Carlos Fuentes Summary

Biography EssayBorn in Panama City on 11 November 1928, under the astrological sign of Scorpio, as he is fond of mentioning, Carlos Fuentes, one of Mexico's premier novelists, is the son of Rafael Fue... Read more

Author, diplomat, editor, political writer, and essayist, Carlos Fuentes wears all these hats in his works which blend realism, fantasy, social protest, psychological insight, and history. Books such ... Read more

Born in Panama City on 11 November 1928, under the astrological sign of Scorpio, as he is fond of mentioning, Carlos Fuentes, one of Mexico's premier novelists, is the son of Rafael Fuentes Boettiger,... Read more

Critical Essay by Juan Goytisolo One of the usual tactics of critical terrorism (whether or not it is legitimized by the power of the State) is to create a scarecrow-image, either of the author ... Read more

Critical Essay by John Butt Terra Nostra exploits every possibility in the language to make a truly memorable denunciation of the Hispanity symbolized by the Inquisition, the rape of the New World, t... Read more

Critical Essay by Alan Cheuse Carlos Fuentes, Mexico's most versatile novelist, has looked the spy novel in the eye and produced a controversial world-class thriller. The Hydra Head reads as t... Read more

Critical Essay by Donald A. Yates Fuentes has a background in international politics and a political commitment that, traditionally, few North American writers bring to their work. Moreover, he is th... Read more

Critical Essay by Victoria Neumark Fuentes's meta-thriller [The Hydra Head] takes the Arab-Israeli conflict as its paradigm of political dirty tricks; Mexican oil-fields, Mexican men and their... Read more

Critical Essay by The Atlantic Monthly Rising in a malignant mist or squatting silently in impenetrable darkness, the Aztec god Chac-Mool presides over [Burnt Water, an] impressive collection of stor... Read more

Critical Essay by Michael Wood The burnt water of [the collection entitled Burnt Water] is the lake of the Aztecs, drained by the conquering Spanish, who wished to recreate their arid homeland in thi... Read more

Critical Essay by Saul Maloff What distinguished Carlos Fuentes's impressive first novel, "Where the Air Is Clear," was precisely his ability to manage firmly and sensitively... Read more

Critical Essay by Joseph Chrzanowski Although the technique of the double is sometimes viewed as a facile device of melodrama, in the hands of a skillful and sophisticated writer such as Carlos Fuent... Read more

Critical Essay by Evan Connell Reading [the stories in "Burnt Water"] is somewhat like watching people on a carousel—individuals you won't see again…. Two or three ... Read more

In the following review, Rubin offers synopses of the novellas collected in The Orange Tree. In the midst of his long literary career, Carlos Fuentes, Mexico's most famous living writer, als... Read more

In the following review, Theroux responds negatively to Diana: The Goddess Who Hunts Alone. Sexual postures can look so funny and vulnerable that the very notion of the distinguished author of this... Read more

In the following review, Canby provides a mixed assessment of A New Time for Mexico. Carlos Fuentes is many things: a diplomat and self-described "transopolitan" who wears Savile Row ... Read more

In the following interview, Fuentes discusses his approach to writing, Latin American writers and literature, and his place in Latin American literature. [Dwyer:] On what project are you working no... Read more

In the following essay, Chrzanowski analyzes Fuentes's use of the "double" or "doppelgänger" literary device as well as the theme of patricide in El gringo vi... Read more

In the following essay, Van Delden explores Fuentes's treatment of the "nature of the self and its relations to history and the community" in La región más transpare... Read more

In the following review, Shumway offers a mixed assessment of The Buried Mirror. In 1856, Argentina's first great historian, Bartolome Mitre, published a collection of short biographies titl... Read more

Sommers was an American educator and critic whose books included After the Storm: Landmarks of the Modern Mexican Novel (1968). In this review of Cantar de ciegos, Sommers praises the "wide ran... Read more

In the following essay, Wing analyzes the female characters in Cantar de ciegos, noting that they are different from the sentimental female characters in Fuentes's novels. Instead, the critic f... Read more

In the following review of The Orange Tree, Kerrigan comments on Fuentes 's innovative treatment of time and the author's attempt to "reanimate history" in the collection. ... Read more

In the following essay, Fuentes describes his perceptions of the short story and his literary influences in the genre. In the process, he discusses his desire to mesh the "realistic" wit... Read more

Master of the Short Story: With Cantar de Ciegos [Song of the Blind], Fuentes keeps an old promise. He shows he is one of the few Latin American writers who have completely mastered the strict disci... Read more

Connell is an American novelist and author of short stories and nonfiction whose books include the novels Mrs. Bridge (1959) and Mr. Bridge (1969), as well as the collected short story volume St. Augu... Read more

Brushwood is an American critic and educator specializing in Mexican, Mexican American, and Spanish American literature. In the following essay, he examines the reading experience of two Fuentes story... Read more

In the following essay, Duncan attempts to place Fuentes's story "Chac Mool" within the tradition of "fantastic" literature as the term is defined by the critic Tzve... Read more