implausible was present when the narrator, a friend of the deceased, referred to a sculpture that he had acquired.

The sculpture was the one that gave the story its title, and is related to the pre-Hispanic divinity of the rain. Carlos Fuentes gave him creativity when Chac Mool began to have a life of his own. This is one of the most famous stories of the Mexican writer.

Fragment

“Until now, Filiberto's writing was the old one, the one that I saw so many times in memoranda and shapes, wide and oval. The entry for August 25 seemed written by someone else. Sometimes as a child, laboriously separating each letter; others, nervous, until diluted in the unintelligible. There are three empty days, and the story continues (…) ”.

Sing of the blind

In this work, the Mexican writer recompiled seven stories, of unusual plots that include supernatural events, adultery and incest. In each story Carlos Fuentes catches the reader with the appearance of surprising events that, even today, continue to have an impact on readers.

The stories that made up the book were:

- "The two Elenas".

- "To the viper of the sea."

- "The doll reigns."

- "A pure soul".

- "Old morality".

- "Fortune what he wanted."

- "The cost of life".

Brief description of "Old morality"

This story told the story of Alberto, narrated by himself, who was a thirteen-year-old teenager who was orphaned and had to live in the country with his grandfather and his partner. However, his aunts wanted to take him to Morelos to study, and they also disagreed with his upbringing.

After a while she went to live with her aunts. Throughout history the writer was giving a glimpse of some customs and traditions, as well as the speech of the inhabitants of the interior of Mexico. The plot became interesting when an improper relationship emerged between Alberto and Aunt Benedicta.

Fragment

“… He came over and began to unbutton my pajamas and cry and say that I had filled his life, that one day he would tell me his life. I covered myself as best I could and stepped into the tub and almost slipped.

She soaped me up. She began to rub me the same as that night and she knew that I liked that and I let myself be done while she told me that I did not know what loneliness was… She knew before me that I could no longer bear it and she herself lifted me out of the tub and he looked at me and hugged my waist ”.

Novels

- The most transparent region (1958).

- Good consciences (1959).

- The death of Artemio Cruz (1962).

- Aura (1962).

- Sacred area (1967).

- Change of skin (1967).

- Birthday (1969).

- Terra nostra (1975).

- The head of the hydra (1978).

- A distant family (1980).

- Old gringo (1985).

- Cristóbal Nonato (1987). Constancia and other novels for virgins (1990).

- The campaign (1990).

- Diana or the lonely huntress (1994).

- The years with Laura Díaz (1999).

- Instinct of Ines (2001).

- The eagle's chair (2003).

- The will and fortune (2008).

- Adam in Eden (2009).

- Federico on his balcony (Posthumous edition, 2012).

- Achilles or The guerrilla and the murderer (Posthumous edition, 2016).

Brief description of his most representative novels

The most transparent region

It was the first novel by the Mexican writer, and its production period took four years. In it he referred to the reality that the Mexican capital lived in the fifties. To achieve depth, Fuentes was in charge of using a language that described all social levels.

The author chose the title of the work based on Alexander von Humboldt, from when he, in 1804, referred to the valley of Mexico City as the most transparent legion. It was one of the author's best known writings, which paved the way for the well-known literary boom of the sixties.

Argument

Carlos Fuentes was in charge of narrating and telling stories related to the city, through characters that coincide in some facts. In addition, the writer referred to the political and social form of the Aztec country and the consequences left by the Mexican Revolution.

Fragment

“Here we live, in the streets our smells cross, of sweat and patchouli, of new brick and underground gas, our idle and tense meats, never our glances… Watering city of the rigid jaws of the brother drenched in thirst and scabs, woven city in amnesia…

Eagle without wings. Star snake. Here it was our turn. What can we do. In the most transparent region of the air".

Terra Nostra

It was one of the most important, profound and difficult to understand novels by Carlos Fuentes. In this work the author intertwined several stories in order to reveal the identity of the Hispanic peoples, while they were going through a long period of struggles. The author mixed literature and history with legends and philosophy.

The novel takes the reader on a journey through the life and characters of the Spanish monarchy of the Catholic Monarchs, revealing the way in which they exercised command until the house of the Austrias came to the throne. The author also placed special emphasis on the power exercised by the Spanish in America.

Fragment

“Incredible the first animal that dreamed of another animal. Monstrous, the first vertebrate that managed to get up on two feet and thus scattered the normal beasts that were still crawling in terror… The first call, the first boil, the first song and the first loincloth were amazing… ”.

essays

- Paris. The May Revolution (1968).

