Roberto Fontanarrosa

Roberto Alfredo Fontanarrosa (November 26, 1944 – July 19, 2007) was an Argentine cartoonist and writer. He was born in Rosario, province of Santa Fe, and he lived and worked there until his death. He was widely known by the affectionate nickname "El Negro".

Career and works

"People would say that I'm comic writer, at most, and that will be true. I don't care too much how people will define me as a writer. I don't want to be a Nobel laureate. It will be enough for me if anyone tells me 'I laughed my ass off with your book.'" [ [http://www.negrofontanarrosa.com/biografia/fb.asp La web de Fontanarrosa - Roberto Fontanarrosa - Biografía ] ]

Fontanarrosa began his career writing and drawing comic strips and later branched out into writing narrative with short stories, especially about football (soccer). His better known strips are "Inodoro Pereyra", featuring a gaucho and his talking dog "Mendieta", and the hitman "Boogie el Aceitoso" (which came to life as a Dirty Harry parody).

Fontanarrosa went on to write three novels ("Best Seller", "El área 18" and "La Gansada"), and seven books of short comic stories ("Los trenes matan a los autos", "El mundo ha vivido equivocado", "No sé si he sido claro", "Nada del otro mundo", "El mayor de mis defectos", "Uno nunca sabe" and "La mesa de los galanes"). There are also a number of book compilations of his newspapers' strips.

His work could be seen in different Latin American newspapers including Argentine "Clarín", Colombian "El tiempo", Uruguayan "La República", and Mexican magazine "Proceso". He was also a creative collaborator of the humorous-musical group Les Luthiers.

In November, 2007 a posthumous work of Fontanarrosa became public. The script of the animated film Fierro was co-written by Fontanarrosa and the characters designs came also from him.

Illness

In 2003 he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and was bound to a wheelchair. [ [http://www.buenosaires.gov.ar/areas/com_social/audiovideoteca/fontanarrosa_bio2_es.php Roberto Fontanarrosa] , Audiovideoteca, Government of the City of Buenos Aires.] He continued to work, and participated in the meetings of the Third International Congress of the Spanish Language, in 2004, where he gave a humorous lecture about taboo words and the final speech. On 26 April 2006 the Senate awarded him the Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Mention of Honour for his career and his contribution to Argentine culture.

In January 18 2007 he announced that he would be no longer drawing his own strips because he had lost full control of his hand, but stated that he would go on writing the scripts for his characters. [Terra, Actualidad, 18 January 2007. [http://actualidad.terra.es/cultura/articulo/problemas_fontanarrosa_salud_obligan_dejar_1335069.htm Problemas de salud obligan a Fontanarrosa a dejar de dibujar] .]

Death

On 19 July 2007, Fontanarrosa suffered a respiratory failure, and was taken to a hospital. He died there about one hour later. [La Capital, 19 July 2007. [http://www.lacapital.com.ar/2007/07/19/ciudad/noticia_404449.shtml Falleció el Negro Fontanarrosa] .] [Rosario3, 19 July 2007. [http://rosario3.com/ocio/noticias.aspx?idNot=15724 Rosario de luto: murió Fontanarrosa] .] His funeral service and the funeral procession on the next day were attended by thousands of common citizens, writers, actors, and political authorities. The procession stopped beside the Gigante de Arroyito stadium (home of Rosario Central, a team of which Fontanarrosa was possibly its most notable fan) and then continued north to the neighbouring city of Granadero Baigorria, where Fontanarrosa was buried at the "Parque de la Eternidad" cemetery. [La Capital, 20 July 2007. [http://www.lacapital.com.ar/2007/07/20/ciudad/noticia_404592.shtml Emotivo adiós al Negro Fontanarrosa] .]

The main national news services and printed media of Argentina devoted special segments to Fontanarrosa's legacy and to the funeral service. [Clarín, 20 July 2007. [http://www.clarin.com/suplementos/especiales/2007/07/20/m-1461211.htm Un artista genial, que es un sello del mejor humor argentino] .] [La Nación, 20 July 2007. [http://www.lanacion.com.ar/cultura/nota.asp?nota_id=927404 Aplausos y lágrimas en la despedida a Fontanarrosa] .] [Página/12, 20 July 2007. [http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elpais/1-88394-2007-07-20.html El imposible adiós a un verdadero grande] .] The national government declared a Mourning Day for National Culture, and the municipal government of Rosario ordered flags to be flown at half mast. [Secretaría de Cultura, Presidencia de la Nación. [http://www.cultura.gov.ar/prensa/?info=noticia&id=264 Duelo de la Cultura Nacional] .] [Rosario3, 20 July 2007. [http://www.rosario3.com/noticias/noticias.aspx?idNot=15744 La Cultura Nacional de duelo y banderas a media asta por el Negro] .]

References

External links

* [http://www.negrofontanarrosa.com/ Official page] (in Spanish)
* [http://www.buscabiografias.com/cgi-bin/verbio.cgi?id=8162 Short biography] (in Spanish)
* [http://arogeraldes.blogspot.com/2007/03/roberto-fontanarrosa-el-ftbol-que-vale.html Interview about latin football] (in Spanish)
* [http://www.literatura.org/Fontanarrosa/Fontanarrosa.html Biography and work] (in Spanish)
* [http://orbita.starmedia.com/~mafaldaycia/fontanarrosa.htm Inodoro & Boogie] (in Spanish)