Humberto Costantini
| Humberto Costantini | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
April 8, 1924 Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Died | June 7, 1987 (aged 63) Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Nationality | Argentinian |
Humberto "Cacho" Costantini (April 8, 1924 – June 7, 1987) was an Argentine writer and poet whose work is filled with the rich slang (porteño) of Buenos Aires. Except for his years of exile in Mexico, his life was lived in and around Buenos Aires.
Costantini was born and died in Buenos Aires, the only child of Italian Jewish immigrants who lived in the barrio of Villa Pueyrredon. From his marriage to Nela Nur Fernandez, he had three children: Violeta, Ana and Daniel. After he finished his university studies, he became a medical veterinarian. He practiced his profession in the fields near the city of Lobería, in the province of Buenos Aires, where he moved with his wife. There his two daughters were born.
In 1955 he returned to Buenos Aires, and his son was born shortly thereafter. He worked in various jobs: veterinarian, salesman, potter, medical researcher, etc. Because of a fierce discipline, working "nailed to the chair", he was able to write and rewrite everyday.
His first book of stories, De por aquí nomás, was published in 1958, and from that time on there developed a long bibliography which touched all literary genres: short story, poetry, theatre, novel. His unfinished work, Rapsodía de Raquel Liberman, relates in biblical tones the exploits of a Jewish prostitute enslaved by the sinister organization Zwi Migdal, until she rebels against this fate and leaves that life behind her. And here a fundamental theme appears, as in many other of Costantini's works, a force that drives his life and work: "To do what is right in the eyes of Jehova, meaning to fulfill one's destiny," as he would say. That attitude–of doing what is right–led him in many moments of his life to confront the powerful, as his heroine, Raquel Liberman succeeded in doing.
Costantini was the victim of political persecutions and blacklists. That posture of confronting the powerful that "Cacho" exercised naturally, without fuss, as the only possible road by which to travel through life, created both hatred and profound loyalty among many toward him. With Costantini nothing was ever wishy-washy; one was either honest or one was deceitful. He made it known that he wouldn't forgive any kowtowing.
...
Wikipedia