- The new Latin American novel (1969). The work was made up of twelve essays:

- "Civilization and barbarism".

- "The Borgian Constitution".

- "Revolution and ambiguity".

- "Is the novel dead?"

- "A new language".

- "The alienated modernity".

- "The totalizing desire of Vargas Llosa".

- "García Márquez: the second reading."

- "Carpentier or The double divination".

- “Cortázar: Pandora's box”.

- "The enemy word".

- "Juan Goytisolo: the common language".

- House with two doors (1970).

- Mexican time (1971).

- Cervantes or the criticism of reading (1976).

- Myself with others. Selected essays (1988).

- Brave New World. Epic, utopia and myth in the Hispanic American novel (1990).

- The buried mirror (1992).

- Geography of the novel (1993).

- New Mexican Time (1994).

- For inclusive progress (1997).

- Portraits in time (1998).

- In this I believe (2002).

- Machado de La Mancha (2002).

- Seeing visions (2003).

- Against Bush (2004).

- The 68 (2005).

- The great Latin American novel (2011).

- People (Posthumous edition, 2012).

- Silver screens (Posthumous edition, 2014).

- Luís Buñuel or The look of the medusa (Posthumous edition, 2017). Unfinished work.

Dramatic works

- All cats are brown (1970).

- The one-eyed man is king (1970).

- Orchids in the light of the moon (1982).

- Dawn ceremonies (1990).

Speeches

- The winter colloquium (1992). The title of her speech was: "After the Cold War: the problems of the new world order."

- Three speeches for the villages (1993).

- The embrace of cultures (1994).

- One Hundred Years of Solitude and a Tribute (2007). Together with Gabriel García Márquez; his speech was titled "To give America a name."

- The novel and life (Posthumous edition, 2012).

- Political conferences. Education, society and democracy (Posthumous Edition, 2018).

Anthologies

- Body and offerings (1973).

- The five soles of Mexico (2000).

- Natural tales (2007).

- Complete stories (Posthumous edition, 2013).

Scripts and storylines for cinema

- The golden rooster (1964). Based on a work by Juan Rulfo, developed together with Gabriel García Márquez and Roberto Gavaldón.

- The two Elenas (1964).

- Time to die (1965).

- A pure soul (1965).

- The caifanes (1966).

- Pedro Páramo (1967).

- Can not you hear the dogs barking? (1974).

Signed with a pseudonym

- The mysteries of the opera with the pseudonym Emmanuel Matta (2006).

Correspondence

- Letters crossed 1965-1979 with the Argentine Arnaldo Orfila (Posthumous edition, 2013).

Dialogue

- The cycle that awakens (2012). With Ricardo Lagos.

Interview

- Mexican perspectives from Paris. A dialogue with Carlos Fuentes (1973).

- Carlos Fuentes: territories of time. Anthology of interviews (1999).

Opera

- Santa Anna. Libretto about Mexican military and politician Antonio López de Santa Anna.

Phrases

- "Sometimes I doubt that men really love us, what they want is to compete with other men and beat them."

- "Literature is my true lover, and everything else, sex, politics, religion if I have it, death when I have it, passes through the literary experience."

- "There are things that we feel on our skin, others that we see with our eyes, others that just beat in our hearts."

- "Jealousy kills love, but not desire."

- "Do you want to get old? So he always lives with the same old woman.

- "There are few immature women and many children disguised as men."

- “The best way to hide is to show yourself. If they look for us believing that we have disappeared, they will never find us in the most obvious place ”.

- "Mexico is a country wounded from birth, suckled by the milk of rancor, raised with the lull of the shadow."

- "There is no good revolution that is not betrayed, only bad revolutions betray themselves."

- "Both will be the ghosts of their own youth, or perhaps it is only the body that ages, imprisoned forever to youth within that spectrum that we call soul."

References

1. Carlos Fuentes. (2019). Spain: Wikipedia. Recovered from: es.wikipedia.org.
2. Tamaro, E. (2004-2019). Carlos Fuentes. (N / a): Biographies and Lives. Recovered from: biografiasyvidas.com.
3. Carlos Fuentes. (S. f.). Cuba: Ecu Red. Recovered from: ecured.cu.
4. 20 endearing phrases of the great Carlos Fuentes. (2017). Mexico: MxCity. Recovered from: mxcity.mx.
5. Fuentes, Carlos. (2019). (N / a): Writers Org. Recovered from: writers.org.