Carlos Fuentes

Carlos Fuentes , 1928-, Mexican writer, editor, and diplomat. He was head of the department of cultural relations in Mexico's ministry of foreign affairs (1956-59) and Mexican ambassador to France (1975-77). Much of his fiction, which generally deals with themes of Mexican identity and history and often focuses on both politics and sex, is a synthesis of reality and fantasy, transcending the limits of time and space (see magic realism ). His works include La región más transparente (1958; tr. Where the Air Is Clear, 1960), Las buenas conciencias (1959; tr. Good Conscience, 1968), Cambio de piel (1967; tr. A Change of Skin, 1968), Terra Nostra (1975, tr. 1976), Una familia lejana (1980; tr. Distant Relations, 1982), La Campaña (1990, tr. The Campaign, 1991), Años con Laura Díaz (1999; tr. The Years with Laura Díaz, 2000), Instinto de Inez (2001, tr. Inez, 2002), and Silla del Águila (2003, tr. The Eagle's Throne, 2006). His nonfiction books include The Buried Mirror (1992), a study of Spanish and Latin American cultural history, and This I Believe (2005), an alphabetically arranged combination memoir, manifesto, and literary essay. Fuentes has also written numerous essays and short stories, e.g., Todas las Familias Felices (2006, tr. Happy Families, 2008).

Bibliography: See biographies by W. Faris (1983) and A. González (1987); studies by R. Brody and C. Rossman, ed. (1982), K. Ibsen (1993), R. L. Williams (1996), C. Helmuth (1997), and M. Van Delden (1998).

Fuentes, Carlos (1928– ) Mexican novelist and short story writer. His first two novels, Where the Air is Clean (1958), and The Death of Artemio Cruz (1962), share a critical view of Mexican society and helped to establish his international reputation. Other fiction includes The Hydra Head (1978) and Distant Relations (1980), the novels The Campaign (1991) and Diana, The Goddess Who Hunts Alone (1995), and the essay-collection Geography of the Novel (1993).