Manlio Argueta

Manlio Argueta (born San Miguel, El Salvador, November 24, 1935), is a Salvadoran poet and novelist. He belonged to the Committed Generation, a literary group created by Italo López Vallecillos (1932-1986), together with Roque Dalton (1935-1975), Álvaro Menen Desleal (1931-2000), Waldo Chávez Velasco (1933-2005), Irma Lanzas (1933-2020), Orlando Fresedo (1932-1965), Mercedes Durand (1932-1998), Ricardo Bogrand (1930-2012), Mauricio de la Selva and others.

Biography

Manlio Argueta studied law at the University of El Salvador, although his social commitment and his love for literature later led him down the path of this. Due to the political situation and the civil war in his country between the years 1972 and 1993 he went into exile in Costa Rica. He currently resides back in El Salvador and is the director of the National Library.

Works

2. Red Riding Hood in the Red Zone, won the Latin American Novel Award, Casa de Las Américas, Havana, Cuba, 1978. Other publications of this novel: Editorial Costa Rica, San José, C. R., UCA, Editores, San Salvador. There are several editions in UCA, Editores, San Salvador. It was published in English as Little red riding hood in the red light district, Curbstone Press, Connecticut, USA, 1999.

3. A Day in the Life and, published in English by Vintage Books of Random House, 1983, New York, and by Chatto & Windus, from London, achieved international recognition. Later both novels were published in German language. Subsequently, it has been translated into fifteen languages, one of the best-known Latin American novels in the United States and England, having written several critical books about it and receiving glowing reviews from the most important English-language newspapers.

It thus constitutes one of the most studied and read contemporary works of Hispanic origin by the international university academy: textbook in Social Sciences, Political Sciences and Literature. Reviews and articles in the New York Times, Newsweek, The Independent in England, Le Monde Diplomatique in France, and newspapers in the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

This novel, as well as others later translated into English and German, has enabled him to become a lecturer at various universities around the world and was rated the fifth most important novel of the century XX, written in Spanish.

A Day in the Life, has been adapted for theater by its author, with performances in the Netherlands, the United States, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Cuba and El Salvador.

4. Cuzcatlán where the South Sea Beats published in English by Vintage Books of Random House, 1983, New York, and by Chatto & Windus, of London. Translated in Germany. It was first published in Honduras and Costa Rica. There are three editions in El Salvador. A documentary film was made of this work with the name of Cuzcatlán Stories in 1989, London, England, having gone through European TV (translated into several languages). Director: Jane Ryder. The author elaborates the script of that film (writer) and advises the film editing work in London.

5. Miracle of Peace, published by Adelina Editores, San Salvador, four editions. Published in English by Curbstone Press, USA, under the name of A Place Called Miracle, 2000.

6. Century of O(g)ro, Dept. CONCULTURA Publications, San Salvador, 2000. Two editions. Translated and published in English under the name of Once upon a time (Bomb), still unpublished.

7. Complete Poetry by Manlio Argueta, Editorial Hispamérica, University of Maryland. Study and research by Dr. Atsvaldur Asvaldsson from the University of Liverpool.

8. Los Poetas del Mal, unpublished novel, 2002, not yet published.

9. The Sixth Wall, unpublished novel (Guggenheim Foundation Award in New York). The theme of emigration and violence.

10. Franciscana, unpublished novel set in the United States