MUJICA LINEZ, MANUEL

born Sept. 11, 1910, Buenos Aires died April 21, l984, Crdoba province, Arg. popular Argentine writer whose novels and short stories are best known for their masterful and fascinating blend of myth and fantasy with historical figures and events. Mujica Linez was descended from an Argentine family that included the writers Juan Cruz Varela and Miguel Can. He was educated in Buenos Aires, France, and England. At age 22 he returned to Buenos Aires and became a correspondent of La Nacin, a newspaper with which he was associated as an art critic and correspondent for the remainder of his life. His first novel, Don Galaz de Buenos Aires (1938), was a re-creation of city life in the 17th century. Canto a Buenos Aires (1943), his first literary success, is a poetic chronicle of the foundation and development of the Argentine capital. He solidified his reputation in Argentina with a series of novels known as his Buenos Aires cycle; Los dolos (1953; The Idols), La Casa (1954; The House), Los Viajeros (1955; The Travellers), and Invitados en El Paraso (1957; Guests at The Paradise) are an account of the decadence and dissolution of the wealthy class in Buenos Aires. Aqu vivieron (1949; They Lived Here) and Misteriosa Buenos Aires (1950) are collections of short stories that develop some of the themes of his previous works. His masterpiece is the novel Bomarzo (1962; Eng. trans., 1969), a painstaking re-creation of the life and times of Pier Francesco Orsini, one of the most powerful men of the Italian Renaissance. Mujica Linez also wrote the libretto and program notes for the opera Bomarzo by Alberto Ginastera, which had its premiere in Washington, D.C., in 1967. Rooted in Latin-American literary tradition, Mujica Linez's novels are characterized by social satire and an ironic perspective on history. In addition to fiction, Mujica Linez wrote biographies and critical studies of many Latin-American artists and poets. His later works include Cecil (1972), El viaje de los siete demonios (1974; The Journey of the Seven Demons), El laberinto (1974; The Labyrinth), Sergio (1976), and El gran teatro (1979; The Great Theatre).