Carlos Fuentes is dead
May 15, 2012 1:40 PM   Subscribe

Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes died today. (NYT Obituary)

The writer of The Old Gringo, The Death of Artemio Cruz, Aura, and countless other novels, essays, screenplays died today in Mexico City, aged 83.
posted by elmono (29 comments total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
.
posted by clearlydemon at 1:43 PM on May 15, 2012


.
posted by smirkette at 1:46 PM on May 15, 2012


.
posted by TheRedArmy at 1:53 PM on May 15, 2012


.

Last year I had the truly odd experience of walking through Montparnasse cemetery in Paris and bumping into his grave (prepared in advance).
posted by Omon Ra at 1:58 PM on May 15, 2012 [3 favorites]


.
posted by angrycat at 2:00 PM on May 15, 2012 [1 favorite]


His canon.
posted by chavenet at 2:01 PM on May 15, 2012


.
posted by Iridic at 2:04 PM on May 15, 2012


.
posted by djseafood at 2:13 PM on May 15, 2012


.
posted by Dr. Peter Venkman at 2:32 PM on May 15, 2012


.
posted by pecanpies at 2:36 PM on May 15, 2012


One of my favorite quotes (from How I Started to Write): “You start by writing to live. You end by writing so as not to die. Love is the marriage of this desire and this fear.”

Another good quote I discovered today: "When your life is half over, I think you have to see the face of death in order to start writing seriously. There are people who see the end quickly, like Rimbaud. When you start seeing it, you feel you have to rescue these things. Death is the great Maecenas, Death is the great angel of writing. You must write because you are not going to live any more."

.
posted by Mr. Palomar at 2:39 PM on May 15, 2012 [5 favorites]


.
posted by mumimor at 2:57 PM on May 15, 2012


.
posted by 4ster at 3:02 PM on May 15, 2012


And a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, and the Latin American Commission before that.
posted by gingerbeer at 3:15 PM on May 15, 2012


The English translation of his latest book, Vlad, is coming out in July. It has vampires.

RMS: What has been the influence of Faulkner on your work?

CF: We have a saying: Latin American literature began in Mississippi.

posted by mediareport at 6:07 PM on May 15, 2012 [2 favorites]


.
posted by dejah420 at 7:49 PM on May 15, 2012


He was a very great man and I loved his work. Sorry that he is gone.

.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 8:05 PM on May 15, 2012


met him during my years as a grad student at NYU. as a lecturer & writer of literary criticism the guy was insanely well researched & just talented. most of my professors were sitting in his lectures taking notes like everybody else.

the beauty of Fuentes was that he made deconstruction a necessity of Latin American Studies. he really made you think of our culture in a universal way by the way he picked it apart and analyzed it.

que descanses en paz, Carlos.



.
posted by liza at 9:24 PM on May 15, 2012


.
posted by seawallrunner at 9:26 PM on May 15, 2012


Wow

He has been such an omni-present figure it was so hard to believe he would ever disappear. I'm stunned.

He was my professor in college. I even kept and scanned the syllabus.

Everyone in class loved him and admired him. He could be extremely witty and silly and oh so literate and learned and wise.
posted by vacapinta at 1:07 AM on May 16, 2012 [4 favorites]


vacapinta: my jealousy, I cannot contain it. Thank you for saving that syllabus. I can only imagine what those classes were like...

.

To you, Carlos. We will try and keep the fountain bubbling.
posted by donquixote at 3:21 AM on May 16, 2012


A gentleman.

.
posted by Skeptic at 5:35 AM on May 16, 2012


I feel embarrassed to admit this but I have not ever heard of him and I consider myself a fairly well read individual. What style/author would he best be compared to? Murakami, Naipaul, GGM, Bolano? Any place I should begin?

.
posted by Fizz at 6:43 AM on May 16, 2012


His last editorial piece for grupo Reforma (in Spanish) were he writes about incoming French president Francois Hollande: "Viva el Socialismo. Pero... (parte2)", published the day of his death.
posted by elmono at 6:52 AM on May 16, 2012


Any place I should begin?

Chac Mool by Carlos Fuentes
Translated by Jonah Katz
(pdf)
posted by elmono at 6:54 AM on May 16, 2012 [1 favorite]


Aura was the first Fuentes I really got into. Fell in love with it, taught it many times.
He'll be missed.
posted by doctornemo at 8:00 AM on May 16, 2012 [1 favorite]


Gracias Senor Fuentes. I must read you again.

.
posted by incandissonance at 11:04 AM on May 16, 2012


He was one of my favorites.

.
posted by thivaia at 9:37 PM on May 16, 2012


.
posted by clone boulevard at 9:50 AM on May 19, 2012


« Older "I'm basically asking for jobs."   |   'Resetting' the biological clock Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments