Roberto Fontanarrosa
Roberto Alfredo «el Negro» Fontanarrosa (Rosario, November 26, 1944-ibid., July 19, 2007) was an Argentine graphic humorist, cartoonist, scriptwriter, cartoonist and writer. He was one of the most prominent artists and humorists of the ninth art in his country, and is also considered an outstanding fiction writer in general (and short stories in particular).
You'll probably tell me I'm a comic writer, at most. And it will be true. I'm not too interested in the definition of me. I don't aspire to the Literature Nobel. I am very well paid when someone comes to me and says, "I laughed at your book."Fontanarrosa
Biography
Roberto Fontanarrosa was born in the city of Rosario, in 1944. During his childhood he lived in the center of the city, in an old building at Catamarca 1421 corner with Corrientes.
He went to the Mariano Moreno elementary school and started high school at the Industrial School (today's Polytechnic). His career began at the end of the 1960s as a humorous cartoonist in the Boom Magazine of Rosario (1968) then in Zoom and Deporte 70 quickly standing out for its quality and for the speed and safety with which he executed his drawings. These qualities made his graphic production copious. Around the year 1973 he drew in the magazines Hortensia and Satiricón and in the newspaper Clarín . Among his best known characters are the bully Boogie El Aceitoso and the gaucho Inodoro Pereyra and his dog Mendieta. Regarding the introduction of this last character in his strips, Fontanarrosa explained: “It is very difficult to include a horse in a comic strip, therefore a dog appeared. And he is called Mendieta because dogs with human names amused me. ”
His fame transcended the borders of Argentina. For example, Boogie, the oily one began to be published in a Colombian newspaper, and then it was published for many years by the Mexican weekly Proceso.
He was known to love soccer, a sport to which he dedicated several of his works. The story December 19, 1971 is a classic of Argentine soccer literature. As a good "soccer fan" he always showed his sympathy for the team he followed since he was little, Rosario Central. In 1954 little Fontanarrosa, at the age of ten, went to the pitch for the first time to see his love club that played against Tigre.
From 1979 until his death he was a "creative collaborator" by Les Luthiers, providing phrases and jokes in different works, such as "The hen said eureka", "Song to move", "Color letters", "Epic of 15" and "The path of Warren Sánchez".
One of his best-known quotes about soccer is: "If I had to play background music in my life, it would be the broadcast of soccer games".
He was married twice. With his first wife he had his only son, Franco. His second wife, Gabriela Mahy, met him in 2002 and they married in November 2006, after a divorce.
His love for the city of Rosario
“We Rosario are creative, in the absence of scenery Rosario has beautiful mines and good soccer. What more can an intellectual ask for?” That was Roberto Fontanarrosa's response every time he was asked why he lived in Rosario and he also added: “I am, I confess, one of the many people from Rosario who selfishly yearn for us not to be millions.”
In the 1970s and 1980s, he could be found having a coffee in his spare time at the El Cairo bar (corner of Santa Fe and Sarmiento streets), sitting at the metaphorical "beautiful men's table", the scene of many of his best stories. Since the nineties, the table has moved to the La Sede bar until the reopening of Cairo. Fontanarrosa was a true habitué, declaring once: “My goodness, I would put soccer fields and a couple of bars, because in the bar you are at home and at the same time you are out on the balcony the street.”
Last years
In 2003 he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, for which reason since 2006 he has frequently used a wheelchair.
He was a speaker at the III Congress of the Spanish Language that took place in Rosario (Argentina) on November 20, 2004. In it he gave a talk entitled "On bad words".
On January 18, 2007, he announced that he would stop drawing his comics, as he had lost complete control of his right hand due to illness. However he clarified that he would continue to write scripts for his characters.
Since then, the cartoonist Crist was in charge of illustrating his loose jokes, while Óscar Salas did the same with his Inodoro Pereyra comics.
Death
Fontanarrosa died on July 19, 2007, at the age of 62, the victim of cardiorespiratory arrest one hour after being admitted to a hospital with acute respiratory failure.
He received many well-deserved awards for his work, but perhaps the most important was the affection with which people bid him farewell when he left us: he was buried the day after his death, accompanied by hundreds of citizens, including writers, actors and authorities of national politics.
The march made a stop for a few minutes near the Estadio Gigante de Arroyito (Rosario Central stadium; a club of which Fontanarrosa was a well-known fan), and then continued north towards the Parque de la Eternidad cemetery in the neighboring town of Granadero Baigorria, where he was buried.
Those who knew him say that he was a funny, intelligent, humble person and a great cultivator of friendship.
In November 2008, the second wife, Gabriela, decided to file a complaint suing Franco, the writer's son, for the intellectual rights of the work, and accusing the latter of keeping the royalties for the books and other writings.
Awards and distinctions
You'll probably tell me I'm a comic writer, at most. And it will be true. I'm not too interested in the definition of me. I don't aspire to the Literature Nobel. I am very well paid when someone comes to me and says, "I laughed at your book."Fontanarrosa
On April 26, 2006, the Senate awarded him the Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Honorable Mention, in recognition of his vast career and contributions to Argentine culture.
In December 2006, he received the “La Catrina” award at the International Book Fair in Guadalajara (Mexico), an award that is given each year at the International Cartoon and Comics Meeting.
He also received the Konex Platinum Award in 1994 and the Diploma of Merit in 1992, 2004 and 2012 (the latter in memoriam).
In 2009 his character Inodoro Pereyra was part of the exhibition "Bicentennial: 200 years of Graphic Humor" that the Museum of Drawing and Illustration carries out at the Eduardo Sívori Museum in Buenos Aires, honoring the most important creators in Argentine history.
November 26 was established as National Humorist Day, in commemoration of the birth of Roberto Fontanarrosa.
Since 2014, by ordinance of the Rosario Municipal Council, his birthplace was declared a “Roberto Fontanarrosa” corner.
Roberto Fontanarrosa Cultural Center
On July 20 (Friend's Day) of the year 2013, the old Bernardino Rivadavia Cultural Center in the city of Rosario was renamed Roberto Fontanarrosa; It was a tribute promoted by his friends and an act to which the people of Rosario attended in large numbers.
Posts
A tireless writer, he published three novels and twelve books of short stories through which he showed the genius of a writer capable of handling a wide variety of styles with ease. Many of his stories were dramatized and turned into stage, film or television works. More than five versions of Inodoro Pereyra have been staged, the last one by the cast El Galpón (from Montevideo). Likewise, the story The world has lived wrongly has been adapted countless times for theater.
Compilations of loose jokes
- Who's Fontanarrosa?
- Fontanarrisa
- Fontanarrosa and doctors
- Fontanarrosa and politics
- Fontanarrosa and the couple
- The sex of Fontanarrosa
- The second sex of Fontanarrosa
- Fontanarrosa against culture
- Football is sacred
- Fontanarrosa de penal
- Fontanarrosa is World (where the journalistic records are compiled on the occasion of the 1994 football world).
- Fontanarrosa will continue
Comics
- The classics according to Fontanarrosa
- Semblanzas Deportivas
- Sperman
- Toilet Pereyra (tomos 1 to 32).
- Boogie, the oily (tomos 1-12). The latter was published in Uruguayan, Colombian, and Mexican newspapers. Books have also been published with compilations of the character in Brazil and Italy.
Novels
- 1981: Best Seller (the adventures of the Syrian mercenary)
- 1982: Area 18 (new Best Seller adventures)
- 1985: The goose
Chronicles
- Don't go champion. Memoranda of Argentine football. (2001) Editorial Sudamericana, ISBN 978-950-07-1800-4
Storybooks
- Fontanarrosa counts (1973) (Reedited as Trains kill cars).
- The world has lived wrong (1982).
- I don't know if I was clear. (1986).
- No other world (1987).
- The greatest of my flaws (1990).
- One never knows (1993).
- The Galan Table (1995).
- Trains kill cars (1997).
- A lesson in life (1998).
- Pure football (2000).
- I tell you more... (2001).
- You won't believe it. (2003).
- The king of the milonga (2005).
- 19 December 1971 (2006), story included in the book Eleven to eleven. Football stories for football fans.
- Negate everything (2013).
Illustrator
- Hernandez, José. Martin Fierro. Illustrated by Roberto Fontanarrosa. Buenos Aires: Editions de La Flor, 2004. 186 pages. ISBN 978-950-515-583-5
Movies
As an interpreter
- Black cinema (2006) - Interview
- Whose portal is it? (2007) - Judge
- Imaginators (2008) - Interview
- Gate 12 (2008) - Interview
- Football Violence S.A. (2009) - Interview
* to the right, Toilet Pereyra taking mate with his dog Mendieta (from which you see only the snout in the bulb), drawn in the past by the Negro Fontanarrosa himself;
* to the left, Mendieta (Piyra Toilet Pet) hugging the character Clemente, of the Black Caloi (1948-2012).
As a writer
- Martin Fierro: the film (2007).
- Question of principles (2009).
As author
- Metegol (2012).
- Boogie, the oily: the movie (2009).
- Question of principles (2009).
- Take it easy. (medium) (2005).
- The flight of the oca (medium) (2004).
- A history of tango (cut) (2000).
- The Duelists (cut) (1997).
- The Yothosawa plain (cut).
As a character designer
- Martin Fierro: the film (2007).
- Boogie, the oily: the movie (2009).
Television
- The stories of Fontanarrosa (2007).