Marco Denevi (May 12, 1922 – December 12, 1998) was an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

author of novels and short stories, as well as a lawyer and journalist. His work is characterized by its originality and depth, as well as a criticism of human incompetence. His first work, a mystery novel titled '' Rosaura a las diez'' (1955), was a Kraft award winner and a bestseller. In 1964, it was translated into English as '' Rosa at Ten O'Clock''. Other famous works of his include ''Los expedientes'' (1957), ''Ceremonia Secreta'' (1960), ''El cuarto de la noche'' (1962), and '' Falsificaciones'' (1966). ''Ceremonia Secreta'' was filmed as ''

Secret Ceremony ''Secret Ceremony'' is a 1968 British drama-thriller film directed by Joseph Losey and starring Elizabeth Taylor, Mia Farrow and Robert Mitchum. Plot Leonora, a middle-aged prostitute, is despondent over the death of her daughter. Cenci, a lo ...

'' in 1968 starring

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...

, Mia Farrow, Robert Mitchum, and Peggy Ashcroft. It was directed by

Joseph Losey Joseph Walton Losey III (; January 14, 1909 – June 22, 1984) was an American theatre and film director, producer, and screenwriter. Born in Wisconsin, he studied in Germany with Bertolt Brecht and then returned to the United States. Blackliste ...

, with a screenplay written by

George Tabori George Tabori ( György Tábori; 24 May 1914 – 23 July 2007) was a Hungarian writer and theatre director. Life and career Tabori was born in Budapest as György Tábori, a son of Kornél and Elsa Tábori. His father Kornél (Cornelius) was m ...

. In his edition of this and other Denevi works (Macmillan, 1965), Donald A. Yates mentions Denevi's admiration for Wilkie Collins, whose work this novella resembles. He is less known as an essayist, but he also cultivated that genre with his ''República de Trapalanda'' (1989), a late work, where he took on

Ezequiel Martínez Estrada Ezequiel Martínez Estrada (September 14, 1895 – November 4, 1964) was an Argentine writer, poet, essayist, and literary critic. An admired biographer and critic, he was often political in his writings, and was a confirmed anti- Peronist. While ...

and Domingo Faustino Sarmiento's view of the Argentine republic. He was born in the province of

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 ...

, Argentina, and at a young age he began playing the piano and reading. He graduated from college in 1939, and did not receive his law degree until 1956. In 1987 he was inducted into the Argentine Academy of Letters. It is important to note Denevi's desire to be a playwright. He wrote many dramatic pieces but felt he was not talented enough to write for the theater in Spain.

External links

Obituary on literatura.org
(

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...

)
Translation of short story in The Cafe Irreal

Secondary Sources

*Gotschlich R. Guillermo. "''Ceremonia secreta'' de Marco Denevi; enigma y ritualización". ''

Revista Chilena de Literatura ''Revista Chilena de Literatura'' is an academic journal about literature published by the University of Chile The University of Chile ( es, Universidad de Chile) is a public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 1 ...

'' 33 (1989): 89-101. *Ramos Escobar, José L. "''Ceremonia secreta'': ritos". ''Revista Interamericana'' 10 (1980-1981): 19–26. *Ward, Thomas. "Marco Denevi y su propuesta en contra del Poder". En ''La resistencia cultural: la nación en el ensayo de las Américas''. Lima: Universidad Ricardo Palma, 2004: 98-108. Male screenwriters Argentine male writers 1922 births 1998 deaths People from Tres de Febrero Partido Burials at La Recoleta Cemetery 20th-century Argentine screenwriters 20th-century Argentine male writers {{Argentina-writer-stub