Fuentes << FWEHN tays >> , Carlos (1928-2012), a Mexican writer, was an important figure in Spanish-American literature. Fuentes wrote imaginative and complex narratives that reflect a keen intellectual awareness of history and the workings of power. He experimented with many varieties of construction in his novels, particularly those involving shifts in place, time, and the identity of characters.
Fuentes’s first novel, Where the Air Is Clear (1958), is set in Mexico City and shifts back and forth between the city’s past and present. The Death of Artemio Cruz (1962) also moves backward and forward in time as it presents a revolutionary’s rise to power and his later moral deterioration. Change of Skin (1967) emphasizes the instability of personal identity. Fuentes’s most ambitious novel is Terra Nostra (1975), which goes beyond the known facts of history to offer an alternate version of how events might have unfolded.
Fuentes’s later work incorporates elements of popular culture. The Hydra’s Head (1977) resembles a thriller full of political intrigue. Distant Relations (1982) is similar to a Gothic novel. The Old Gringo (1985) resembles a Western and includes special insights into relations between the United States and Mexico. His novel Christopher Unborn (1987) is a satirical treatment of modern society. The Buried Mirror (1992) is a nonfiction history of Latin America’s cultural heritage. The Years with Laura Díaz (2000) explores the history of Mexico in the 1900’s through a fictional biography of a woman named Laura Díaz. The Eagle’s Throne (2006) is a political satire set in Mexico in the year 2020. Destiny and Desire (2011) combines realism and fantasy in exploring Mexico’s culture, politics, and religion. A number of Fuentes’s short stories were collected in Happy Families (2008). Many of his essays were collected in This I Believe: An A to Z of a Life (2005).
Fuentes was born on Nov. 11, 1928, in Panama City, Panama. He was Mexico’s ambassador to France from 1975 to 1977. Fuentes died on May 15, 2012.
See also Boom.
