ROA BASTOS, AUGUSTO

born June 13, 1917, Iturbe, Paraguay Latin-American novelist, short-story and film-script writer of national and international fame. Born in a country village, Roa Bastos attended military school in Asuncin in 1925 and fought in the Chaco War (193235) against Bolivia. While a student he also gained an appreciation of classical Spanish literature by reading in his uncle's library. His first book of poetry, El ruiseor de la Aurora (1942; The Nightingale of the Dawn), which he later renounced, is an imitation of the Spanish masters. The novel Fulgencio Miranda (written 1941) and a number of plays successfully performed during the 1940s were never published. Of a considerable amount of poetry written in the late 1940s, only the pamphlet El naranjal ardiente (1960; The Burning Orange Grove) was published. In 1947 civil war forced Roa Bastos and many others into exile in Buenos Aires, where he lived until 1970, serving as cultural attach in the embassy and working as a journalist. His first collection of short stories, El trueno entre las hojas (1953; Thunder Among the Leaves), which he also adapted as a film script, describes the Paraguayan experience with emphasis on violence and social injustice. Roa Bastos began to experiment with magic realism in which realism is enhanced by myths and expressionistic techniques. His novel Hijo de hombre (1960; Son of Man) was an overwhelming critical and popular success. It recreates Paraguay's history from the dictatorship of Francia early in the 19th century through the Chaco War. By carefully juxtaposing alternate narrative voices, Roa Bastos creates a tension that signals the moral and political stagnation of Paraguay and indicates that the only solution is for the common man to suffer and sacrifice himself for all humanity. In 1960 he adapted the novel for a film, and during the 1960s he wrote other film scripts. Stories collected in El baldo (1966; The Untilled) treat tenderly and understandingly the problems of Paraguayan exiles. In some of the stories there is a clear indictment of civil war atrocities. The story collections Los pies sobre el agua (1967; The Feet on the Water) and Madera quemada (1967; Burnt Madeira) rework psychologically and existentially themes used earlier. On his return to Paraguay in 1970, he taught Spanish-American and Paraguayan literature. His most ambitious work, the novel Yo el supremo (1974; I, the Chief), is based on the life of Francia and covers more than a hundred years of Paraguayan history. From 1976 Roa Bastos taught at the Universit de Toulouse II in France.