born Nov. 11, 1928, Mexico City, Mex.
Mexican writer and diplomat.
The son of a career diplomat, he traveled widely before studying law and entering the diplomatic service. He is best known for his experimental novels. His first, Where the Air Is Clear (1958), a bitter indictment of Mexican society, won him national prestige. The Death of Artemio Cruz (1962), about the final hours of an unscrupulous former revolutionary, made his international reputation. Among his later novels are Terra Nostra (1975), The Hydra Head (1978), The Old Gringo (1985), and The Years with Laura Díaz (1999). "The Buried Mirror" (1992) is a long essay on Hispanic cultures.