Carlos Fuentes was a Mexican writer and novelist born in Panama, considered one of the most important writers in Mexico.
The son of a career diplomat, Carlos Fuentes was born on November 11, 1928, in the Mexican embassy in Panama and had a cosmopolitan childhood due to his father’s work, living in Panama, Quito (Ecuador), Montevideo (Uruguay) and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) between 1928 and 1934.
Some time later they moved to the United States and studied at the “Henry D. Cooke” school in Washington DC, vacationing in Mexico City so as not to lose the Spanish language. In 1940, Carlos Fuentes moved to Chile first and Argentina later, experiencing the Second World War (1939-1945) with deep sensitivity.
In 1944 he moved with his mother to Mexico, where he finished his secondary studies and entered the University of Mexico to study law, dropping out later.
In 1950, Carlos Fuentes traveled to different countries in Europe and worked as the secretary of a Mexican member of the UN International Law Commission. He returned to Mexico in 1952 and re-entered the Law School, and a year later he held the position of press secretary of the United Nations Information Center.
Carlos Fuentes, together with Emmanuel Carballo, founded and edited the Mexican Literature Magazine in 1955. Later, he traveled to Europe again, living in Venice (Italy), London (England) and Paris (France).
In 1971 he received a great blow with the death of his father and spent time away from writing. He accepted the appointment of Mexican ambassador to France as a tribute to his father’s memory in 1975, resigning two years later in protest at the appointment of former president Díaz Ordaz as the first Mexican ambassador to Spain.
In 1983, Carlos Fuentes received a doctorate from Harvard University and a year later the Mexican National Prize for Literature.
The trips and stays in other countries continued since 1986, receiving numerous distinctions and awards and always preserving the Mexican cultural base and platform.
Carlos Fuentes passed away on May 15, 2012 in Mexico City.
Some of the best phrases of Carlos Fuentes
“Finished, the book begins.”
“The perfect novel would reject the reader.”
«-I’m going to need you. – Can you tell me when? -Forever”.
“The dead do not know what death is, but neither do the living.”
“Mexico: hands empty of bread but head full of dreams”.
Do you want to get old? So he always lives with the same old woman ».
“Love has a limitless force called imagination.”
“There are few immature women and many children dressed as men.”
The sky is neither high nor low. It is above and below us at the same time.
