Martinez, Tomas Eloy

▪ 2003

      In the spring of 2002, the announcement in Madrid that Argentine writer and journalist Tomás Eloy Martínez had been awarded the Alfaguara Prize for his novel El vuelo de la reina meant that his work, chosen from among 433 manuscripts, would be published by Alfaguara in 18 countries. In addition, Eloy Martínez would receive a cash prize of $175,000. El vuelo de la reina tells the story, loosely based on a real incident that took place in Brazil, of the decadent world of the editor of an important newspaper in Buenos Aires and how his erotic obsession with a journalist half his age leads to deception and murder. The action takes place in an Argentina suffering from economic and moral bankruptcy, poverty, and despair.

      Martínez was best known as the author of two classics of Argentine and Latin American literature: La novela de Perón (1985, The Perón Novel, 1988) and Santa Evita (1995, Eng. trans., 1995); the latter was translated into 30 languages and sold more than 10 million copies. His other novels included Sagrado (1969) and La mano del amo (1991). In addition, he wrote essays, most notably Los testigos de afuera (1978) and Retrato del artista enmascarado (1982); a collection of short stories entitled Lugar común la muerte (1979); and 10 screenplays. He was also a prolific journalist, working as a columnist for La nación in Buenos Aires, El país in Spain, and for the New York Times Syndicate, which published his articles in 200 newspapers in Latin America and Europe.

      Martínez was born on July 16, 1934, in Tucumán, Arg. He obtained a degree in Spanish and Latin American literature from the Universidad de Tucumán and went on to earn a doctorate at the Université de Paris VII. From 1957 to 1961 he was a film critic in Buenos Aires for La nación, and he then was editor in chief (1962–69) of the magazine Primera plana. From 1969 to 1970 he served as a reporter in Paris, and from 1970 to 1972 he was the director of the magazine Panorama. For three years (1972–75) Martínez was in charge of the cultural supplement of La nación, after which he lived in exile (1975–83) in Caracas, Venez., where he remained active as a journalist, founding the newspaper El diario de Caracas. He subsequently started the newspaper Siglo 21 in Guadalajara, Mex., and created the literary supplement Primer plano for the newspaper Página/12 in Buenos Aires.

      In addition to his literary and journalistic accomplishments and his passionate advocacy of victims of human rights abuses, Martínez enjoyed an active academic career, lecturing extensively throughout the Americas and Europe. He was a professor (1984–87) at the University of Maryland and from 1995 was a distinguished professor at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J., and director of its Latin American studies program.

John Barry

* * *