Félix César Luna (30 September 1925 – 5 November 2009) was an Argentine writer, lyricist and historian.
Life
Luna was born in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
to a family originally from
La Rioja in 1925. A grandfather had founded the La Rioja chapter of the newly established centrist
Radical Civic Union
The Radical Civic Union ( es, Unión Cívica Radical, UCR) is a centrist and social-liberal political party in Argentina. It has been ideologically heterogeneous, ranging from social liberalism to social democracy. The UCR is a member of the S ...
(UCR) in 1892, and an uncle,
Pelagio Luna
Pelagio Baltasar Luna (6 January 1867 – June 25, 1919
'' Vice President of Argentina
The vice president of Argentina ( es, Vicepresidente de Argentina), officially known as the vice president of the Argentine Nation ( es, Vicepresidente de la Nación Argentina), is the second highest political position in Argentina, and first in ...
for President
Hipólito Yrigoyen
Juan Hipólito del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Yrigoyen (; 12 July 1852 – 3 July 1933) was an Argentine politician of the Radical Civic Union and two-time President of Argentina, who served his first term from 1916 to 1922 and his second ...
, between 1916 and 1919. He enrolled at the
University of Buenos Aires
The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one of the most presti ...
and earned a law degree in 1951. He was first published in 1954 with his biographical work ''Yrigoyen''. Opposed, as most in the UCR were, to the populist President
Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón (, , ; 8 October 1895 – 1 July 1974) was an Argentine Army general and politician. After serving in several government positions, including Minister of Labour and Vice President of a military dictatorship, he was elected ...
, Luna, after the
1955 overthrow of Perón, was appointed Director of the Ministry of Labor's Employee Benefits Plan in 1956. Luna received his first literary prize in 1957 for his period tale ''La fusilación'' (''The Firing Squad''); set in the nineteenth century, the work followed the controversial 1956 execution of General
Juan José Valle
Juan José Valle (March 15, 1896 – June 12, 1956) was an Argentine general who headed a rebellion in 1956 against General Pedro Eugenio Aramburu's dictatorship.
Rebellion
Aramburu's ''Revolución Libertadora'' of September 1955 had ended Jua ...
and 27 others. This was followed by a biography of
Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear, Yrigoyen's chief rival within the UCR, in 1958.
He taught as Professor of the History of Institutions at his alma mater's law school between 1963 and 1976, and Contemporary History Professor at the private
University of Belgrano between 1967 and 1986. Some of his best-known works from this period were ''Los caudillos'', a look at provincial strongmen of the 19th and early 20th centuries (1966), ''El 45'', referring to the pivotal year 1945 in Argentina (1968), and ''Argentina: de Perón a Lanusse,'' an overview of the tumultuous generation between Perón's 1945 advent and 1973.
Luna collaborated with pianist and composer
Ariel Ramírez
Ariel Ramírez (4 September 1921 – 18 February 2010) was an Argentine composer, pianist and music director. He was considered "a chief exponent of Argentine folk music" and noted for his "iconic" musical compositions.
Ramírez is known primari ...
as a
lyricist
A lyricist is a songwriter who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment.
Royalties
A lyricist's incom ...
for the ''
Misa Criolla MISA may refer to:
*Maintenance of Internal Security Act
The Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) was a controversial law passed by the Indian parliament in 1971 giving the administration of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Indian law e ...
'' (''Creole Mass''), in 1964. This joint success was followed by ''Mujeres Argentinas'' (''Argentine Women''), in 1969, among whose themes ''
Alfonsina y el mar'' (an ode to the ill-fated poet
Alfonsina Storni) became particularly well-known. Ramírez and Luna were joined by traditional folklore vocalist
Mercedes Sosa
Haydée Mercedes Sosa (; 9 July 1935
at BrainyHistory.com – 4 October 2009), sometimes known as ' ...
for ''Cantata Sudamericana'', a 1972 album which made the latter an iconic figure in the
music of Argentina.
As a historian, contributed weekly editorials on current events for ''
Clarín'' between 1964 and 1973, and as host of ''Hilando nuestra historia'' (''Weaving Our History''), an educational radio program, between 1977 and 1982.
[ Offering up biographies on Presidents Roberto Ortiz (1978) and Julio Roca (''Soy Roca'', 1989), a comprehensive trilogy on the Perón years, and the pocket '' Breve historia de los argentinos'' (''Brief History of the Argentines'', 1993), among other books, he became known for his narrative style and pragmatic viewpoint on contentious events.
He founded an ]Argentine history
The history of Argentina can be divided into four main parts: the pre-Columbian time or early history (up to the sixteenth century), the colonial period (1536–1809), the period of nation-building (1810–1880), and the history of modern Argenti ...
monthly, '' Todo es Historia'' (''Everything is History''), in 1967 and continued to direct the publication until his death. Luna has been honored with numerous Konex Awards, the highest distinctions in the Argentine cultural realm, since 1984 for his work as a historian, biographer and lyricist, as well as a French Ordre national du Mérite in 1988. He was Secretary of Culture for the city of Buenos Aires in 1986–89.[ He died in Buenos Aires on November 5, 2009.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luna, Felix
1925 births
2009 deaths
20th-century Argentine historians
20th-century Argentine male writers
Argentine lyricists
Argentine people of Spanish descent
Commanders of the Ordre national du Mérite
Illustrious Citizens of Buenos Aires
Male non-fiction writers
University of Buenos Aires alumni
University of Buenos Aires faculty
Argentine lawyers