Carlos Martinez Moreno: Life history & works
Carlos Martinez Moreno
Carlos Martínez Moreno, born in Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay, on September 1, 1917, and passed away in Mexico City on February 21, 1986, was a versatile writer known for his contributions to the literary movement of the generation of 45. In addition to being a short story writer and novelist, he was also a theater critic, lawyer, and journalist. Despite his significant talent, he remained relatively unknown and underappreciated, as expressed by Carlos Quijano, the founder of Marcha magazine.
Martínez Moreno spent his early years in Colonia before eventually settling in Melo and later Montevideo. He received his primary and secondary education in the Uruguayan capital and went on to study law at the University of the Republic, earning his degree in 1948. At the young age of 20, he began his career as a theater critic, initially for El País and El Diario and later for the weekly publication Marcha starting in 1942.
In 1977, he was forced into exile and relocated to Barcelona, where he worked as a proofreader and translated French works into Spanish. The following year, he moved to Mexico after receiving an offer to join the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He remained in Mexico until his passing.
Although Martínez Moreno had published stories in various magazines such as Asir, Número, Escritura, Alfar, and notably Marcha, his first book, Los días por vivir, was not published until 1960 when he was 43 years old. From the outset, his narrative style demonstrated an original and refined use of language, a clear intention to challenge false values, and a demand for stylistic and structural excellence, positioning him as a leading figure in Latin American literature, as noted by Mario Benedetti in his review of Martínez Moreno’s novel Tierra en la boca. Ricardo Latcham also affirmed Martínez Moreno’s significance, describing him as an innovative writer who enriched Uruguayan literature with consistent and diverse works, ranking among the top masters of the genre in his homeland.
Works:
Stories:
The days to live (Montevideo: Ediciones Asir, 1960)
Cordelia (Montevideo: Editorial Alfa, 1961)
The aborigines (Montevideo: Editorial Alfa, 1964)
The siren and other stories (Buenos Aires – Montevideo: Centro Editora de América Latina, 1968)
The meadows of conscience (Montevideo: Editorial Alfa, 1968)
Of life or death (Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI editores, 1971)
Animal of words (Montevideo: Editorial Arca, posthumous, 1987)
Novels:
El paredón (Barcelona : Editorial Seix Barrial, 1962)
The other half (Mexico DF: Editorial Muñoz, 1966)
With the first lights(Barcelona: Editorial Seix Barral, 1966)
The four short novels (Montevideo: Editorial Alfa, 1967)
Coca (Caracas: Monte Ávila Editores, 1970)
Earth in the mouth (Buenos Aires: Editorial Losada SA, 1974)
The color that hell I would hide (Mexico: Editorial Nueva Imagen, 1981)
Animal of words (posthumous edition) (Montevideo: Arca, 1987)
http://www.elem.mx/autor/datos/120925, Famous Writers Around the World